Cooling the Medium: A Retrospective of Martha and the Muffins/M+M
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Growing up in the 1980s, I heard Martha and the Muffins on the radio practically every day. Due to Canada’s content regulations stipulating that 30% of radio content must be Canadian (increased to 35% in 1999), native acts received ample airplay and often on stations in which they wouldn’t normally receive attention. I liked Martha and the Muffins, but it often felt like their product was being pushed more than was warranted, hearing them on all radio formats across the dial.
The Playlist
Insect Love
Echo Beach
Paint by Number Heart
Indecision
Hide and Seek
Suburban Dream
Teddy the Dink
About Insomnia
Be Blasé
Swimming
Women Around the World at Work
Boy Without Filters
You Sold the Cottage
Obedience
World Without Borders
Danseparc (Every Day it’s Tomorrow)
Several Styles of Blonde Girls Dancing
Black Stations/White Stations
Cooling the Medium
Come Out and Dance
I Start to Stop
Only You
By the Waters of Babylon
Song in My Head
Fighting the Monster
Rainbow Sign
Paradise
Million Dollars
All I Know
Life’s Too Short to Long for Something Else
Love Began with Eve
Summer of Song
Stay Home and Dance
In the early 2000s, I was in the West Edmonton Mall while on vacation and wandered through a record store. I came across a greatest hits compilation for the band, Then Again: A Retrospective. I don’t know if it was nostalgia, but I had a pang of guilt – “this was a good band,” I thought, “I should own some of their music.” Over the next week, as I drove through the Rocky Mountains taking in the beautiful sites, I listened to that CD over and over, astonished both at how much I enjoyed it – loved it – and at how wonderful the music was. I needed to reconsider my impression of Martha and the Muffins, this wasn’t an over-hyped act, this was actually a band that was overlooked and neglected relative to their quality. They should have been huge, yet despite all their airplay, they never took off… except for that song.
“Insect Love” \ non-album single (1979)
“Echo Beach”; “Paint by Number Heart”; “Indecision”; “Hide and Seek” \ Metro Music (1980)
In late 1970s Toronto there was an emerging and vibrant arts scene, with those pursuing punk and other ground-breaking forms of music entrenching themselves along the gritty bars and streets around Queen St. West. A few hundred metres north on McCaul St is Canada’s oldest, and one of its most notable, art schools, OCAD University (OCAD refers to its prior name, the Ontario College of Art and Design). In the 1970s it was called Ontario College of Art and it was where Mark Gane was learning his way. Approached by fellow student David Millar (guitar) who was interested in starting a band, Mark (guitar) recruited his brother Tim (drums) while David asked friend Martha Johnson (vocals) to be the singer, and she in turn brought on Carl Finkle (bass). The quintet debuted at the college’s Halloween party in 1977. In need of a name, they dubbed themselves, temporarily, Martha and the Muffins, a lighthearted moniker to separate themselves from the aggressive punk scene in which the band was circulating.
In 1980, pre-amalgamation Toronto was a collection of five cities and a borough, which collectively were known as ‘Metro Toronto,’ the likely source of the title for Metro Music.
As they progressed, fellow OCA student Andy Haas joined on sax, and when Millar decided to move behind the scenes to be the sound engineer, another OCA recruit, Martha Ladly, was brought on as a keyboardist. In 1978 a single was issued independently, as a Muffin Music release, “Insect Love” (with “Suburban Dream” on the B-side). They sent a demo to Interview magazine editor, Glenn O’Brien, who enthusiastically took up their cause, first arranging a show in New York at the club, Hurrah – their first gig outside Toronto – and then sharing their demo with Robert Fripp of King Crimson and Virgin Records rep, Dave Fudger. Through them they were connected to Carol Wilson, who was forming a sub-label for Virgin Records, Dindisc. She came to Toronto and saw the Muffins perform at the club, The Edge, where she was convinced to sign them. Along with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the Muffins were one of the label’s first signings. After issuing a new version of “Insect Love” in 1979, the band recorded their first album in England, and Metro Morning was released in early 1980. Thanks to that relationship they also received as much attention in the UK as in Canada.
