[monkey issue] Climbing the trees of song with Darling Pet Munkee's "X-Ray Specs"

Now that this week's Monkey Issue has hit the streets, here’s a bonus banana courtesy of DARLING PET MUNKEE, a primate project from Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling's Michael J. Epstein and Sophia Cacciola and Cathy Capozzi of Axemunkee. In an extensive explication on Epstein’s blog, you can learn all about how the band name originated from a print ad for a mail-order squirrel monkey, which they also used as the album cover for the debut song. Cute, right? Well prepare yourself, because the song gets a little heavy.

“X-Ray Specs” pays homage in title and style to Poly Styrene and her '80s riot grrrl punk band X-Ray Spex; Cacciola’s frantic yelps sit perfectly behind Epstein’s deep, quivering voice as the duo mock the voyeuristic paranoia of the human condition. Epstein explains in his blog that although the concept of x-ray glasses seems antiquated and silly, it is becoming an actual concern due to advanced airport security measures (I’m not going to rant about this because everyone else already has). This song is a reprise of the vintage prophecy of a country under nightmarish surveillance, and it’s clear that Cacciola and Epstein are scared that the day has already arrived.

Darling Pet Munkee will be releasing a single every month until their seven-song album is released in early 2012. Unless the apes take over by then.