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.”
||| 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).
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.