MNDR (pronounced "mandar") is an electronic music duo, formed in 2009 in New York City, consisting of Amanda Warner and Peter Wade. Warner moved from Oakland, California to New York City in 2008 to work as a songwriter for hire. It was only after meeting Wade that she began to consider fronting a musical act herself. MNDR has opened for bands like YACHT, Massive Attack, and Deerhoof and frequently collaborates with visual artist Jamie Carreiro, who provides visual effects for MNDR's live shows.[2] Warner and Wade uploaded four tracks to MySpace in 2009, and those tracks eventually became MNDR's debut EP, E.P.E.. The band is currently at work on their first full-length album, tentatively scheduled for release in early 2011.[3] The song "Fade to Black" from E.P.E was re-recorded in the Simlish language of The Sims and is featured in The Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff.
Every summer has an unlikely pop star or twenty, and this year's might as well be Amanda Warner. The self-proclaimed "mega-nerd" started out making beats in Portland's dingy experimental music scene — as in, lots of German techno and early Detroit house (whatever that is). She was, in fact, such a nerd that she didn't know who Mark Ronson was. Turns out their collaboration would become Mark Ronson & The Business Intl and its first single, "Bang Bang Bang," a synth-driven dance anthem getting time at just about every club and radio station in the world this August with Warner pumping out the chorus.
Warner is also one-half of MNDR (a peculiar acronym of her name, which she chose for its "techno-y" sound), a group she formed with producer Peter Wade, which has been favorably compared to Santigold and recently toured with UK electronic juggernauts Massive Attack. And the singing's not bad, either. We talked to her from London — where she was practicing with Ronson, now a good friend — about keeping her underground roots, what it's like being booed by the British, and those gigantic glasses of hers.
