Check out what Chris Martins of LA Weekly had to say about Mini Mansions new single.
Artist: Mini Mansions
Title: “Monk” b/w “Heart of Glass”
Label: Psychedelic Judaism (Echo Park)
Format: 7-inch (+ download), purple swirl, 1000 pressed
There’s a key entry in the popular hand guide, Judging Various Media By Its Cover, about skipping over anything adorned with doll parts. But, as the introduction to that book sagely cautions, every rule has its exception and Mini Mansions proves that even this time-honored “indicator of bunk” can be misleading. The band’s still young, but with ties to Queens of the Stone Age and Buddyhead’s Wires on Fire (all three acts share member Michael Shuman), Mini Mansions knows a thing or two about balancing the bizarre with the brilliant.
Side A features “Monk,” a mercurial slice of vintage-sounding psych-pop that finds singer Shuman channeling John Lennon’s stuffy croon through Elliott Smith’s delicate pipes. That’s not to say he’s as good as either (it’d be a mighty tall bill to fill), but it’s an aesthetic he wears well. Meanwhile, fuzzy distortion, organ hum, crisp bass-lines and a Zombies-like beat keep the track moving. On the flip, the Mansions take on Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” slowing the original down to achieve a similarly gluey, psychedelic atmosphere.
Check out other rad vinyl reviews in Chris Martin’s column “INCHES”.
