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by voncorn_Archive
Every song on 'Black Monk Time' rips, e'ry git-got-dane on'em!Preaching to the choir here as this group have long already cemented their legacy as forebearers of outside the box rock n' roll, but MAN do their tunes lift my poor spirits out of the dirt whenever I throw them on.As often said, their sound was quite ahead of its time, and it's fun to pick out the prophetic traces of The Fall ("Boys...", "Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy") and flashes of krautrock/psych ("Blast Off!", "That's My Girl"), but there's a bit of magic at work here that makes 'Black Monk Time' hold up so well in this day and age (glaring 60's artifacts aside, though those carry their own set of charms). The record wildly succeeds on the strength of its fervent manic energy, and so ludicrously apparent it is that it's up there with the later best efforts in the realm of punk. Right off the bat, track 1, tense stuttering keyboard note, throbbing bassline, "is that a fucking banjo?" et al, you are just immediately sucked into its gravitational pull, and along the way are you thrown around, confronting bouts of confusion, laughter, terror, the ugliness of the world, and lots of involuntary head jerking. It's a perfect capture of absurdity equal parts comical and nausea-inducing that I love re-living and getting swept up in over and over, it ends up leaving a far more substantial impression on you after the initial "oooh, they were so punx before the punx happened!" reaction. I'm certain that I'd enjoy and champion these Monks just the same as I do now had they been passed on to me as a fell-by-the-wayside weekend hobby by middle-aged Bolivian office co-workers with a shared bond for garage-rock purism. Underneath the inherent simplicity of the music lies the real genius of all the uniquely prized elements that beautifully shape together as a whole:-Percussive-like thwoking of an electric banjo, while very easy to dismiss as dumb on paper, that acts as a secret spice and without being at all overbearing adds just the right amount of extra kick and "umph"? Check. -Harsh distorted organs that are barely competent in precision, yet just ruthlessly frantic enough at times to pull through with glory and provide an unhinged layer of dangerous atmosphere? Check. -A bass player confidently carrying out his duty with a very audible presence and a bonkers fuzz tone to boot? Check. -Highly stylized guitar playing that deliver stomping riffage, interspersed with morsels of queasy, searing fuck-you-all dissonance ala "noise rock", tastefully littered throughout the entire record? Check. -And lastly, a certain Gary Burger mostly belting out a fierce, attitude-laden, annoy-the-shit-out-of-your-parents-grating lead vocal with lyrics showcasing wide range touching on the subversive, lighthearted, and outright bitter disdain. Sometimes frightening, usually hilarious, and never dull or taking itself too seriously. All that AND competent backing harmonies and occasional lead fill-ins courtesy of every other member of the band? Check. I have a soft spot for those "candy ass" commercial singles, as they were referred to earlier in the thread. Pretty much nothing of what I outlined above about 'Black Monk Time' show up in them, sadly. They're very uncharacteristically squeaky clean inoffensive fare that are much closer in sound to say, Brian Wilson, but enjoyable nonetheless. "Love Can Tame the Wild" makes for a hilarious anti-thesis to "I Hate You".The B&W German TV station live footage on YouTube are incredible, seek those out and the 1999 reunion videos as well.Verdict: Not crap, zero waffles, and RIP