ROTW: Monster Manual!

So, just imagine you're a hard working, wandering monster, lurking in one of the levels of some dark dungeon someplace. It's damp, it's drafty, it's a life both dangerous & dull. Wouldn't it be nice if someone cared? Cared enough to write a song just for you, all about you? A catchy ditty you could hum to yourself as you wait for the next party of "heroes" to show up and try to murder you for something they call "XP," whatever that is? Well, good news, now someone has written a song about you, that is, if you're one of the 26 classic D&D monsters paid musical tribute to on our Record Of The Week this week, which was released on limited edition vinyl not long ago by Frequency Rare and Peterwalkee Records.

Friend rock? Yes, O.K., so it is, we mean, singer/guitarist "Simon" from Simon LeBron does happen to be a friend of ours. But San Francisco's Simon LeBron is also a band who have made a record based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual!! Therefore, the awesome D&D theme of this way outweighs any niggling notions of nepotism.

Seriously, these 26 tracks, alphabetically A-Z, each one a concise and creative blast about a specific monster from the pages of the Monster Manual (hence song titles like "Carrion Crawler," "Dragon, Black," "Pegasus, Pegasi," and "Rakshasa"), make for a really rad platter of oddball indie rock. The band cites Rudimentary Peni, Frank Black and the Plastic Ono Band as influences, along with the writings of Gary Gygax, et. al., by the way. So this goes to show ya that "D&D" music doesn't have to be metal, or dungeon synth, or RenFaire fare...

We'll admit that when we first heard about this project, we may have had some misgivings, and not because of the "friend rock" thing. No, we were worried it was going to be a little too cutesy, or, what's the word...? Dorky. But no, the Simon LeBron trio, along with recording engineer Phil Manley (whoops, another friend, there) have crafted a really strong collection of songs. It's stuff that, even if you're not immediately, nostalgically ensorcelled by the subject matter, any fan of, say, GBV-esqe, eccentric indie garage pop goodness will enjoy.

Copies of the vinyl will soon be available from Midheaven Mailorder. Digital via Bandcamp, below.