By: Chris Ball
King Dude | facebook | bandcamp |
Released on October 28, 2016 via Ván Records">Ván Records
This King Dude is the kind of pervert caught wanking in Nick Cave’s wardrobe, nitrous oxide mask clamped to his face as he furiously summons his Bad Seed. And this King Dude is the devil’s child, birthed from beneath Patricia Morrison’s rubber mini dress.
Now this King Dude is actually the stage name for Seattle-based metal alumni T.J. Cowgill, previously of Teen Cthulu and Book of Black Earth, and what started as a side project has become the main focus, moving from his metal roots into a sort of diabolical stew of rock n roll and gothic folk.
Like a Satanic Chris Isaak, Cowgill croons tunes from the dark side, and his new album is set on a particular and favourite vice: Sex.
Since King Dude’s last album, the patchily impressive Songs of Flesh and Blood – In The Key of Light, Cowgill has begun experimenting with bass guitar, something missing from previous music, and he has taken to it like a devotee and it in turn has taken his music in new cavernously carnal directions. A bass riff of Joy Division like intent powers opener ‘Holy Christos’, a song with all the usual King Dude lyrical concerns: sex, death and religion. It turns into a mean garage rocker, but it’s second track ‘Who Taught You How To Love’ that really displays K.D’s new sonic palette to its full potential. A huge goth rock slow burn, with spoken word verses of back-seat-of-the-car corruption and a chorus of magnificent lust inspired awe, as bruised and solemn guitars and muffled drums paint a steamy landscape. It pretty much makes Marilyn Manson seem redundant.
Of course KD has always specialised in mid-paced and moody, even if he’s rarely pulled it off as dazzlingly as here, but there are other more strange and feral treats to enjoy – ‘Sex Dungeon USA’ sounds like Lemmy fronting The Cramps and lives down to its title whilst ‘Swedish Boy Drums’ has all the leering hip-shaking snap of prime Lou Reed. Lou’s buddy Iggy gets his ‘Passenger’ remade too, as a sexually charged ride with a serial killer on ‘The Leather One’ to contemptuously louche effect.
Most surprising is ‘The Girls’ in which K.D. affects the voice of an effete young Bowie, and gives a performance somewhere between a Motown stomp, Syd Barrett and a supper club, whilst singing of impending sexual violence. Utterly bizarre and like nothing else you’ve heard this year I’ll wager.
Despite that album title and theme, the last track is back to the familiar sozzled Nick Cave worship on the piano-led ‘Shine Your Light’, and another doomed romance. It contains the brilliant entreaty “If you need lover a demon brother or dog that you don’t got to feed.” His baritone starting to crack under the strain.
So then, Sex is a diverse and entertaining set of songs sure to seduce your ears, whatever your kink.