The album’s first single, “Echo Beach,” became a blessing and a curse; an incredibly catchy tune in which its success set a bar that the band could never again surpass – rendering Martha and the Muffins, for most, as a one-hit wonder. It reached the top ten in Canada, Australia and the UK and became an instant new wave classic. Its persistent rhythm, smooth melodies, and hooky chorus were the perfect blend of pop and the new wave.
The rest of the album, though excellent, was quirkier and lacked the panache of its conquering single. The albums’ second track and single, “Paint by Number Heart,” better captured the band’s predominantly rhythm-based style and off-kilter compositions. The idiosyncratic, sax-tinged sound created a vein in which the likes of American acts The Waitresses and Romeo Void would explore over the coming years. The Muffins were a fantastic blend of the light guitar, sax and synth melody combinations of new wave and the deeper, rhythmic approaches of dark wave.
“Suburban Dream”; “Teddy the Dink”; “About Insomnia”; “Be Blasé” \ Trance and Dance (1980)
Released in October the same year as the debut, the second LP, Trance and Dance, leaned more fully into their wonderfully enigmatic mix of complex melodies and hypnotic rhythms. The band revelled in and refined their sound, producing songs with more force and energy, such that terms such as ‘quirky’ seemed less appropriate.
The cover of Trance and Dance was designed by Peter Saville and featured a painting by band member, Martha Ladly
Full of sublime hooks and moments of bliss, they were alas buried amongst the layers of experimental and ground-breaking sounds and rhythms of the very talented band. “Suburban Dream” was a masterful mix of instruments, breaking apart and coming together seamlessly with breathless energy, whereas “Be Blasé” captured their irreverent side and “About Insomnia” brought out lovely pop melodies. There was a punchy cover of Chris Spedding’s, “Motorbikin’,” tipping their hat to a punkier element, and the album closed with the wonderfully moody title track, reminiscent of the band, Japan.
But without a radio-friendly song like, “Echo Beach,” the album failed to sustain the success of their debut. After scoring a top twenty album in Canada and top forty in the UK with Metro Music, Trance and Dance only saw a chart placing in Canada, and barely so. None of the singles charted.
After the album was recorded Martha Ladly left the band to pursue an art career, leaving the other Martha as the band’s keyboardist. Ladly had provided the painting for the cover of Trance and Dance, whose design was done by Factory Records’ guru, Peter Saville. She moved to the UK to study and worked for Saville, enmeshing herself in the UK music scene. She provided the titles for OMD’s seminal album, Architecture and Morality, and the single, “Tesla Girls.” She briefly dated Peter Hook from New Order, who played on her singles “Finlandia” (1982, which also included an uncredited Stephen Morris) and “Light Years from Love” (1983). A painting of hers was used for the cover of New Order’s 1982 compilation EP, 1981-FEP 313-1982 (which I painted on a wall of my house in the 1990s) and she also received credits for the artwork for Joy Division’s Still and the New Order single, “Temptation.” Ladly also became a member of Scottish band, The Associates, playing on their 1982 top ten album, Sulk, and toured with Roxy Music for their Avalon album and with Robert Palmer in 1986. She then headed Real World Design, a part of Peter Gabriel’s enterprise. Today, doctorate in hand, she has returned to her roots, becoming a professor at OCAD (now a university) back in Toronto.
Martha and the Muffins, the first version (L to R): Martha Johnson (vocals & keyboards); Carl Finkle (bass); Mark Gane (guitar); Martha Ladly (keyboards & vocals); Tim Gane (drums); and Andy Haas (sax)
“Swimming”; “Women Around the World at Work”; “Boy Without Filters”; “You Sold the Cottage” \ Welcome to the Ice Age (1981)
Carl Finkle also left the band the following year. He was replaced on bass by Jocelyne Lanois, whose brother Daniel was in the process of establishing a producing career by working with local bands, so the band chose him to produce the next album, This Is the Ice Age. The new line-up and new, soon to be famous producer, brought about a different sound for Martha and the Muffins. There was also a new dynamic as Martha and Mark became a romantic couple after Martha had recently divorced, though they kept it a secret for the first period of their relationship.
Another picture of Toronto, this time from Mark’s apartment on Bloor St, looking at the office tower, First Canadian Place (where I’ve spent much of my career working).
