Last month I wrote about Space Monkey Mafia releasing a new song and announcing a new album. While their last album made my top 10 albums of 2022, Linear Time was better than anything on that 2022 album. I loved the way it dealt with the topic of grief while dealing with the death of a loved one while balancing appropriate tones and still being a ska song and doesn’t feel out of place or just sad. I say all that to say that somehow, that song is not better than this second song they’ve released for the upcoming album. If “Linear Time” was my favorite Space Monkey Mafia song, “Death of the Party” is 1B.
“Death if the Party” has significant Swing Revival vibes- especially in the first half of the song. Somewhere The Squirrel Nut Zippers are listening to this in awe. The upbeat rhythm and big brass, all working together to produce a song about eating the rich, literally. The song begins a fun, swing dance song about the vultures celebrating a party on the wealth created by the labor of those who toil below, uninvited. Then, the death of the party arrives, uninvited, ready for a meal of his own. Then, as the feat begins we reach the breakdown, starting with a little swing rhythm on the symbols keeping time as the guitars build up to a deep aggressive tones and then coming out of the near hardcore rhythm accompanied by Big powerful horns before coming through on the other end with the keyboard playing a playful circus-like rhythm as the death of the party celebrates his meal. Perhaps he’s been radicalized, but he’s not been cannibalized.
I don’t care what else is on this album, these first two songs couldn’t be more diverse nor could they be any better than they are. I can’t wait to buy this album, and while pre-orders are not available yet, 2025 can’t come soon enough.
Written by Gimp Leg
