Dr. Frank's What's-it

We Sing of Man and Monkey

Ken Layne's taking pre-orders for his home-made CD. I've been listening to mp3s of much of this stuff for the last couple of months. The material has become embedded in my brain. Now it's your turn.

The best songwriters aren't always necessarily the best prose-writers, and vice-versa. Even when someone happens to be good at both, it's often for completely different reasons. Occasionally, though, there's a consistent character or strain that runs through it all. (Among "punks" I'd put Aaron Cometbus in that category: his songwriting and regular old writing seem almost completely of a piece, brilliant for exactly the same reasons.) If you appreciate Layne's weblog and his other journalistic writing, you'll recognize his "voice" in the songs-- off-beat, silly, unpretentious, self-aware, fun, and occasionally, unexpectedly, passionate or poignant. Most of it falls vaguely in the alt-country category, some of it traditional, some of it ironic, and some of it just plain weird.

He has some downloadable mp3s from it on the order page, if you want to sample before ordering. I ordered one, so it worked on me.

Anyway, you will curse the day "The Monkey Cup" wormed its way into your consciousness, if you're anything like me. Life's too short to proceed with caution, however.