Starting in late 2024, Space Monkey Mafia began putting out new singles for their 2025 album Death of the Party. I fell in love with all four singles they released over the course of the next year, but what impressed me most about them was how diverse they sounded. I couldn’t believe they were all the same band. Each song seemed to have completely different influences and structure. Lead singer Dante Leyva’s voice has such incredible range that it’s easy to believe each song was a completely different incredibly talented band. Now it’s 2026, and Space Monkey Mafia has just dropped a new EP called Weed Will Turn You Gay. Besides the title alone, this is by far the most distinct music they have put out to date.
Back in 2021, Eichlers introduced the world to hyperska, the perfect blend of hyperpop and ska. While several other bands have worked with or released hyperska remixes of songs done with Eichlers, this is the first time I’ve heard another ska band write new, original hyperska songs, very much in the vein of Eichlers or 100 gecs. To pull this off, they teamed up with fellow Minnesotan digital/grind artist Anita Velveeta, who described the album perfectly when she said something along the lines of “Traditional ska fans are going to hate this”. Also, if you only like one small flavor of ska, and aren’t experimenting outside of that comfort zone, then this is not your bowl of weed.
The album begins with “Expect More. Pay Less. Be Gay. Do Crime”, a song with a title that matches its brilliance. The song lambasts corporate data collection, the erosion of privacy, and the exploitation of labor, and combines it with an assault on the corporatization and monetization of pride, specifically using Target as the focus of the criticism. It does this over a catchy hyperska beat and incredible digitization and autotune features that are perfectly executed yet certain to piss off traditionalists.
The second track – “Keep Honking! I’m Listening to Ska And You’re in the Band Now” – feels much more chaotic. There is so much going on, lots of tempo and pace play, slowed-down and sped-up vocals, upstrokes, horns, mixed audio tracks, and lyrics in both English and Spanish. The repeated line of “We’re in traffic and you’re gonna cause an accident” feels so incredibly fitting. I love when a song uses techniques that capture the vibes of the lyrics, but I’ve rarely heard anything that feels like the chaotic mess of a traffic jam sounds intentional and perfectly executed.
Interestingly, the third song “Things Not Seen” is about a young adult novel of the same name by Andrew Clements, and is the most direct and straightforward of the tracks on the album. It’s definitely hyperska, but the mix has less added in and mostly plays with tempo and pitch. It feels like they really wanted the listener to pay attention to the story and the lyrics as it roughly retells the story or at least the synopsis of the book. Given the recommended target demographic of the book, I’m guessing it was influential for the songwriter, and maybe I should go back and read it.
Finally, and most importantly, the album ends with a 30-second track that tells you all you need to know, and also completes the process: Weed will, in fact, turn you gay.
Take a listen to Weed Will Turn You Gay below!
Written by Gimp Leg
