Monotonix – Body Language EP
Drag City
Israeli rock bands – I’ll bet’cha can’t name two. I’ve got a theory that countries with compulsory military service always have rubbish music scenes, because there just aren’t enough bored kids hanging around to start bands and go to gigs and buy records and scare old people and all that. The little buggers are all too busy doing press-ups, being shouted at, scrubbing toilets with toothbrushes, and so on. On the other hand, small out-of-the-way music scenes, with little in the way of overbearing history or entrenched support structures, can sometimes spawn a mutant: a beautiful snarling monster that springs seemingly from nowhere, owes nothing to anyone and follows none of the rules. This is what Tel Aviv has produced in Monotonix.
Their anarchic approach to live shows is already the stuff of legend, and effectively saw them kicked out of every venue in Tel Aviv. But Israel’s loss is our gain, and Monotonix can now regularly be seen in cities up and down the country, eschewing stages and security in favour of a more (literally) hands-on audience experience, starting fires and breaking shit and generally showing the kids how to party as if we could all be drafted, or killed in a hail of Quassam rockets tomorrow. There’s no pretend-walkoff-followed-
by-preplanned-encore here; Monotonix shows usually end when there’s nothing left intact to make noise on.
Hopeful monsters like Monotonix generally survive just long enough to howl at the moon before they melt back into the ooze from which they came. But, with an album on the way, there’s every sign that Monotonix will here longer than that. A good thing, because this little EP is just like a free sample of crack, or Ben & Jerry’s – it just teases you and leaves you wanting MORE, LIKE THIS, RIGHT NOW.
-Anton Allen-
