Anthologies are great, especially if they strike a thematic chord. When the submissions are aligned with precision, the results can add further meaning to what one already knows and adores.
This applies to Mondo Porno: Black Box Recording Pitch Collection #12, where Craig Manga shuffles the established cards and throws caution to the seedy wind. His implicit string of perturbed pornography remains intact (through naked lyrics and thrusting vocals), but in this new, Mangabros queue, the combination is more stylized, subversive and complete.
It also smacks of loneliness, and isn't that the cause of any misconstrued distrust and weird lust?
For the sake of Manga's "The Fag Trucker Variations" (see Aug '18), one can presume that loneliness (plus the crazed confusion it spawns) set the titular serial killer on his splattering stream, but what of his character-crushing interludes, those cheeky, sandwiched seasonings?
They're certainly stationed as part of the "Mondo Porno" string, flowing from the eponymous and jarring "Juggernought Mix" to Manabros vs Hypercube's galling "Mancandy (Fag Trucker Detour)": mean stuff that sets the heart in panic mode, maybe far too hard, far too fast, though no one selects Manga's work for its delicacy.
As dressing on this accelerating gyro, we get "King of Tarts" (a Johnny Wadd Mix), which spotlights the rise of a porn-star hopeful, prodded by John Holmes' dangling specter, with the injurious "Slowburnblue" (per {g}IRL Blackfeather coughmix) punctuating the inevitable, can't-measure-up lament. "Reeperbahn" is an arguable, slimy slice of tomato to top that monstrous meat (smooshing in all the mocking juices). And as for the "Mondo Porno" title tune...well, it might be the most profound ingredient yet, where all sorts of hideous emotions drag through the shaky, VHS tracking.
As prologues and epilogues to these macabre layers, we're given periods that weave among the sensual attacks, whether in flashback or flash-forward form.
"Night Snow" introduces the queue with beyond-the-credits disgrace: a worthy B-side to "Mondo Porno", reanimating a profane gesture that repeats and repeats and repeats. "Mangabros vs Comfort with Noise's "Jadafire is Squirtgirl III (Wetdream Version)" stands as its sadistic companion, cranking enough satanic strokes to make one choke.
This sick, salacious climate carries through "Mile-long Club" (with Fred und Luna), which overloads with a record-breaking blast of suicidal gang-banging, underlined and italicized by the irascible duality of Mangabros vs Microchip Junkie's glittery "Rock n roll Part 3 (World of Gadd Mix)" and "Sexblinkpink", but why dance in all that sticky blood when resplendent repentance calls? Yeah, right!
"His Side" swings to an old career-guy's lustful, fruitless toiling, but at what cost to his soul? The results come through in "Stoma" (per the Craig M. He-Whore Mix), where a neglected spouse sprints and bends for webcam glory. "Tom Boy Milk" only reinforces the sorrowful motif: Let that freak flag fly, no matter the discomfort for those involved.
Manga wisely concludes his uncanny venture with a quaint "Night Snow" reprisal: a short, bittersweet exit that confirms one's inescapable fate. Try as one may, one can never exorcise one's demons or evade the punishment they bring. That nurtured badness will only grow and grow and grow, much like the screen-gem, night snow.
For Manga/Trucker fans (for those who enjoy mind-scraping tunes of any sort), "Mondo Porno" is a pitch worth swallowing.
Open your ears nice and wide at ... https://blackboxrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/mondo-porno-bbr-pitch-collection-12?fbclid=IwAR2tHWmGibzrQf147BCHgfMR1fw5rUa1sr4es6F21iJHV6NIAOENSA2iq-8.
