Monitor's - "Monitor"

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Haven't heard their 1981 self-titled album. Anyone heard it? Like it? Hate it? The only LP I can find onlineis $69.

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

same band that did Beak/Pet Wedding single? Didn't know there was an album.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't know...WE GET MESSAGES is on the full album, that's all I do know. How was single?

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 23:01 (twenty-two years ago)

It's on soulseek, some guy with a really fast connection has it. I've downloaded it since reading this thread. Listening now. Very good!

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 23:54 (twenty-two years ago)

They also released a split single with the Meat Puppets way back in the day. Great God Pan ran a pretty lengthy interview with them in the late 90s, I've got it but it's buried in a box in the garage. Monitor drummer Keith Mitchell went on to further fame with Clay Allison/Opal/Mazzy Star.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 00:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Hell, I'm intrigued. Must find out more!

Oh Thea, did you want to meet up with a couple of folks before the Sparks show, or have you got plans and I'll just see you at the venue?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 00:44 (twenty-two years ago)

This is one of the best albums ever. It is the same band as Beak/Pet Wedding (one of the best singles ever!), but the sound is quite different. Quiet, a bit of Nino Rota, but utterly unique. Then, just before the last song, the Meat Puppets roar in with "Hair" (slightly doctored by Monitor if you compare it with the version on the "Meat Puppets" reissue). There is something of a bio here:

http://www.maidu.com/gyra/ant/god.html

And it's worth exploring the site as a whole.

On Keith Mitchell, don't forget the Romans!

― no opinion, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 06:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Great - Now I REALLY want to hear this. Maybe I can hit Keith Mitchell up for a copy, heh. Maybe someone will re-release it on cd. Exciting!

And yes to Ned, FAP before Sparks and/or after.

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

who wants to send me a CD-r of it?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm going on slsk now

― monitor, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't have soulseek but will trade something equally cool for a cd-r.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I wonder what you've got...................

― monitor, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

y'know, vinyl-only, great, on the obscure side

― monitor, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I can send you a copy, Dan, email me

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Monitor were my fave band. They went to my High School (Monroe in Sepulveda,CA) but circa early 70's when they had a folk combo known as Canyon.
I hung around them as an adolescent and they'd try to get me to take acid !
Somehow they mixed a hippy-ish almost Manson family quality with a Devo feel.
Only in the Valley : )
Laurie O'Connell (singer/bassist) is in fact married to Ed Barger, Devo's longtime engineer.

Search out the New Wave Theater video compilation on Rhino (circa mid 80s) which has a great clip of them doing " I Saw Dead Jim's Shade".

― Brad Laner, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 23:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Is it this one, or v. 2?
http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/inv.cgi?offer_id=1214842439&domain_id=1877

― no opinion, Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:38 (twenty-two years ago)

that would appear to be vol. 1.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

(sorry, i think i misunderstood your question -- i'm not sure what the answer is.)

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

crap !, I don't remember what volume it was, tho either volume is worth having, I'm sure.... note that copy on half.com is betamax !

― Brad Laner, Thursday, 8 April 2004 04:44 (twenty-two years ago)

cd-r? cd-r for trade? pleeeeez?

― Thea (Thea), Thursday, 8 April 2004 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

two more discography items I forgot about:

the track "Guardian" on the LAFMS comp "Darker Skratcher" and The Tikis- Surfadelic/Junie 7" which is in fact Monitor incognito...

― Brad Laner, Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

the Tikis single is crap though

― heroes + villains, Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:32 (twenty-two years ago)

nuh-uh !

― bl, Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I echo the call for a CDR or something.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:58 (twenty-two years ago)

email me

― bl, Thursday, 8 April 2004 23:16 (twenty-two years ago)

FYI Beak and Pet Wedding are on disk 7 of the LAFMS box set, and also on a compilation I have only seen on Soulseek called "West Coast No Wave," which also has very poorly recorded live material from Monitor plus songs from uj3rk5 and AKA (??? is it real or made up?). "We Get Messages" is on a compilation called "New Wave Complex v. 4". The Tikis' "Junie" is on "Homework #2" (from Hyped to Death).

― no opinion, Friday, 9 April 2004 06:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I grabbed that 'west coast no wave" comp from slsk as well...never heard of the first two bands and god is that stuff crappy... the live Monitor material is taken from the "Live at the Press Club" cassette release on Party Sound Tapes (probably edition of 50) which also had Non, Meat Puppets, 45 Grave and Flap... Great show, I was there : )
I

― bl, Friday, 9 April 2004 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

What else is on the 'west coast no wave' comp?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 9 April 2004 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)

uj3rk5 and AKA... never heard of either of them.. truly dreadful smart ass new (not no) wave. not even worth discussing.

― bl, Friday, 9 April 2004 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

That's kind of why I was wondering about the whole album's ("West Coast No Wave", that is) credibility--is it some kind of obscure p2p hoax...

But I was wondering, I listened to the album afresh and--I think some might tag it as "goth". Which bothers me because I associate that with "lame," even though I like some, say, Siouxsie/Creatures... will be interested in the impressions of those receiving cdr's.

