Monozid-A Splinter for the Pure LP (2013)

Leave it to the Germans to drop the cleanest, crispest post-punk LP I've heard in years. Most of the music I review on Drug Punk sounds like garbage-that's half the appeal, usually-but not this one. For some reason I drank half a fifth of Rebel Yell whiskey last night and despite being packed full of razor wire guitar, Monozid's debut LP isn't stepping on my brain with steel-toed Docs. Rather, it makes me wanna dance after slamming a bit more of that Rebel Yell, the remnants of which have been staring at me from my kitchen counter like an albatross.

Monozid's been around for 10 years, and although I can't make out what they're singing about, any band from Leipzig together that long is making music for the right reasons. Most contemporary post-punk is a heaping pile of dog shit. With due apologies for mixing metaphors, it goes down like a can of soda: sickly sweet and pleasurable, then all that corn syrup starts coating yr innards and it feels simply sickly. I noted this in my review of Monozid's 2010 split with Bootblacks, and I'll say it again: if you're ripping off the Leeds crew and it ain't DIY, then fuck you.

Anyway, the music. The years these guys have played together really shines through here. The songs are brutally efficient, with nary a hole in Monozid's wall of sound. They combine noisy, atmospheric guitar and a rhythm section that may be composed of automotons. The title track really stands out: it could be a demo from In the Flat Fields. "The Drowning," though, really has me hooked. A slow burning piece of brooding white dub, it slowly boils the guitar down to squalling staccato bursts shooting out from the tense riddim before finally blowing over in the last thirty seconds.

If you spent a good portion of your late teens getting wasted to the fresh sounds of The Pop Group, Gang of Four, et. al., get this one.

Listen to the LP, then BUY IT!!!, here. Check out Monzoid live, too: