“Performer” by Montero
Drop “Montero band” into any search engine and it’s likely to come up as dance/electronic music. This isn’t a complete misunderstanding of the band’s abilities, but it is an understatement. The project’s namesake is Spanish for “huntsman” and the surname of bandleader and cartoonist Bjenny Montero (Early Woman). Montero’s music suitably accompanies its creator’s other artistic work, which evokes an LSD weekend of children authors Stan and Jan Berenstain.
With cover art in distinctive Mondo style, Performer has Montero drift with Ziggy Stardust-like face paint from dream pop to classic rock to what he calls Shmoopy pop. This begins with a surreal bon voyage to reality upon a fictional airline “Montero Airlines,” back in the days when travelers could smoke on airplanes. “Quantify” would be the only reason to put this band under the dance category, as it’s synth-laden builds find a middle ground between John Maus and Ariel Pink. It may take a suspension of belief, but by the time you land and disembark, your afterthought might be of Bjenny Montero as a lost space man of the ‘70s. Oh, and that Peter Frampton’s talk box effect is still bitchin’.
