“If people knew what was good for them, they’d just listen to
Mika Miko.”
That was the Gossip’s Beth Ditto in a July 30th interview that asked
for her music recommendations. But it could have been anyone who’s seen
the Los Angeles quintet Mika Miko tear through a live set, or danced in
her bedroom to one of their explosive anthems.
After four short years together, Mika Miko are maturing into a band
of sharp instinct, creativity, and not a little bit of humor. Their
signature prop, after all, is a telephone receiver—that looks as
if Fisher-Price manufactured it—which they use as a mic. Their
video for “Business Cats” features an endearing pre-song skit, flashing
neon block letters, and time-lapse fake vomiting that somehow manages
to come across as hilarious rather than gross. When they break out the
song’s refrain, “Get excited!,” it’s hard not to oblige.
Their new EP, 666—so-called because it was recorded on
the satanic date of June 6, 2006—was just released on the Post
Present Medium label. The CD version of 666 combines their
self-titled, four-song debut with a handful of rarities and the EP’s
six new songs. The new material mostly abandons the no-wave wobbliness
of their 2006 LP, C.Y.S.L.A.B.F, in favor of a straight-ahead
punk wallop.
One of those new tracks, “Zombies Take One,” makes the CD worth
buying all on its own. Like many a genius punk song, “Zombies” crams
yelped vocals and crashing cymbals into an irresistibly melodic chord
progression just hard enough to bruise its edges. The melody stretches
and squirms, but escapes being buried in the din. It’s the kind of
intuitive songsmithing that feels crafted and effortless at the same
time, and no less precise for being applied to chaotic, Germs-ish
thrash-alongs. They shout in “Capricornations,” a song off
C.Y.S.L.A.B.F, “We’ve got smarts, smarts, and style, a rare
combination!” Mika Miko are so good, that’s not bragging. It’s a
statement of fact.