And they’re heading your way in August!
The New York production line has spat out another sure fire winner, that will have girls bouncing on boys shoulders at festivals all over the world before too long. Monobloc appear to have ingested a whole load of Julian Casablancas DNA with this their debut release. With it’s it megaphone like vocals and singalong chorus, the whining delivery of Timothy Waldron and the choppy fret work of the twin guitarists, Ben Scofield and Nina Lüders, it’s like we’re transported back to the underground scene of the late 90s and noughties, when angular indie music crossed the pond like birds on winter migration. The Arctic Monkeys ensured that a lot of it was repelled, but now those bastions of UK indie have immersed themselves in a sticky coating of US stadium goo, there is nobody to protect us from the latest wave.
I defy anyone to listen to more than the 20 seconds without thinking The Strokes have returned! However, you’d be foolish to dismiss them just on the evidence of one track as I’m guessing there’s a lot more substance and guile behind what else they have to offer.
Soaring out of the underground of New York City’s booming DIY scene, Monobloc, helmed by vocalist Timothy Waldron and Michael Silverglade on bass, is an exciting new project formed by two friends with a shared ear for merging pop sensibilities, with a distinctly metropolis post-punk attitude.
Michael had the following to say about their new single:
“I wrote the guitar riff years ago, long before Monobloc was even a thing. We’ve never had more iterations of a single song idea, it just never came together. Yet, I persevered, and after we wrote the first couple of Monobloc tracks, we dug up the old demo.”
And Tim on its themes:
“Attached to the main riff of the song was this chorus I really wanted to use but could never find a place where it made sense. “Where is my garden, where are my friends? Will it always feel like the end?” It was a great wide theme – a bit Springsteen and better yet, the closest I could legally get to saying “Where are your friends tonight.”
Completed by Zack Pockrose on drums, and guitarists Ben Scofield and Nina Lüders, Monobloc’s strengths lie in their innate gift of storytelling; pairing texturally rich, visceral and emotional detail, with a minimalist instrumentation that sits as confidently alongside some of NYCs artistic greats, as it does in its own lane entirely.
With a thriving live reputation across the US, Monobloc make their UK festival debut this August at London’s All Points East in support of LCD Soundsystem, with a warm-up show planned a couple of days before at the capital’s Sebright Arms. They’ll also make a first trip to the EU to perform at Rock En Seine and Kalorama Festival later that month.
Later in the year, they fly to Reykjavik for Iceland Airwaves and then onto Mexico for Corona Capital.
Catch the band live on the following dates:
AUGUST
21 LONDON Sebright Arms (debut UK performance)
23 LONDON All Points East (w/ LCD Soundsystem)
25 PARIS Rock En Seine (debut EU performance)
29 LISBON Kalorama Festival
31 MADRID Kalorama Festival
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