Take The Time To Have Fun With KONGOS

Tribal beyond a reasonable doubt. Jungle attitude brought to a fever froth. Describe KONGOS' new "Take It From Me" either way and you'd have a viable point. Dylan Kongos is your slightly fractured tour guide through this maze of out of the ordinary yet cleverly accessible mood integration. If you didn't get your funny bone tickled observing the video then get thee to a doctor post haste, True to the South African roots lions make various appearances on screen. De-fanged but a nice tip of the hat to KONGOS homeland. The pulse of "Take It From Me" marches straight ahead not bothering to check to see whether or not you can maintain the steady pace. Daniel Kongos does the wrap around thing on guitar much the way wrap around clouds hint at a strong spring storm. Lying beneath the sassy ax awaits Jesse Kongos who drums not because he feels duty bound but because, as member of this band of minstrels his role as timekeeper serves to keep us all awake and focused on communal revelry. Ah, the words are the thing so let's see what KONGOS has whipped up for us. Right off the bat KONGOS speaks in a tongue that no sane translator could piece together with a straight face. How exactly do you reconcile "I talk of six while forgetting five." Six is the number of half dozens, useful in assembling baked treats but The Jackson Five would be lacking something without that fifth wheel. Onward we go to "Can't even taste if my food's alive. Hint for you guys. If it's still flopping around on the plate I'd say you have an awesome fish platter at your disposal. Yes, I am Mr. Literal at times. But wait it gets even more psychopathic. Feast your ears on "I'm watching music that I can't hear." So turn the MTV back up then. Nope, that won't work since reality TV absconded with the music in favor reality TV pandering to the masses. Seriously Dylan, get that audio visual kink worked out. No good will come from status quo. The sonic acreage taken up by "Take Ir From Me" amounts to a nice little spread complete with a joyous controlled burn smack in the middle. Johnny Kongos slips keyboards underneath the bedrock to make sure this flower blossoms to its fullest potential. So what mood best describes this enigma basting inside a conundrum? Rattled but not in a manner where your logical mind is already calling the police before your emotions have a chance to register a suitable response. There's loads of fooling around on the cutting room styled humor to be engaging in. Super-imposed heads, boardroom smart backdrops. The director didn't allow KONGOS to go anywhere close to snob appeal chest puffing for this effort and we're all the better for it. We as Americans have been accused of amusing ourselves to death. While the jury may be somewhat out on that damning finger wag KONGOS puts the suggestion out there for us to think about in the fourth verse. KONGOS has succeeded in pasting together rock that isn't stand-offish. The result might be an increasing number of heads turning in its general direction.