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Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities perform "What They Said"

Matt Mehlan, the hyperactive mind behind the Queens-based Skeletons & the Kings of All Cities, first conceived of the group as a solo project with guest performers. Trombonists, punk rock drummers, and a junkyard boy’s choir all figured in the development of Mehlan’s collage pop sensibility. After settling on a core group he originally called The Girl-Faced Boys, Mehlan released Git, a curious conceptual concoction that somehow married contemporary IDM and early Prince influences. Changing the name to The Kings of All Cities, Mehlan’s newest experiment in eclectic juxtaposition is also his most successful. The latest release, Lucas, evokes a more organic, expansive Dirty Projectors with ambient percussion excursions, funk horn stabs and poppy hand claps supporting electronic washes, free jazz freakouts and weird noise soundscapes. Mehlan’s breezy vocals deliver mysterious and disturbing lyrics that bely his surprisingly lush arrangements. Check them out with openers The Sleeping Kings of Iona at Soundlab this Friday (March 30) at 9pm.