Diet Kong

Coma Motor Inn (Patriarch)

By Catherine Cole
Published: June 30th, 2008 | 9:00am

This debut release from Brooklyn-based Diet Kong packs a promise of a party and does not disappoint. Coma Motor Inn introduces art-noise-rock fans to the newly founded New York-label Patriarch Recordings, as well as the album’s main creative talents: Keith Gladysz and Jenn Penn.

Gladysz is the vocal force that leads the spotlight on every track of this eight-song tale of a boy and a girl sharing a sleepless night in a motel (are drugs involved? Perhaps … or maybe just a lot of soda). Needless to say, the opening song (“Call a Motor Inn”) sets it up pretty well: “Mirrors on the table / Mirrors on the ceiling / I won’t sleep tonight.” The rest of the album’s seven tracks keep the energy dance high with only brief seconds to catch your breath (and maybe blink). Although the fast-paced ride occasionally steers into overly-ironic territory, which is in part due to blunt, repetitive vocals and shallow, flat beats (“Bears & Beards”).

Frederick Sargolini gets a lot of cred for his mind-mixing sounds, which is really what provides Diet Kong’s original, art-party essence. It’s this creative foundation that ends up making this album a true musical adventure.

When the main duo manages to successfully meld their spastic minds together, the results are hyper-danceable rock songs where everyone wins. When they don’t, it sounds more like a clash of egos than anything else. Considering this is the first record from Diet Kong, there’s naturally some room for growth; however they’ve definitely left us enough room to shake it on the dance floor they helped to build.

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