At last, the long awaited debut album, “Fuck The Jante Law”, by MonkeyRat on Tutl Records is finally here!
It all started in the Faroe Islands in 2006, where poet and vocalist, Anna Iachino, an Italian/Canadian, drew inspiration from Rage Against The Machine and Eminem regarding her first encounter with the Scandinavian phenomena called Janteloven. The 1st title track expresses her sentiment - Fuck The Jante Law.
Faroese born, Arnold Ludvig, multi-talented, award winning, bassist and composer, embraced Anna’s poetry, composed all the various musical styes and voila - MonkeyRat was born!
In 2006, Ludvig and Anna searched for Alain Apaloo in Copenhagen, after she saw Alain’s brilliant performance at The 2005 Copenhagen Blues Festival at Mojo. They found him on Kompagnistræde right underneath a sign, Bella Anna - that was definitely a sign!
(Alain Apaloo, all the way from Togo is the recipient of the 2009 Danish World Music Award for Best Album and winner of the 1st Danish Blues Challenge).
Anna even dedicated a song to Copenhagen, inspired by her 81 year old Italian mother, with her humoristic retro tune, “Sex in Wonderful Copenhagen”.
Then in 2008, Ludvig performed a jazz gig in Christiania with Johan Kolsut, a young Swedish, kick ass drummer that joined MonkeyRat. “What a Day” funk track is totally inspired by the funny cigarettes - “big fat jay”.
Altogether with special guests, Deborah, an African American, powerful singer on MonkeyRat’s soulful song, “A Heart” and roWan’s (born in the Faroe Islands) beautiful rendition of their exquisite pop ballad, “Pastel Shades”, MonkeyRat delivers a great debut album.
Radio-Canada, with host Dan Behrman on Espace Musique has already played songs from MonkeyRat’s debut album on Canada’s coast to coast, national radio station.
MonkeyRat’s 12 track album (with a bonus track), Fuck The Jante Law will be in stores on the 6th of February, distributed by Danacord. The Release Party will be at Mojo, (the place where it all began), on Thursday, February 18th at 6pm.
What are the musical influences of MonkeyRat? Poet & composer, Anna & Ludvig’s musical influences are diverse, from the likes of: Meshell Ndegeocello, Jaco Pastorius, Gil Scott-Heron, D’Angelo, Mae West, “Austin Powers”, Eminem, Rage Against The Machine, Led Zeppelin, and Marcus Miller.
MonkeyRat’s fans have also compared MonkeyRat to a cross between: Skunk Anansie, Frank Zappa, Grace Jones, White Stripes, and Nina Hagen.
Poet, Anna Iachino’s collaborative efforts with composer, Arnold Ludvig render a musical fusion of funk, rap, spokenword, soul, hip hop, rnb, retro, jazz, and alternative rock music that expresses Anna’s political, social, romantic, and comical views.
Sometimes, all it takes to express oneself is to wear what you think, like when female Danish scarf designer, Charlotte Sparre and female Danish handball player, Anja Andersen, both wore a t-shirt with the words - Fuck Janteloven!
MonkeyRat
Anna Iachino: vocals
Arnold Ludvig: bass
Alain Apaloo: guitar
Johan Kolsut: drums
