King Kong - The Big Bang LP (Drag City, 2002)
"What do you do after taking part in one of the most influential bands of the past 15 years, after helping to create a whole new subspecies of rock? Obviously: you start a funk and dance band inspired by the early work of the B-52's. Hey, why not? That's what Ethan Buckler did. After Tweez sent kids to dust off their metronomes in '89, Buckler split with math-rock progenitors Slint to search for a simpler groove. And when he found it, he stayed with it.
It's been ten years since King Kong's debut album, Old Man on the Bridge, and frankly, things haven't changed much, if at all, for the band. Of course, by now, it seems that if things were to change much at all, it would undermine the whole point of this group, which is to overcome you with basic beats, even basic-er basslines (we're talking three notes max), borderline moronic lyrics, a voice that sounds like David Berman's straight man, and above all, repetition, repetition, repetition. Hell, changing the formula now would just dilute it. And the thing is, it sometimes really works." - Jason Nickey (Pitchfork)