Albums: The Monolators, Tigers Can Bite You
Kevin Bronson on
2
The Monolators, “Don’t Dance” (Monolator Music/Ninja Star) — It is with good reason that the Monolators, anchored by the husband-and-wife team of Eli and Mary Chartkoff, have become darlings of the Eastside scene: They’re honest and earnest, qualities displayed with sharp wit in the everyday anecdotes in their music, and they play every show with a hire-a-sitter, postpone-the-housework, bring-a-change-of-clothes fury. Their Buddy Holly-does-the Ramones aesthetic has aged well, and even if it wears a bit thin over the album’s 34 minutes, you’ve got to be pretty curmudgeonly to sit still and not a crack a smile during “Don’t Dance.”
||| Download: “Don’t Dance”
||| Live: The Monolators’ album-release show is Saturday at Spaceland.
Tigers Can Bite You, “Steve Ward Hears Voices” (New and Used) — This L.A. outfit has arrived at a cool sound: Think an electro Death Cab for Cutie trying their hand at shoegazer rock. TCBY scrawls its angst on a wall of sound that is at once agitated and melodic; there are some nice aha moments amid those waking-dream breakers too. Frontman Dave Woody’s substantial vocal limitations, exposed when the band plays live, are nowhere to be found on record — in fact, he sounds almost ethereal — thanks in part to production by” Josiah Mazzaschi (the Light FM frontman and ace studio hand).
||| Download: “Taking and Running Away”
||| Live: TCBY’s next L.A. date is Dec. 12 at Echo Curio
Good stuff. The recording is sharp!
Dec.12th at the Echo Curio is going to be a great night; it’s a New & Used Records showcase! Shiloe and Kid Mud are also playing.
P.S. The Monolators are the best, period.