REVIEW: THE MONOCLES - OUT OF YOUR MIND 7"

You know when ever people write about garage rock, they always talk about it in waves. Need proof? Keep reading. First there's that whole golden era back in the 60s. Then there's the wave in the 70s. Then one in the 80s. Then one in the 90s. Then the one from a few years ago that made lots of people with the definitive article in the front of a noun lots of money. Is this it? Or rather, if there's always a garage wave, how do we know exactly when one ended and the next began? I guess they're like ocean waves that way, they just kinda keep coming and while you know where the crest and the gully is, you can't really create some sort of neat and tidy real-world demarcation to say where one begins and the other ends. There are no lines in the sand, only foam rushing from place to place.

If we could drop our bobber in the endless ebb and flow at a certain point, we'd prolly pick Mudhoney's Superfuzz Bigmuff + Early Singles as the first time garage rock caught our attention and stuck around like swimmer's ear. There's a great quote about this period of the band, which we will summarize from memory as follows: "You've got songs about dogs. You've got songs about being sick. You've can play five chords, but you only use three in each song." We feel like this boils down our affinity for garage music rather eloquently: In other words, it's simple music, played far heavier than its subject matter. But with Mudhoney, there was always that lyrical and compositional darkness that set it apart from other rockers of the lube joint. (Indeed, that feint towards the shadows and geographic locality alone may be the reason why the band ended up with the Grunge label more than the music itself - I mean, do they really have all that much in common with Pearl Jam?) "Touch me I'm Sick" is really a pretty unpleasant song, certainly in no danger of veering off into into Frat or Party rock. And it's this same dissonance and distance from celebration that we think is part of why we enjoy this 7" from The Monocles.

Recorded at Pigeon Eater Studios here in town, the title track quickly sets up what to expect. What you notice immediately is how the vocals are wrapped in a layer of effects, separating you, almost disconcertingly, from the lyrics and the performer. With a Born Liars song, for example, you might picture yourself up on stage dancing among them, but here the vocals and the way the guitars drag the drums along, you can be forgiven for thinking that no, there's something a bit more weighty going on here - maybe it's best if take it in rather than trying to somehow incorporate my own private celebration into the performance.

Tonight follows suit, tapping into the same set of inappropriately workhouse pop chords that bring to mind Butch Vig-era Sonic Youth, though with decidedly more straight-ahead structures. The lyrics are about confusion and displacement, and the music backs it up. "Darken Your Door" gets back to our original premise, and why we've enjoyed this release so much. It's a simple song (and note, please, that simple is not a bad thing AT ALL) with a catchy riff about something as mundane as a "rip in the couch." But though it couldn't be sillier if it was a lament about a car with a thousand clowns in it, there's something more, something unfortunate and not joyous about what we're hearing. We can't quite put our finger on it, but we know for sure that we, too, don't want anything to do with that rip, even while the song about it is rocking us. Recommended.

Stream: The Monocles - Various Tracks

THE MONOCLES INVADE DOMY BOOKS!

QUICK! TO THE DOMY CAVE! If you go now, before John Sears drops off the next Grey Ghost, you'll be able to walk right in, sit right down and buy not one, not two but three releases by members of the Monocles. Yep! In addition to their Blood Sucking Freaks GG, which is as solid as it is seriously limited edition and limited time only, you'll find their brand spanking new 7" and a solo CDR by vocalist Pope Jon PPPP. Dang. Thats three. Thats three more than the number of Will Boone artwork price sheets that they had last time we were there. Thats alot.

We'll spend some time delving into the specifics of their seven inch in the near future, but what we can say about Freaks we feel like we need to do quickly before it's lost to the ether and your chance to pick it up is gone forever. Imagine early Mudhoney, with a bit more prediction for the garage than the Ranier Beer factory, with fewer songs about being dogs and being sick, and more about bones and blood. There's a little less humor, and a little more grit - but we are struck by how much this release had us longing for the days when Superfuzz Bigmuff was our tome of love, and Mark Arm the Tom Petty of our locker. Go buy it. Prove us wrong.

Catch the Monocles Saturday night at Rudyards as they wind down their tour with Something Fierce. Born Liars and Canyon of the Skull are also on the bill. Or, if this weekend doesn't provide you with enough of the near-sighted peanut mascot accessory fix, you can go see them play next month at the engagement party of Monocle Jonathan Benjamin Patrick to ALARMA! bassist April 5k Bren. Awe. Band Love.

