the echo and echoplex

The Monolators || Listen
Because the Monolators are a guitar-&-drums duo, they get the usual White Stripes comparisons, but their sound is actually weirder and more expansive on their latest CD, Our Tears Have Wings. Singer-guitarist Eli Chartkoff has a uniquely mournful yelp that’s somewhere between the late Nikki Sudden and the Subsonics’ Clay Reed on the lo-fi gem “Strawberry Roan”. Drummer-wife Mary Chartkoff cooks up a neatly sinister groove on “We Fell Dead,” and keeps it all down home on the glowing roots-rocker “14 Degrees.” On the album’s title track, Eli portrays himself as a lion tamer’s son with playfully clever lyrics and starkly effective chords that evoke the unpretentious simplicity of his hero Buddy Holly. The L.A. duo even engage in a little Jonathan Richman–style whimsy on the folkie ramble “I Was a Captain in the Army,” with Eli’s timelessly iconic tremolo guitar waves washing away any hint of mere cutesiness. - LA Weekly

with:
Mezzanine Owls || Listen
Amateurs || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 18+