Stoat: A short tailed weasel with brown coat.
Afire: Being on fire.
Mold Monkies: A New Haven, CT based Rock-n-Roll band that draws heavily from the New Wave era.
The connection? Got me. What I do know is that The Mold Monkies 2nd release in 5 years continues the pristine, poppy, New Wave indulgence displayed on their 1st CD - “O Brave Yet Ignorant Swine.” With classic songwriting, slick production and an aggressiveness sound that doesn’t lose the professionalism of the band, the songwriting team of Russell Shaddox and Nick Appleby prove once again that their popfest, musical signatures and ingeniously, witty lyrics can nestle in with the likes of XTC, Tonio K, The Jam, The Kinks and Warren Zevon to name but a few.
15 tracks (7 by Shaddox, 7 by Appleby) augmented by an awesome cover of Billy Braggs 1985 song, “A New England,” which makes the transition, along with all the others, to 2010 perfectly. There are a lot of ’80 New Wave records that sound ridiculously dated when played today, but Stoats Afire! works both ways here. It would fit comfortably in the 80s alongside the entire Stiff Records Catalogue and beyond, while it also represents how 2nd Wave English Pop is still a viable format in today’s Rock-n-Roll landscape. Not to mention that the album closer, “Average Plan” could be on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
The Mold Monkies are on fire here, as to whether or not the “Stoats” apply, maybe playing the “Stoats Afire!” board game enclosed in the CD will help you decide. Either way it’s great fun and Great Rock-n-Roll.
Listen to "Hound of Heaven" now, it's the IndepenDisc 09-08-10 "Song of the Week"
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