DUMB QUESTIONS/SMART ANSWERS: THE MONOCLES

NEARLY ONE IN THREE THURSDAYS we fire off a set of hum drum questions to an unsuspecting regent of the rock, demanding the questions WE MUST KNOW THE RESPONSES TO, some of which you make likewise care about. THIS DAY you are in for a dash of the gentlemanly one-eyed direct to you from Jeff, drummer of The Monocles. LET THE REGAL RETORTS RESONATE:

What are some of your favorite records lately?
Jonny actually just recently got me into King Khan and BBQ. They're really great. And I have a cd of a live American Sharks set that I've been jamming the shit out of. The latest Bronx record, the Marked Men's "Fix My Brain." And then there's the tried & true classics: the Drive Like Jehu records and Rocket from the Crypt stuff I can never get sick of.

Are there any Houston bands who you've been digging lately?
The American Sharks are straight-up my favorite band in town right now. But there are SO many. I get really, really tired of people talking shit on the Houston scene. There are so many good bands here and I cannot figure out why so many people are down on this place! BTEOT, the Dimes, Paper Moons, Hollywood Black, Something Fierce, Dizzy Pilot, Jonbenet, Bring Back the Guns, Sharks & Sailors, Goldenaxe, the Guilloteens......I could go on for days.

What's your secret Houston place?
I'm not very good at being in secret places. No one ever tells me where they are. The Spaghetti Western in the Heights is a delicious Italian restaurant that is rarely crowded, so maybe that place is a secret that I just didn't know was a secret. I know of a couple nice caves. A couple hovels.

What is the first sentence of the page you are on in a book you are reading right now?
"Unrhythmic script does not flow; it is unsteady, stagnant, and has singular and uneven spots that catch and jar the eye."

What's the best thing you have spent money on in the last year?
I bought a stuffed jaguar head out of the back of this dude's truck on Washington Ave, like, 2 months ago. He wouldn't tell me where he got it from. Its mounted really badly, too. All the teeth are kinda broken off and mangled, and the fur is all matted and fucked up. But the guy only wanted 15 bucks for it, so now its sitting in my living room and I don't know what to do with it.

What is the best thing you got for free in the last year?
I'm assuming that physical acts of affection don't count, right? In which case, I'd have to say the entire Mexican Cheerleader discography from my friend Justin from Underground Communique in Chicago. Or Dancing Outlaw 1 & 2 with outtakes on DVD.

What is your ringtone?
My phone is a hand-me-down from a friend of mine, so all the ringtones originated from him. He had some hip-hop song loaded in that goes "Roll around the corner, what do I see? Po-po's followin' me." I don't know who its by. I probably should.

What should we ask the band next week?
"What is the strangest, naturally-occurring physical oddity that you have ever seen firsthand? And did it make you nauseous?"

What doe The Monocles have going on right now?
We're doing a little 3 day thing around Texas (Sept 13 here in town at Rudz, the 14th in San Antonio at Jigger's, and the 15th in College Station at the Roasted Bean cafe) with Something Fierce. We have shows on Sept 23rd at Rudz, Oct 12th at Jet Lounge, and we're on the GarageFest at Rudz on December 14th. As far as releases go, we have a 7" coming out next month (October) on Loose Recs and we have a live in-studio radio set that Loose helped us put out that we've been kinda hawking around. We have about 10 songs done right now, so we're gonna probably write a couple more and then we'll be recording the full-length at Pigeon Eater Studios before too long that should be done and out sometime around the 1st of the year. And, of course, we're gonna be playing around town a lot in between all that other stuff. Busy busy.

BUSY INDEED, O SIDEKICK TO THE TOP-HAT! Catch the Monocles tonight at Rudyard's with The Soda Pop Kids and Urgencies.

UPDATE: Pansies that they are, The Soda Pop Kids and Urgencies were afraid of wind damage from THE TERROR OF HUMBERTO and canceled. Today. Ok, we have no idea, but canceling day-of is weaksauce. Fortunately, the show is still on and Something Fierce and iAlarma! are filling in. Hawt.

Stream: The Monocles - Out of Your Mind