Posted on: April 15, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Hey, it’s like the B-52s lost about fifteen years and were thrown together as Bling Kong. The same eclectic instrumental sound mixes with a quirky male set of vocals and deepish female vocals. The only thing that one can possibly distinguish the two bands from each other has to to be the stronger instrumentation that Bling Kong has. The disc’s first track “I Want More” benefits from a strong bass line and fitting, emotive drum beats. The more-drive tempo of Bling Kong makes this common style of music much less cliché and cheesy; this is a rock/punk/ska hybrid that will drive people in droves to the dance floor.

Continuing this song with “We Got The Bling”, Bling Kong really seem to pull from the grave a style of new-wave coolness that mixes well with the GoGos/Katrina and the Wave type of vibe that they create during the track. Whenever there are comparisons made in this review, it must be said again that Bling Kong continually comes out with music that does not easily fit into pigeonholes. Where each of the preceding tracks on “Do The Awesome” was fun ad catchy in its own right, “A Song I Know” is perhaps the band’s magnum opus. Mixing together alt-country with an acoustic-folk punk in the style of Against Me! (before them as in “the eternal decline” mode they’ve been in for the last two albums) for this track, the track even throws in some Fischerspooner/Postal Service to what will have to be the most genuinely awesome dance track since Fanny Pack’s “Camel Toe”.

The creation of a layered, multiple-set of harmonies that drives the later section of the CD really seals the track as being an instant hit. Continuing the same general sound put forth first during “Bling Kong Girls”, the slight change in vocal arrangements (the female vocals dominate here), the end result seems up more closer to newer Donnas than anything else. Finishing up the actual songs with “Enter Bling Kong”, a dance-punk track incorporating a Marilyn Manson-ish style of screamed-out vocals really is the best descriptor for the band. There are so many different influences that come out audibly during this disc; it really is a testament to their talent that Bling King is able to so flawlessly incorporate these styles. This is the future of all the stykles that are currently popular, whether it be ironic hair-metal, post-indie dance music or even much-maligned ska.

Top Tracks: Enter Bling Kong, A Song I Know

Rating: 7.8/10

Bling Kong – Do The Awesome / 2005 Redder / 8 Tracks / http://www.blingkong.com / http://www.redderrecords.com/ Reviewed 08 November 2005

[JMcQ]

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