by Amaris Pollinger

(dark, spicy (picante), upbeat, serene and of course, humorous) it’s also exactly what you wouldn’t expect.

The “thinking man’s garage rock band,” Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds have released their first full-length album since La Araña Es La Vida(2016). Out everywhere now, That Delicious Vice is—well—delicious (no, we didn’t eat it). 
 
When they lost a member, frontman and LA punk/garage rock veteran Kid Congo Powers (The Gun Club, Nick Cave and the Badseeds, The Cramps, The Knoxville Girls) decided: “Why not try this as a three-piece?” This decision gave the Pink Monkey Birds space to stretch their monkey wings; musically speaking. At times you might hear one or two guitars shrieking at a simultaneous rally-slow pace.  
 
There are the usual melodies one might expect from Kid Congo too—but there’s an old spaghetti Western-ness to the album that is reminiscent of The Gun Club, as heard on “Silver Dollar for My Sister” (interpret that at your discretion, we don’t make the rules). That Delicious Vice opens with “Wicked World,” a wonderful and long over-due collaboration with fellow LA punk pioneer, Alice Bag (The Bags). 

 But while That Delicious Vice is exactly what you’d expect, (dark, spicy (picante), upbeat, serene, and of course, humorous) it’s also exactly what you wouldn’t expect. After living in Tucson for some time, Kid Congo Powers jokes that the desert has grown on him, and therefore found its way into the Pink Monkey Birds.  
 
Sonically, That Delicious Vice is very cinematic, with a twang of Spanish-Americana that transports you smack into the middle of the desert. See “The Smoke is the Ghost” for said transportation.  While listening to the album, one might recall the long, looming desert shots from the films Paris, Texas (1984) and The Passenger (1975). So it’s not surprising that the band referred to cinematic sound several times while working on That Delicious Vice.  

 
“[We were] creating a mood, creating a picture and creating a feeling,” Kid Congo Powers says of the album.  
Well, mission accomplished.  
 

Each track leads from one storied chapter to the next, with its plot twists and separate cast of characters that just so happen to be entangled in one larger, cohesive universe. And while there is always a bit of lightheartedness to be found in the Pink Monkey Birds, there are tributes to friends long gone. “The Boy Had it All” was inspired by the life and times of Howie Pyro. Pyro was a major fixture in the New York City punk scene who co-founded the D-Generation, as well as a prolific party DJ and music/film archivist. Tracks like “The Boy Had it All,” are dedicated to souls that have flown from Power’s life, bringing that sense of serenity to That Delicious Vice mentioned earlier. It is also Kid Congo’s way of capturing the essence of that person; which is more like trying to capture lightning in a bottle. 
 
And just as these magical, influential people told their individual stories as they moved through the various stages of Kid Congo’s life, weaving their separate stories while unknowingly enmeshing into others, so too do the tracks come together to conceive That Delicious Vice.  From one solitary tale to the next, the album contracts into one solid cinematic novel for the ear. But what are you reading about it for? Go listen for yourself.

Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds is out everywhere now! The Pink Monkey Birds are currently on tour in Australia and will be performing in North America starting 10/22 in San Francisco. Head to Kid Stuff for more info. Kid Congo’s memoir, Some New Kind of Kick: A Memoir, is available on Hachette Books.
*Cover photo by Luz Gallardo courtesy of Jo Murray