Slick and supple New York big-band funk: Konk’s seven-piece lineup includes three horn players and a vocalist who doubles on conga drum. The sound has a strong Latin accent, with scads of percussion and sharp arrangements, plus some subtle dub effects thrown in for good measure. Clocking in at over 23 minutes, the four songs on the Konk Party EP are indeed for partying, and best heard on a mammoth boombox.
Konk laid low for a while, resurfacing with the inclusion of “Love Attack” on the soundtrack (and album) of Bright Lights, Big City. (Konk had in a sense launched its film career several years earlier when trumpet player Richard Edson — who had been the original drummer in Sonic Youth — started acting in pictures like Stranger Than Paradise and Platoon.)
Konk Jams is a collection of extended remixes (some with vocals) that downplay the funk and the brass for a powerful reliance on rhythm and amusing audio gimmickry.