The album was slicker, more nuanced in tone and pace, had more potent pop sensibilities, yet still carried their unique blend of off-kilter melody and rhythm combinations. The album was better received, cracking the top forty in Canada but once again not making a mark elsewhere. The second single, “Swimming,” did well on local radio but on the national charts failed to appear.
The first single, though, “Woman Around the World at Work,” became the band’s next successful single after “Echo Beach” – at least in Canada. It reached #24 in the national chart and was a staple on Canadian radio throughout the early ‘80s. When I listened to that compilation CD in the early 2000s, it was that song that grabbed my attention – “oh yeah! This was a pretty good song… wait, this is a great song!” Over the past twenty years it has become one of my favourites, requiring the stereo to be cranked every time I hear it, which is often. The sublime mix of guitar and keyboards, the wailing sax, and Martha’s layered vocals made for a persistent and mesmerizing song. I think it’s one of the greatest songs to ever come out of Canada. It was pop but, with its artsy edge, was kept it from being widely popular despite its heavy airplay.
With Martha Ladly gone, Mark Gane was also featured on vocals more prominently. He took the lead on “Swimming” and the moody, “Boy Without Filters,” giving the band a different tone. The band’s Canadiana bona fides also rang through on, “You Sold the Cottage,” as they listed off the many vacation locales from around Ontario. Such native references were not uncommon in the band’s music, two of their album covers (Metro Music and This is the Ice Age) featured pictures of Toronto.
Over the winter of 1982, I was aged eleven and starting to listen to the radio more, paying attention to music as an increasing interest. “Swimming” was a song on the radio multiple times a day and I thought it was silly. Its repeating twinkling keyboards and odd guitar riff over an asynchronous beat and Mark Gane’s simple vocal delivery, with the recurring refrain, “We’re afraid to call it love / Let’s call it swimming,” just sounded simple and goofy. I came to think of Martha and the Muffins – that name! – as an act not to be taken seriously. For the next several years, as I developed my musical tastes, I continued to dismiss the band as a novelty. And thus, despite never completely disliking their music, neither was I ever inclined to seek it out. I wonder – I suspect – I was not alone; and even though I blame my mis-reading of the music as a product of my youth, there must have been many others kept at bay due to the band’s eccentric sound. It was close to a pure brand of pop yet separated by its inventiveness and exploration of an ever-evolving sonic texture. Of course, today I love this about the band, and it is cause for celebration and praise. It’s to our benefit, but not always theirs, that Martha and the Muffins made the difficult sacrifice of commercial success for creative exploration and freedom.
“Obedience”; “World Without Borders”; “Danseparc (Every Day it’s Tomorrow)”; “Several Styles of Blonde Girls Dancing” \ Danseparc (1983)
Deciding he didn’t want to tour, Tim Gane left the band after This is the Ice Age was recorded and Nick Kent became the band’s new drummer. Andy Haas quarrelled over the musical direction – perhaps due to the meagre amount of sax used on the previous album – and also departed. He has played an many releases for others over the years and has issued eight albums either solo or in partnership with others.
The promo card for the new line-up
Therefore, the band went into the studio as a quartet – Martha, Mark, Jocelyn, and Nick – for the first time and with Martha and Mark as the only remaining original members. The couple also contributed to the album’s production along with Daniel Lanois. Virgin had dropped them in lieu of their declining appeal over the past two albums, and this time they would be recording for RCA Records.
Once again, the sound changed while the core stayed true to the band’s experimental, varied rhythms. The guitar came forward with more aggression and accents, keyboards featured prominently, as they had on the previous LP, and a greater variety of sounds and effects were deployed. Curiously, sax featured again more prominently, this time provided by session players, including experimental Canadian composer, John Oswald. The album also featured more lively beats and rhythms, borrowing from more global influences, and edging the band’s work into new territory.
Danseparc, with both band titles listed
Danseparc was a remarkable album, maintaining the consistently high quality that had marked all their releases. The album equalled their previous release on the Canadian charts, just making it into the top forty. The title track, “Danseparc (Every Day It’s Tomorrow),” rivalled their best work. Its spellbinding guitar sound, tense drum and bass foundation, and as always Martha’s distinctive, layered vocals made for an affecting song, once again establishing Martha and the Muffins as one of Canada’s most unique and innovative acts. As the LP’s only single out of three to chart, it reached the top forty on the national singles chart. In Toronto their songs and albums usually did well on the local radio station charts, especially in Toronto – at CFNY, This is the Ice Age had been #14 in it’s ’81 year-end list, while Danseparc was #70 in 1983.
