25: Mugison - Mugimama, Is This Monkey Music?

Is this monkey music?

Absolutely.

This album is about the strangest collection of music that I heard this past year. I immediately gravitated toward the sound when I heard the song "What I Would Say at Your Funeral", which has the most amusing lyrics of any song that came out last year. This band obviously wants to do things differently and the longer I listened to it the more its gentle punk nature wiggled its way into my heart. There are a couple of songs that I can't seem to stomach, whenever I hear them I find myself saying "What the fuck is this?" and can't seem to find the delete button fast enough. But most of the album is soft and serene in its disconcerted way. It's strange monkey music that has a voice of its own and that's a rare accomplishment in today's media saturated climate.