Monday, January 17, 2005

Happy MLK Day!

Download: MOFUNGO "Cannonfire"

Greetings. If you are working today, I hope it's of your own volition -- hard to think of another holiday worthy as this one.

This song is from the 1985 LP Frederick Douglass -- out of print, worth seeking out, and usually findable for less than $4. The pop 'zine/ website Trouser Press calls the album "unlistenable," and, while the more "tuneful" 1986 album Messenger Dogs of the Gods has always been my favorite, I'll have to disagree that the album is unlistenable since I just listened to it twice in a row. Mofungo has to be one of the least understood bands of the 1980s, and remain one of just a handful of bands who made political music that is not overly didactic nor musically suck-ass-y. Mofungo were named after a spicy Puerto Rican stew, they came out of the no wave scene in the Lower East Side, Elliott Sharp and Phil Dray were both in the band for awhile, and I always appreciated their not-always-so-ept ways with the vocals and the rhythm section. If you like Ut, the Fugs, and the Ex, and maybe have a thing for characters like Clarence 'Tom' Ashley, this might be your new favorite band.

PS: If you ever want to see a mellow, sweet, and generally very laidback person's face turn bright red, ask Elliott Sharp sometime about his relationship to Greg Ginn and SST.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

seriously, that wasn't that bad!
- DigDug

3:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have messenger dogs of the gods, but haven't heard it in years as i don't have a working turntable. You should post the first song off of that album sometime.

elvino_ray

9:21 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home