The new line-up and changing sound prompted Mark to lobby for a name change for the band. Recall that Martha and the Muffins was supposed to be temporary, and given the band’s musical sophistication and slick visual artistry, it was understandable if he no longer wanted to be a ‘Muffin.’ He proposed they be called, M+M, which also promoted the idea of the band really being about the remaining original members, Mark and Martha. Indeed, every song on Danseparc had been written by the pair, save for one that was credited to all four members. It was also the first time the duo had written together, rather than bringing together their separate contributions. The application of the new name was tentative, likely not wanting to lose the benefit of the established brand to promote the album. Therefore, Danseparc was issued with both Martha and the Muffins and M+M listed as the artist name.
“Black Stations/White Stations”; “Cooling the Medium”; “Come Out and Dance”; “I Start to Stop” \ Mystery Walk (1984)
There was no tentativeness on the next LP, which was issued as an album by M+M. Wanting to take their music in new directions Mark and Martha also ratified the name change by reducing their act to a duo. The album was recorded with session musicians with Daniel Lanois still producing, along with contributing some playing on the album.
The result was, as promised, a new musical course for the band. The global rhythms now featured prominently, making the album jump with new energy, moving their sound more decidedly into a dance vibe. However, there were still all the hallmarks of the pair’s song writing, mixing sublime melodies with the new rhythm mixes, such as on “Cooling the Medium.”
Oddly, the album did less well, failing to reach the top forty in Canada, despite featuring their most successful single since, “Echo Beach.” The album’s lead track and first single, “Black Stations/White Stations,” reached the top forty in Canada and almost breached that threshold in the UK. It also reached #2 on the US Dance chart and made it onto the US singles chart, their first to do so. Of course, in Toronto, the song was ubiquitous on local radio. This success was deserved. The song was a marvel, moving through bracing rhythms, intoxicating vocals, emphatic horns, and a catchy chorus. Written about the prevalence of racism and exclusionary policies in radio, the song also carried a message. It put M+M at the vanguard of the broader movement for greater equality in the music industry as black music was ascending in prominence across international charts throughout the 1980s.
Images from the video for “Black Stations/White Stations.” This video got a lot of airplay and captured the duo’s inventive style and imagery
“Only You”; “By the Waters of Babylon”; “Song in My Head” \ The World is A Ball (1986)
1985 saw Martha and Mark shift back to England, recording in Bath and this time with producer David Lord, who had recently produced Peter Gabriel (a Martha Ladly connection, perhaps?), XTC, and The Icicle Works. From this work came M+M’s next LP, The World is A Ball.
The last album under the M+M name. Future releases of the album would include “Martha and the Muffins” on the cover, just under the M+M.
The first single was “Song in My Head,” another wonderfully hypnotic tune that carried all the best features of the band – lively rhythms, engaging vocals, varied instrumentation, and a hooky chorus – along with an unabashed pop feel. The song hit the top forty in Canada but failed to chart elsewhere. Despite the strength of that song, the album failed to take off, and though it charted higher than Mystery Walk in Canada, it was still short of the top forty.
The album was uneven and many of the songs fell flat, lacking the forceful personality of the duo. After five albums of such exploration and high quality, the sixth simply lacked character and seemed to be too much of an attempt to recreate past successes. Too many songs came and went without making a mark as you listened to the album. There were some interesting parts, such as the bigger feel of “Only You” (it sounded like Peter Gabriel, reflecting their new producer), and the understated, alluring feel of “By the Waters of Babylon,” but overall the album was the band’s first miss.
“Fighting the Monster”; “Rainbow Sign”; “Paradise”; “Million Dollars” \ Modern Lullaby (1992)
Mark and Martha moved to Bath permanently in 1987, living a new life and taking stock of their career, which had slid under the radar from their broader audience. In 1989, they returned to Toronto with some songs and continued to record sporadically. In 1992 they had a daughter, Eve.
