Die Monitr Batss - [2003] Youth Controllerzzz / [2004] Girlz Of War

What is there to say? I was amazed by the rockish No Wave of Die Monitr Batss from the start. The helicopter like strumming in the song "Copter" with the sudden outburst of the mantra "Copter!" is so simple but so effective.
And the use of saxophone really gives this that wonderful New York No Wave-feeling, when James Chance was whoring around with his sax.
This has that monotonous pounding drums, the chant-like singing, fucked-up guitar work and the evil saxophone, that for some reason realy gives me surf-feeling. Without a doubt, my first impression is "holy shit, this is great". And all the following impressions are the same. This an excellent album, and for fans of the old school No Wave-scene, this is a must, as well as for the fans of the newer takes on No Wave like 7 Year Rabbit Cycle. Die Monitr Batss should've been on the Three One G mixer Release The Bats with The Birthday Party covers. They could've given The Birthday Party a really wonderful salute with "Zoo Music Girl" or something.




What strikes me first, with the first song, is that the No Wave-madness have gone, this song is still crazy, but not compaired to the songs on Youth Controllerzzz. It's like a controlled madness. And this goes for most of the album. Less Teenage Jesus and The Jerks and more Sonic Youth, but not at all as pop. This is by means a negative aspect of the sound. This is great album, but different from the debut. The monotony is still there but in a different way, we still got those pounding drums, the no wave guitar, but it's more melodic. The use of the saxophone is also more in line with the music on this album. The songs may be more dynamic if that is the word to use (not that I had anything against the dynamics on Youth Controllerzzz), but as said, more controlled and maybe a bit more thought through. But that seems like a very ignorant thing to say, just because Youth Controllerzzz is over-the-top fucked up and this album is a bit less so doesn't mean that Girlz of War has more work behind it, is more dynamic or more of anything, it's just different.

No matter what, these two albums are a must have in every noise rockers/no wavers/experimentalist/alternativists collection!