Rock ‘N’ Roll Monkey & the Robots “Rocket Trash”/”String & Traps”

(rocknrollmonkey.com) (rocknrollmonkey.com) This 12” LP is actually two 45 rpm EPs, each giving an impressive rock ‘n’ roll history lesson. Craig Campbell’s songwriting and singing (Lou Reed-ish at times here) have improved by leaps and bounds, and if he doesn’t watch out, despite his band’s name, folks might start to take him seriously…no novelty act here! The slinky “Strings and Traps” is sort of a garage punk version of detective jazz, full of intrigue, attitude, and a touch of Euro class (most specifically, a carafe of French 60s pop).  You’d think something called “Rocket Trash:” would be ridiculous, but it instead features pretty urgent pop punk, with some excursions into Merseybeat, folk pop, and lo-fi Wall of Sound, if that’s a thing. I’ll never ask for less monkey and robot in my salad, but I’ll fervently endorse the non-monkeying around here.