Between 2005 and 2011, Israeli trio Monotonix played over a thousand live shows, almost all of which were spectacular displays of high-energy mayhem and explosive antics, gaining them a reputation as a “must-see” live band. So insane was its live act, in fact, that the band’s actual music often became a secondary concern to the audience, and on record Monotonix exposed themselves as a perfectly capable if not particularly exciting or innovative guitar rock band.
Guitarist Yonatan Gat went solo when Monotonix broke up, and his approach to recording with his own music has proven more engaging that his previous band’s frozen output. Gat’s mostly instrumental tunes bring his part of Monotonix’s furious energy into a much more improvised…
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…realm, playing with small ensembles and offering up burning solos that owe as much to rock gods like Hendrix and Zappa as they do to ’60s tropicalia and other lost Brazilian psychedelia.
Director is Gat’s first proper full-length, a series of potent improvisations put to tape by Thee Oh Sees producer Chris Woodhouse, featuring Gat and his band of powerhouse drummer Gal Lazer and bassist Sergio Sayeg. Album opener “East to West” begins with distant sounds of street traffic before bursting wide open with frantic drums, a minimal bass groove, and spare, twinkling electric piano runs. When Gat comes in a solid minute into the song, his ecstatic guitar playing takes the tune from a bombastic romp into some kind of bizarre and heavenly celebration. This jubilant vibe continues in a more relaxed form on the pastoral “Casino Cafe” before the band moves on to more muscular rock workouts on tracks like “Gold Rush” and “Gibraltar.” Gat’s technically astounding playing is broken up by inexplicable moments when his guitar tone melts into pools of wobbly delay or the entire song is interrupted by more strange field recordings. Rather than being a distraction, these moments make Director pleasantly trippy and add to the series of unpredictable movements that keep the record engaging throughout. Director wanders, offering meditative, nearly ambient piano vignettes one moment and ripping, blown-out jamming the next. Though completely improvised, there is an almost conceptual feel to the album, and the songs feel alive with a type of spontaneous rock composition that demands repeated listening just to catch up with the band.