I must admit: I wasn't hoping for much. My mom, who'd seen them play before, warned me to bring earplugs & lax standards, so the bar was set low. What I neglected to take into consideration, though, was her characteristically librarian dislike of loud noises (...she's a librarian, after all) - so while she covered her ears (& left early!), the rest of us rocked out to the sweet mash-up sounds of StarMonkey. Stupid name or not, they were damn good.
[Bizarre name-dropping interlude: StarMonkey once opened for Wang Chung. But no, it wasn't in the '90s - it was, like, a few months ago. Also, Friday's show involved a kazoo solo. Who isn't a sucker for kazoos?]StarMonkey's mash-ups are far from the Girl Talk & Ratatat style the word "mash-up" evokes. Rather, they take hard rock & '90s Top 40 tunes & blend them... however the eff they feel like blending them. Friday's show started with a bit of Snoop rap & went on to cover everything from Nirvana to Britney Spears to the Beastie Boys to Sir Mixalot, as evidenced by their set list:
("Milkshake"?! Hells to the yes.)
I tried to take video but largely failed. This one is the only one that turned out all right, a quick clip of StarMonkey performing Rage Against the Machine's "Pocket Full of Shells" mashed up with... I forget what. Please forgive my obnoxious "WOOOOO!"ing halfway through & instead focus on the fact that isn't my cousin weirdly baller? Even though he's wearing an argyle sweatervest & a pair of sunglasses that make him look like a total alien.
And in case you're not yet sold on the awesome, here's the kicker: The show ended with some strange & unknown top-hatted man taking the stage to thank StarMonkey for playing... before regaling the crowd with an inspired little ditty... on the jazz flute. A la Ron Burgundy. Seriously.
I LOVE DANIEL TOSH! I met him one time and we hung out... He was kinda DRUNK lol... it was right before a show of his. I kinda wish my boyfriend at the time wasn't there HAHA!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like an awesome time. I'm a sucker for good mash-up, in Montreal there is a sick group who does mash-up, oh, it's so good!
ReplyDeleteAnd by "pocket full of shells" you mean bulls on parade..........
ReplyDeletenever heard of them!! but anything with monkey, my husband would like haha!!
ReplyDeleteGonna need to hear Pour Some Medley on Me.
ReplyDeleteThing the first: Love the Peruvian monkey logo. Thing the second: AWESOME, awesome set list.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds awesome!!!
ReplyDelete