― no opinion, Sunday, 11 April 2004 01:55 (twenty-two years ago)

wouldn't be too far off to refer to the album as sorta proto-goth in parts. But in a very interesting suburban-psych sense . In re-listening for the first time in years I was also hearing a little bit of a Doors-y vibe in the keyboards as well.
Speaking of which nobody has yet mentioned keyboardist Steve Thompsen's more recent work with Solid Eye and his solo album from a few years ago, the name of which escapes me now.

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Sunday, 11 April 2004 05:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Mitchell from Spaceland claims they played a reunion show at Spaceland last year, or sometime fairly recently

― Thea (Thea), Monday, 12 April 2004 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

doubt it highly, but a drag if it's true and I missed it.

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Monday, 12 April 2004 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

mitchell frank claims it's definitely true. laurie o'connell, keith mitchell, etc. were all there. will check out solid eye, thanks

― Thea (Thea), Friday, 16 April 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

An opportune revival -- I received a CDR courtesy of Mr. Laner a couple of days ago and indeed it's quite spiffy stuff! Thanks!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 April 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

glad yr digging it, Ned.

ack, I can't believe I missed a reunion gig. that's so harsh.

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Saturday, 17 April 2004 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

<High-pitched wheedling sound.>

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 00:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I still haven't mailed this, but I will this weekend. sorry

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey now.

Great. I'll email you.

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

six months pass...

revive

i just wanted to say that after 6 months of being bummed about missing this supposed 'reunion' gig I happened to run into Monitor guitarist/vocalist Michael U. tonight at the brian wilson show and he stated in no uncertain terms that there was never a reunion show of any sort.
Mitchell F is a silly retarded liar person.

ok, i feel better now.

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Thursday, 4 November 2004 07:41 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

finally, the superb Monitor clip from New Wave Theater !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=konoLrWMGuY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fprofile%2Emyspace%2Ecom%2Findex%2Ecfm%3Ffuseaction%3Duser%2Eviewprofile%26friendid%3D9675542

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Sunday, 28 May 2006 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

This guy's got the Monitor album available for download:

http://dorfdiscobraunsfeld.blogspot.com/2006/06/monitor-same.html

Yes, it's brilliant.

― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 27 July 2006 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

the monitor reunion referred to above was probably a human hands/urinals spaceland show which featured human hands doing a few ROMANS (not monitor) songs, possibly joined by someone. all acts were enthusiastically received by the nearly two dozen in attendance.

― dan (dan), Thursday, 27 July 2006 20:19 (nineteen years ago)

I shoulda been there. :-/

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 27 July 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

Monitor + Glenn Branca = early Sonic Youth?

Kim Gordon graduated from college in LA in 1980, perhaps aware of Monitor as she headed to NYC? Listening to tracks like "I Saw Dead Jim's Shade" and "In Terrae Interium" back to back with "Shaking Hell" and "Protect Me You" - Gordon seems to be channeling the non-goth spookiness of Laurie O'Connell's art-drone/witch persona. Moore & Lee's guitar work is similar to Uhlenkott's Eastern-tinged detuned pluckings as well...

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

five years pass...

Bump time as I'm listening and loving this right now. I remember whoever was distro for this record had a big sale in about 1987 where I bought this, the first Romans LP, and a "mystery pack" of 7" singles. I still have the Monitor but the Romans seems to have fallen off my barge at some point in my many moves...

I feel like Monitor took to the whole post-punk african-rhythm thing much more intricately and deftly than most. Especially on Side A of this record.

― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 14:45 (fourteen years ago)

yeah, def one of my all time favorite albums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=konoLrWMGuY

― hello I love you but I've chosen darkness my old friend (Edward III), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 15:45 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

rumored to be reissued by superior viaduct this year?

http://www.superiorviaduct.com/monitor/

― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 20:43 (thirteen years ago)

oh look they got a soundcloud too

https://soundcloud.com/superiorviaduct/sets/monitor/

― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 20:45 (thirteen years ago)

aw hell yeah

― sleeve, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 20:57 (thirteen years ago)

that label's got some kicking reissue lineup, too: martin rev, mx-80 sound, 100 flowers, etc

― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 21:05 (thirteen years ago)

also Sleepers! and German Shepherds!!! man that is awesome, I will buy all of these reissues.

I just got a copy of Darker Skratcher and it is really good, much more song-oriented than I expected from a LAFMS release.

― sleeve, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:32 (thirteen years ago)

yeah darker skratcher's a good one, just a couple weeks ago I was reading byron coley's review of it, here's a little excerpt

http://instagram.com/p/U-BTw7yh41/

― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Thursday, 21 February 2013 00:42 (thirteen years ago)

only gonna say this one more time...I totally emailed Superior Viaduct when they started doing SF reissues and said "you should expand to LA and see what's up with Warning Label records who announced 100 Flowers and Monitor reissues."

Anyway, they are doing some great stuff.

― dan selzer, Thursday, 21 February 2013 04:16 (thirteen years ago)

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