Future Past Present

The gimmick behind Monkey Power Trio is that these guys get together once a year for a few hours, throw together a few songs, and put 'em on tape as quickly as possible. The Future Past Present EP marks the band's seventh annual release, and for a band that (in practical time) has been together only about a week, it's pretty fun stuff, sort of like the Stooges and Pavement jamming together after knocking back a case or two of whatever beer was on special that week. Plenty of amusingly angular tunes and bashed-out guitar work, some atonal honking sax (think Pere Ubu's "We Laugh" as a reference point), and a sly/silly sense of humor bubbling through it all. Not exactly a work of genius, but at its best Future Past Present is almost as much fun to hear as it must have been to record; maybe these guys should increase their work load to two sessions a year and see where a new level of commitment can take them.