In December 1992 came the release of the next LP via Toronto indie label, Intrepid Records. The six-year gap between albums was the longest in their career after having issued the first six LPs over a seven-year span. They also returned to using the Martha and the Muffins name, and original ‘Muffin’ Tim Gane even returned to contribute on a few songs. Much had changed in the music universe since the prior release and the band found themselves competing in a more varied, increasingly rock-driven music scene. The album didn’t chart and no singles were issued, with “Rainbow Sign” put out for radio promotion.
Modern Lullaby had all the distinctive elements of the artistic duo, and there were many quality songs like “Fighting the Monster” and “Rainbow Sign,” but not unlike the predecessor LP, it lacked anything to drive excitement for the listener. It was pleasant, but not engaging.
“All I Know”; “Life’s Too Short to Long for Something Else”; “Love Began with Eve” \ Delicate (2010)
Now parents, Mark and Martha shifted priorities and put Martha and the Muffins on the shelf. In 1995 they recorded a children’s album, Songs from the Tree House, which was credited just to ‘Martha’ and was very successful. It won them a second Juno (Canada’s music award) with the first having been for “Echo Beach,” which won ‘Single of the Year’ back in 1980.
My wife and I were eating dinner at a fast-food restaurant in 1997 with our one-year-old child. A couple tables over from us, Martha, Mark and Eve were also eating. I’m not usually good at recognizing celebrities, but after having grown up watching their many videos, the couple were unmistakable to me. At that moment, they were just a family enjoying a meal, looking, much like ourselves, tired and distracted near the end of a day. Despite my inclination to talk to them, I decided not to disturb their dinner. It’s a Canadian tradition to not bother our celebrities.
In 1998, the retrospective that I would purchase a few years later was released, featuring a new song, “Resurrection.” Other than an additional song, “Do You Ever Wonder,” issued on a various artists compilation album in 1999, there was little sign of Martha and the Muffins for the next decade. A suspected reason for that was Martha being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2000, again putting their focus less on music.
Slowly, they started performing some reunion shows around 2003 and 2005, including participation from some original members such as Jocelyn Lanois, who had gone on to some success via the band, Crash Vegas, which issued three LPs in the 1990s and had a Canadian top twenty single, “Inside Out,” in 1990.
Martha and the Muffins put out a single, “Mess,” in early 2010, leading to the release of their first album in eighteen years, Delicate. Thanks to Martha’s vocals it was unmistakably a Martha and the Muffins album, but musically it bore few markers to the band’s original sound, mixing a contemporary vibe. It was a good album, solid if unremarkable, but very polished and consistent.
“Summer of Song” (2017); “Stay Home and Dance” (2020) \ non-album singles
Since Delicate, Martha issued a solo album in 2013, Solo One. However, with Mark having co-written, played, and co-produced it, it was for all intents and purposes another Muffins album. Sonically though, it was more stripped down, acoustic and ambient, bearing less resemblance to the band’s fuller sound. Mark has also said he’s working on a solo album, but nothing has been issued yet. Martha’s work has also focused on contributing to causes to aid Parkinson’s research and patient support. In 2017, they issued a song, “Summer of Song,” to commemorate the band’s fortieth anniversary, featuring a video of some of the Muffins’ earliest performances in Toronto. This year (2020) they have also issued a remixed version of “Come Out and Dance,” titled “Stay Home and Dance,” as a rally to help fight the COVID pandemic.
Mark and Martha have also guested and produced a multitude of music for fellow artists. Their career and contributions to Canadian music have been exemplary, and they deserve to be recognized among the upper echelons of the country’s artistic legacy. The consistency, quality, and experimental aspects of their music, especially their first five albums, made them one of the freshest and most notable acts of the 1980s, a period when Canadian music shed it’s rock and folk past to establish itself in more varied ways. Martha and the Muffins and M+M deserved more international attention and commercial success than they got, but we also need to be thankful they pursued creativity and a vibrant sound more than what would appeal to the masses. For me, I needed my musical ear to mature to fully appreciate what they were about, and perhaps that’s the crux of the story for Martha and the Muffins, if not for the many, the rewards are rich for those that invest.
