MAY MAY GRAVES
'Monsters'
BLACK PILL RED PILL
Award winning drag
performer, burlesque artist, and head queen at the Dallas School of
Burlesque unleashes her debut musical outing in the form of
'Monsters', a blend of high-fashion, cyberpunk and 80s slasher menace
this EP is like an apocalyptic party. Billed as the "genderfuck
of your nightmares", May May quit her job as a Church of Christ
preacher in 2011 to be in a punk band... It all goes downhill from
there.
'Monsters' is a
dance-floor ready blend of throbbing bass, pounding dance beats and
filthy modular synths framing seductive and sinister vocals. Evoking
UV-drenched party monsters, neon-clad villains and the decadence of a
21st century Weimar Berlin the EP is a compelling listen.
The opening tracks 'Die Like It's The 80s' and 'Monsters' hit hard and fast with their up-tempo and sing-a-long friendly construction that won't fail to get bodies moving on the dance floor. 'Ghost' then pulls things back into a slower, darker and disorientating direction that maintains it's dance appeal but still gets really interesting. 'My Villain' goes more up-tempo again but this time invoking some very nice Pet Shop Boys style melodies that is carried on through to the final track 'Mermaids'.
The album is rounded-off with some very nice remix contributions from Surgyn, Aberrant Behaviour, Adventu Impar, and Isserley who all do a great job of making the tracks their own. But hidden between them is 'Cantaloupe', another solid dance number that feels a little more straight-forward in it's construction but nonetheless sounds great.
The production has a nice gritty cyberpunk edge to it, and the modular synths really emphasise this. With this being a dance record primarily it's heavy on the beats and bass, but the melodies and vocals always shine through in the mix giving it plenty of sing-a-long potential.
The opening tracks 'Die Like It's The 80s' and 'Monsters' hit hard and fast with their up-tempo and sing-a-long friendly construction that won't fail to get bodies moving on the dance floor. 'Ghost' then pulls things back into a slower, darker and disorientating direction that maintains it's dance appeal but still gets really interesting. 'My Villain' goes more up-tempo again but this time invoking some very nice Pet Shop Boys style melodies that is carried on through to the final track 'Mermaids'.
The album is rounded-off with some very nice remix contributions from Surgyn, Aberrant Behaviour, Adventu Impar, and Isserley who all do a great job of making the tracks their own. But hidden between them is 'Cantaloupe', another solid dance number that feels a little more straight-forward in it's construction but nonetheless sounds great.
The production has a nice gritty cyberpunk edge to it, and the modular synths really emphasise this. With this being a dance record primarily it's heavy on the beats and bass, but the melodies and vocals always shine through in the mix giving it plenty of sing-a-long potential.
This is a strong
fist-outing that hints a a few different directions a full-length
release could go in. Hopefully there will be more from May May Graves
in the near future.
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