Captain Monk Archive
Captain Monk
Feds
Apart from being a truly exceptional jack-of-all-trades musician, Oakland’s Captain Monk also has a seemingly effortless cool that makes everything he releases just plain fun.
“Feds” is the third single from what looks to be another killer record - and as you’re inevitably singing the earworm chorus to yourself, it’ll easily be the most fun you’ll ever have uttering the words “the Feds crawled up my ass”.
Crunchy, funky, airtight, and full of swagger, the first thing that comes to mind when “Feds” kicks in is that, somewhere, Prince is smiling.
The comparison holds up in a number of ways - the melodic sensibility of the chorus, chiefly, the way the arrangement is stacked in the verses, and the one-man-band aspect of these recordings.
Everything Captain Monk has ever released is huge, professional, and worthy of being widely heard. For now, we’re glad there’s still a bit of elbow room on this bandwagon.
Captain Monk
Feelings
Throughout Feelings, the impeccable tightness of it all speaks volumes. You don’t have to be told you’re listening to a professional.
And it would be easy, by the time you reach the 4th track “Nickel” to think you’ve got Captain Monk pinned down. The attitude, the swagger, the muscle, the weaving together of disparate influences. And then he drops that extra dimension on us.
“Nickel” is the finishing move that cements Captain Monk as a fully developed artistic entity. Full of vulnerability, utterly gorgeous, this song shows Captain Monk stretching further than anywhere else on the album to gather elements from the outskirts of unexpected genres and sounds.
The result is breathtaking. Name a band from the Southern rock radio heyday and this would’ve easily been in the top 5 songs that band ever released. “There ain’t no Hallelujah left inside of me” is a brutal gut-punch of a line, and it’s delivered with all the soul Allen can muster.
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