South to north; yesterday London, today Glasgow and newcomers Monkey Puzzle who mix rap, metal and immature lunacy.
Monkey Puzzle have been around since 2012 and started as an excuse to “dog” school. For those who don’t live in the northern part of these British Isles, the posh word for this would be to “truant” and as a teacher it’s obviously something I can’t condone. Mind, at least we got some good tunes out of this bunch failing to turn up for maths for a few periods a week.
Despite some impressive success on the live circuit around Glasgow, the band are only just on the cusp of releasing their debut EP Suck Macaque (think about it…). One single, “Boomslang” from this five-track offering is available as a download from Bandcamp, or you can stream it below. I would, of course, recommend that you pop to the source page and throw some beer money at them. It’s a “pay what you want” release.
Having had a chance to listen to the band Suck Macaque (sorry), I can say that it’s not that sucky at all. The songs show a nice bit of variety, a good sense of humour and there are some solid riffs in there. Best of the rockier numbers is “Just ‘Cause”, while “Sparklehorse” really shows a different side to the band with something approaching a ballad.
Probably the best thing is the hugely apparent “Weegie” accent throughout. It really adds a bit of authenticity to proceedings – where some bands would try and put on the gangsta tones to anything rappy and come across like the whiny offspring of Ice-T, Monkey Puzzle aren’t afraid to stand by their Buckfast-willing past (and possibly present).
As it happens, as I type this the band are playing a venue only a mile or so from my house. Dammit. I’m sure I’ll catch them sometime soon.
Suck Macaque comes out toward the end of October / beginning of November through Esquimaux Records.
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