MUNKEY JUICE - MAFIA CORNFIELDS

You know, were I a grownup when Sesame Street made its debut, I might have been awestruck by Big Bird. I mean, introducing an eight-foot-tall walking, talking canary to teach children is, well, different. Nobody else really tried something so odd as that. But they weren’t content just being different. They wanted to trump it. So they introduced Mr. Snuffleupagus. Now, that eight-foot-tall, walking, talking canary had a best friend: a big, hairy, walking, talking, slightly effeminate woolly mammoth. Biggest difference was he was prettier than Big Bird.
And that’s your metaphor, little bastards. Munkey Juice is Sesame Street. Sassy Potato, their last album, is Big Bird. And Mafia Cornfields, their latest record, is the more different, slightly prettier Snuffy.
Munkey Juice still lack the sense of conformity that makes most bands blander than Wilford Brimley’s libido. They play what they want, how they want, and wind up evolving in the process. And with Mafia Cornfields, they not only introduce stronger melodies and more diverse instrumentation (check the banjo on \"Blinded\" or the saxophone on \"Unqualified Sympathy\"), but, well, they also earn their Snuffleupagus stripes with a few unexpectedly pretty tunes. There’s the kinda sad \"Out Of My Life\", which won me over immediately with those damn handclaps at the beginning. (It’s a little thing, but much appreciated.) There’s also \"Am I Doing Fine\", which bounces between acoustic guitar/harmonica softness, and a cranked distorted guitar.
So, yes, like the aforementioned Snuffleupagus, Munkey Juice’s Mafia Cornfields is a bit prettier than its musical predecessor. But don’t let all that pretty talk fool you. Snuffy was a giant woolly mammoth, goddamnit! You don’t fuck with something as big and ferocious as that. Likewise, when Munkey Juice rocks the fuck out of your roll on Mafia Cornfields (\"Hazy Lazy\", \"Your One Condition\"), you best get out of the way.