Kid Congo Powers (the stage name of Brian Tristan) is hardly a kid these days. He is, after all, the veteran garage guitarist from
the Gun Club and
the Cramps, did a stint with
Nick Cave's Bad Seeds, and
Haunted Head is the third album he has done with his current band,
the Pink Monkey Birds (bassist Kiki Solis, drummer Ron Miller, and guitarist Jesse Roberts). No, he might not be a kid these days, but he's lost none of his youthful goofiness or any urge to stop playing punk garage rock like it never went out of style, which it never truly does. But in
Powers' world,
Iggy and
the Stooges get merged with
the Three Stooges, and this is visionary cartoon rock full of surf overtones, fuzzy guitars, and
Captain Beefheart lyrics that seem more made up on the spot than actually written.
Powers is hardly a great vocalist, sounding more like a beat poet speaking and slightly chanting his latest musings backed by a ragged, kick-ass band channeling the ghost of
Screamin' Jay Hawkins backed by
the Stones lost in New Orleans at their drunkest. The whole album is a slab of loose noise that somehow gets over on its own verve and kinetics, with songs emerging from the mix in
Powers' baritone singing/speaking voice. "Let's Go!" is a fraying, joyous call for motion and action; the opener, "Lurch," does just that, lurching about like a delightful lost surf tune on too much whiskey; and "Killer Diller" somehow works as a tribute to comedian
Phyllis Diller merged with the 1950s ghost of
Jerry Lee Lewis. "Dance Me Swamply" is
Powers' version of a love song, although even it exists in a strange twilight world of juju cartoons. This is
Kid Congo Powers. He may not be a kid anymore, but he isn't too big on changing his style, which is a good thing. ~ Steve Leggett