REVIEWS

let's start a beat!

Review of LET'S START A BEAT! by Cheryl Botchick from CMJ New Music Report Issue: 701 - Feb 12, 2001
But don't miss out on the Monks: Composed of American G.I.s living in Germany, who stayed in Europe after being discharged, the band rocked the beer-and-pills-soaked Hamburg beat scene of the mid-'60s and developed a tribal, discordant sound. They're not quite garage rock; they're not quite avant-garde. But they're truly as primal as it gets. It's just that their separation from up-to-date American fads and fashion assured that their sound was skewed just a tiny bit - kind of like those European Mentos commercials of a few years ago. And dig their crazy matching monk outfits. Way out!

Review of LET'S START A BEAT! by Andy Neill from Record Collector Issue: 258 - Feb 2001
"It's Monk Time!" - once heard, never forgotten. After 32 years, the follically-challenged, Kraut-transplanted Yanks played their first-ever American gig as part of Cavestomp in 1999. All those demonic ingredients - banjo-bashing, swirling organ-grinding, drongoid drumming, fuzz-riff fret-melting - got resurrected over two nights before a lucky audience of Monk maniacs, including one Genesis P-Orridge, who contributes a written eulogy here.

"Cuckoo", "Complication", ("Constipation!"), "Shut Up" (the latter appearing as bonus CD-ROM footage), "I Can't Get Over You", "Black Monk Theme" ("do you, do you, do you know, I hate you, baby!"): name your fave, it gets a pounding. And with a riotous, impromptu "Monk Jam" concluding proceedings, it wouldn't be stretching it to say this set rivals the Creation's "Lay The Ghost" as the 60s cult hero reunion.