Double Play: Cowboys & Monsters – Cowboys & Monsters and A New Month Called Sandober

Light and darkness—one of the most perennial pairs of opposites, perhaps even bordering on cliché, but I think about this contrast when I consider Cowboys & Monsters' two records.

A brief look at the album artwork justifies this association. Cowboys & Monsters is light and open, incorporating a few different colours. Something about it just shouts "possibilities" in a playful sort of way. (A positive rejoinder to predictions about computers crashing and the world ending in 2000, perhaps?)

A New Month Called Sandober's artwork is, by contrast, dark, alien, and even a little shiny. I can't tell if that's a robot or a tree.

Enough switching between talking about the two releases though. This is going to get confusing if I keep doing that! Organizing...

Cowboys & Monsters

I have to talk more about the album artwork, which is jam-packed with creativity and humour. According to this review I found via Wayback Machine, the track titles on the back of the CD case were written on a piece of paper towel. Then there's the actual disc itself, which features a picture of some random guy standing by a truck with his hands up. (Is that a Vulcan salute I see?) Oh, and don't forget the cartoonish pseudo-history paragraph on the back page of the booklet.

In a consistently random fashion, the song titles are quite amusing. Here are a few of my favourites: "Fake Grass," "Learn to Play Boat," "Forever Not Hummus," and "Stereotypical Llama Feed."

Cowboys & Monsters is certainly one of the more experimental electronic albums I've heard. The opening track, "Positive Steam," sounds like a mix of breakbeat, techno, and world music. "Fast One (Cowboy Mix)" is a techno remix of "Pulling a Fast One" by Sackcloth Fashion. "Learn to Play Boat" is drum and bass with some odd sound effects thrown in, one of which to my ears sounds like a Tasmanian devil or some other kind of scary animal. And then there's also the misspelled "Mayonaisse," a downtempo remix of Henry Mancini's composition "Lujon." (He's the guy behind the theme music for Pink Panther, if you didn't already know that!)

Clearly, there are lots of different styles here. Experimental techno might be at the top of the hierarchy if I had to choose one main genre, but that doesn't really do justice to how stylistically unpredictable this album is. For my part, I like that about it! One minute you've got chill electronica with "Kiss (Not an Eraser Mix)," and then the next you're hearing chiptune country techno with "8-Bit Fast." The six interludes (the shortest of which is nine seconds) are a welcome reprieve. I'm sure there are people out there with little patience for such short tracks. Personally, I think they're funny.

A New Month Called Sandober

Let's turn the page to the second Cowboys & Monsters album. Compared to the self-titled record, A New Month Called Sandober is more abstract, mellow, and lo-fi. You could also say that it's "darker," but not in the way that heavy metal music or Gothic novels are dark—more in a strictly mysterious kind of way. I would hesitate to call it ambient, downtempo, or drone. (Thank goodness there's none of that 20 minutes of a broken washing machine recorded to tape pretentious humbug that's all too common in the drone scene. Apologies for the poor sentence construction.) But maybe it is all those genres, just more experimental, and not going beyond five minutes per track?

Like the first album, A New Month Called Sandober has funny song titles. Strong candidates include "I'm Boring," "Lemon Sticker," "The Tower of Toothpaste," and "You Owe Me an Egg." Three song titles also begin with the word "black."

Unlike Cowboys & Monsters, however, this sophomore effort only includes two tracks that are under a minute, as opposed to six. Having said that, "Gravel Company" only clocks in at 1:08.

The album begins with "I'm Boring," which opens with a sample of a crowd cheering and turns into the sort of chill-out industrial style of drum and bass that you'd only hear from Cowboys & Monsters. One of my favourite parts about this song is the sample of the guy saying "¡See there!" Okay, I actually don't know what he's saying, but that's what it sounds like to me! And then the song ends with the crowd cheering...

"Broken Wings," an ambient percussion-based piece featuring talking that sounds like an announcement coming through a walkie-talkie or an airport PA system, is one of my favourites. A song this repetitive probably shouldn't work so well, but it's perfect for late-night driving or just chilling with the headphones on.

Other highlights include the block-by-block construction of "Freezing Tree," the sad and orchestral downtempo of "Getting Everything Back," and the happy melody of "Mercury."

Apart from the silly vocals in "Keep It Rizlowed," there's not much that I dislike about A New Month Called Sandober. Sure, "Glow Fishsticks" has creepy vocals, but they're also funny in a low-budget sort of way, and the quality trance instrumental makes up for them.

Conclusion

I've been listening to Cowboys & Monsters since 2007. I recall "Mayonaisse" being the first song I heard, having watched the music video on Syntax Records' YouTube channel. I also associate their music with a couple of Christian bookstores, seeing their self-titled CD in a bargain bin (technically on a "discount shelf," or whatever you might want to call it) at Scott's Parable here in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, as well as listening to song samples on the computer at Gideon's Trumpet in the Dakota Square Mall in Minot, North Dakota.

These two albums are easily among the most interesting and creative electronic releases I have encountered. Personally, I think Cowboys & Monsters might have an edge over A New Month Called Sandober, but they're both worth the listener's time.

What it really comes down to is this: What sort of weirdo electronica are you after? Do you want upbeat and fun or mellow and mysterious? Either way, you're sure to be treated to a different musical experience than what you're normally used to.