Skeletons, often stylized as Skeleton$, is a musical ensemble that began in 2001 as the solo project of Chicago-born artist Matt Mehlan. After releasing a couple of albums with Shinkoyo, a musical collective known for its do-it-yourself mentality, Mehlan adopted a rotating cast of collaborators and released Git, as Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys in 2005. He altered the project's name again to mimic the band's ever-changing line up for its follow-up album, Lucas, this time around calling the band Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities. The band's alternative classical music is a combination of rock, Afrobeat guitar, free jazz and layered rhythms, so extravagant that Skeletons began playing shows and releasing music as a big band known simply as Skeletons Big Band.