The Pillow Queens Are Ready For Their Closeup

How many bands do you know that describe their music as garage animal? In the case of Austin-based band the Pillow Queens, the shoe fits. The band, comprised of Duncan Malashock (vocals/guitar), Will Slack (vocals/guitar), Eric Loftis (bass), and Carolyn Cunningham (drums), have only been playing together for about two years, but I imagine they'll soon be getting nationwide press and radio coverage. They just released their first album titled "Kookoolegit" with Monofonus Press, a company that brings together musicians, artists and writers and combines their efforts into multimedia packages and performances. In this case, if you purchase Kookoolegit, you'll also get a short story penned by Karen Davidson called "Clear Violet."

The music is definitely experimental and rough, with obvious punk influences, and the lyrics can throw really throw you for a loop, alternating between joyful and ironic. The album really works well when all twelve tracks are taken as a whole. "Hot Song" and "Real Cool Head" will get your body moving, while "Animal Poseurs" is a delightfully weird song that describes people posing as different animals. "Lava Lamp" brings to mind images of surfing at Mavericks, with Lou Reed singing in your ear. "Dubai-bai" takes you along on a strange little trip to Dubai with these lyrics: "I'm gonna break up this band. Sail everyone's ship, so I can afford to snowboard indoors in the desert in Dubai."

At the end of September, the Pillow Queens will head to the northeast for ten days to promote their album. I look forward to seeing them grow as a band. In a perfect world, I could see David Byrne or T-Bone Burnett producing their next album.