The Swamp King Jam
Original Release Date: 11/21/3822
The steamy river banks of the Crab Nebula had served The Swamp King Jam well. Their amphibious leader, Bendix, took inspiration for their debut album Hippity-Hop from the sounds of Anura Hollow, his home village, and the talents of locals like the Lilypond Sisters and Spider McGee & Me. The result was a backwater beat overlaid with twangy synth and thumping bass. Fans were disappointed, however, when their sophomore album Row Bot failed to recreate the down-home cooking of their previous efforts. Music scholars will tell you that The Swamp King Jam's dirty sound had never left, instead it was wrapped in the melodies of success and progress, rather than the sticky hands of Never-Leaving-Your-Hometown-itis. Gone were the finger-picked strings and shivering snake tails, replaced with equally enigmatic deep synth and whining melodies that recalled mosquitoes and gadflies zipping over the murky water. Row Bot, too, helped maintain their connection to Anura Hollow as it told the story of the Ribbit Queen, a giant crystal frog that became the envy of politicians, criminals, industrialists, and the local color, as it changed hands in a chaotic attempt to sell it for untold sums. The title of the album was lifted from a riverboat that had originally housed the valuable, bug-eyed treasure (and was the site of a daring and explosive raid that ended up sinking the boat). While the album was not a success upon its release, it maintain cult status through the decades and eventually found its way into the annals of classic beats. The Swamp King Jam would recover in later years, their third record Nymphaea was not a return to form, but it did include less progressive compositions that bridged the gap between their prior albums.
Side A
Sunset Raid
Kingdom of the Crystal Frog
Ribbit Queen
Don't Blink Now
Side B
Hopscotch
Lost to Time and Space
Return to the Swamp
It Belongs in a Museum!