You might be thinking, as I was when I first heard of this lot, that Pornographic Monkey were some kind of dumb Blink 182 style band, with smut filled gags and songs about animal sex. Well if that’s what you were hoping for, get ready to be very disappointed. This Stoke crew sent in their demo to Punktastic, and being the good boys (and gal) that we are, offered to review it. And as described, I was surprised that I didn’t have a Blink clone bluring from the speakers. Instead PM are about as far removed from Mark, Tom and Travis as you can get. Their demo is reasonably innovative and there is plenty of promise on offer, but doesn’t quite hit the potential that they hint at.
Pornographic Monkey don’t really fit into any genre, borrowing elements of many different bands and fusing them together rather nicely. There are certainly elements of the post-hardcore sound, along with falsetto vocals by bands like Radiohead and Muse in others. It’s a strange mix that does actually work quite well. Over the course of the four tracks you get the feeling that PM are a band with plenty of promise and although some elements of the songs certainly need work, they are on the right track. ‘Ministry Of Truth’ sounds like Radiohead circa ‘OK Computer’, but with an extra weirdness factor added in, just for kicks. And for the most part the track is excellent – but you just feel that if the guitars kicked in at any point then the track would be all the better for it. The vocals are very good, although they do begin to drone towards the end, hence the need for some kind of breakdown or explosion. Still, inventive and original and that scores plus points.
‘Polystrene Irene’ does not have the best lyrics, I have to be honest. But the track itself does sound good, even if the music for the Alton Towers advert is blatantly ripped off half-way through. But again I feel that the track screams out for a breakdown. The vocals are fragile and brilliant, but the expected cataclysmic screams that you sense are just about to arrive never do. Infact the guitars build and build, until they end. If PM sort this little misdemeanour out, we have one hell of a band on our hands. The bass-lead intro to the song ‘Pornographic Monkey‘ hints at a harder edge, but it again never really gets going. With a slow chant of ‘monkey’ building up into a mantra like chorus, the track is reminiscient of some of the early Nirvana stuff. It’s almost experimental, but within the confines of a four-track demo it’s maybe not the best thing to do. Still, the musicianship is spot-on and the vocals are again superb. ‘Propaganda’ on the other hand is far, far better. The guitars and drums build up, and the band launch into the song. The inventive use of the guitars is a big plus, and the vocals are again very much like Thom Yorke in a head-on collision with Kurt Cobain. It’s also quite possibly the best track on the record.
PM are well worth checking out and have the potential to be absolutely awesome. But at the minute while the ingriedients seem to be present, for some reason they are not quite gelling to their full potential. But, with a few tweaks here and there, watch out for a band that could really go places.
Paul