Soon you will get a taste of Penguin Prison's textured re-imaginings of other well known, up and coming artists, with remixes of Marina & the Diamonds 'I Am Not A Robot', Erik Hassle's 'Hurtful' and Golden Silvers' 'True Romance', all true testaments towards PP's production skills and trademark sound, providing an exciting glimpse into what's to come with more of his own original productions coming very soon in 2010.Penguin Prison's irresistibly quirky sound resides somewhere between the likes of Hot Chip, Hall and Oates, Ultravox, Wham and the Jackson 5. Born and raised in Manhattan, the mecca of musical endeavors, Chris Glover aka Penguin Prison has never been short of inspiration.
Raised on a healthy diet of Michael Jackson, Prince, A Tribe Called Quest, Nat King Cole, Nirvana and Weezer, he soon began to channel such influences, and feeding them into his own musical meanderings, that led him toward a sound that combines classic influences of pop, soul and rock and roll.
'Animal Animal' – his first single, released on Neon Gold, quickly caused a stir in the UK, with his tales of a tortured mind existing in a modern society, inclined to think way too much and suffering envy towards the furrier kind of this world 'I don't want to think anymore / about anything that I can't see…' "It's about being human, thinking too much and wishing that you didn't have to". Ironically enough, when listening to his music, thinking too much isn't an issue at all, for the integrity of his sublimely addictive music absolutely justifies the chaos in his sound. The combination of his upbeat pop sensibility, contrasted with his dark, devious and downright sarcastic lyrics, results in an almost animalistic urge in the listener to simply keep on listening, over and over again. You have been warned. "I feel like I can do any type of music. But now I'm taking all my influences from different genres and trying to put them altogether in one sound".
With influences spanning from Wu-Tang to Quincy Jones and Curbs' own Larry David (yes, you read that right), this witty pop-pioneer is currently working in the studio on his debut album, recording mostly on analogue equipment, collaborating on tracks with various musicians including Crispin Hunt (formerly of the Longpigs), spending half his time recording in London with Dan Grech-Marguerat and New York City with fellow city dwellers Holy Ghost! The result, is a sound so ridiculously infectious, that you really shouldn't have to think about his music too much, although you probably will. So be prepared to riddle yourself silly for references to a sound that you can't quite put your finger on. It's fun, it's refreshing, and you'll damned if you can't stop listening to it.
