Monkeypox - The Mostly Complete Recordings Of .
Brian Shea's TLAK BandCamp Deep Dive discovers Monkeypox
Rock 'n' roll, I gave you the best years of my wife.
Well yes indeed, rock 'n' roll is a fun occupation, a fun hobby, a dream one can truly lose yourself in, one you unintentionally ignore your spouse and other loved ones as you take the journey of soundtracking your life. A never-ending journey, it can be a rabbit hole you can lose yourself in, an Alice In Wonderland of twisted adventure, taking in strangeness, sadness, sexual adventure, taking you to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, a voyage of self-discovery while discovering and losing yourselves in the muse and artistic adventure of others.
As it is a never-ending journey, one can discover new and exciting bands or even old and exciting bands, as there is so much music released on a daily basis nowadays it really is impossible to even scrape the surface. So on this deep dive into the Bandcamp of Think Like A Key Records, a dive I will regularly be taking, I have indeed discovered a band and album I can once again give up more time with than spending time with my nearest and dearest, and I can share my love for with you, as I do love sharing my love of musical discovery.
That artist is the quite amazingly wonderful Monkeypox and The Mostly Complete Recordings comp, a comp of 35 wonderful songs of rock 'n' roll finery. Why oh why are this duo not better known, and why has it taken me six years to discover the magic of this compilation? It indeed ticks all my boxes: we have the magic of the Ray Davies-like "Foreign Girls," a song that could easily have slipped onto any of the Kinks' finest works and not been out of place. The Alex Chilton balladry of "No Minutes [On My Cellphone]" or the Modern Lovers joy of "Surfin' Surfside."
The whole collection is covered in a warm layer of pop suss and a melodicism that is steeped in the rich history and genre-hopping that not just has to be admired but deserves a standing ovation, but I suppose giving your laptop a standing ovation can, I suppose, seem strange and a little weird [well that's what my much ignored wife has just told me via the rolling of her eyes and the "not again, Brian" sigh].
For this album evokes the pleasure of an unrestrained and slightly dysfunctional and ungainly act of total abandonment, for the music of Monkeypox deserves such acts of random tomfoolery. Monkeypox are not just talented songwriters, musicians, performers—they are one of those rarer breeds of bands that not just understand the true magic, humour, and joy of rock 'n' roll but are also scholars and lovers of the history of rock 'n' roll and its many forms.
The Mostly Complete Recordings Of is truly an album we music lovers should not just have a deep dive into but, once dove into, lie back and soak up and bathe in the true magnificence of.
Bandcamp Album of the Day Sep 18, 2024
