Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds

Former Gun Club, Cramps and Nick Cave sideman Kid Congo will never be accused of garbling his lyrics. That’s what stands out the most on this latest effort from the veteran guitarist/vocalist, who, when not over enunciating every freakin’ word, leads his quartet of backing players through alternately straight-forward and off-the-wall arrangements of groovy, garage rock clichés, ham-handed psychedelia and remarkably disparate electro-hijinks. The Kid’s self-conscious penchant for trailing off lines with a Mark E. Smith-style extra syllable gets tired quickly, and his tendency towards writing in the second-person familiar has him coming off as that annoying, uninvited guest that spends the evening trying to convince strangers that he has them all figured out. Musically, there’s not enough going on here to make up for the fact Kid Congo is so aggressively cool he may just induce an anxiety attack.