Chaos, as usual. Pics by Rebecca.

​From our first delightful encounter with Israeli cock-rockers Monotonix, in a trashy Texas dirtpit at a 2008 party called Fuck by Fuck You, we knew they were special. It was there that we first witnessed frontman Ami Shalev's maniacal hijinks and first saw drummer Haggai Fershtman hoisted up into the air by the crowd, drum kit and all. When they came to New York the following month, it was hard not to enjoy the gaping mouths of unsuspecting Monotonix virgins at Union Hall, as Shalev did things like pretend-fellate himself with an elephant statue atop the bar, pour wax down his pants (also atop the bar), toss around the contents of the ice machine, and take a flying leap into a trash can. A week or so later, we reveled in their "hairy moonshot assclusive" at the Cake Shop, where Shalev tossed around drinks, dumped a trash can on Fershtman's head (a signature Monotonix move), and slid the microphone between his butt cheeks. The next week we even took a tri-state road trip to Princeton University, to watch them grope co-eds and adjust bow ties.

By summers' end, they were back in town, this time in Bushwick, crowd-surfing in a trash can. For the Panache CMJ showcase that October, they teamed up with Japan's DMBQ for a super-sized four-person/two-drum-kit crowd-surf extravaganza (there was blood after this one). At Europa in 2009, Shalev hung from the rafters and joined Fershtman for some two-man somersaults. By this time, word of their live show had spread, and thousands turned out to experience "The Full-Tilt, Half-Naked Joys of Israeli Cock Rockers Monotonix" at the Voice's own Siren Festival.

But after a couple years of acrobatic, occasionally pyrotechnic shows like these, it's not a surprise that they'd need "an extended break," though they cite impending babies and other family stuff as their reason that their current U.S. tour will be their last for quite a while. Saturday night's show in a Kent Avenue warehouse was the only New York City stop during this extended farewell -- it was only right that we be there to witness it.

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Last chance to see this in person for awhile. Pic by Rebecca Smeyne.

​So everyone's favorite hilariously violent Israeli garage-rock trio is making onstage threats that their current tour might be their last, citing fatigue/impending babies/etc., which is bad news for us all, because if you haven't seen Monotonix live yet, well. It's just about the sweatiest, hairiest, (possibly) nudest, most violent and hilarious spectacle you can imagine -- above, for example, please observe frontman Ami Shalev dumping candle wax down his pants at Union Hall awhile back, or recall that the dude straight up broke his leg onstage in Palm Beach last year. Are the rumors true? Are Monotonix shutting all this down for good? Not exactly, says their PR rep:

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Sam Horine

Open wide

Of all the things we here at Sound of the City emphatically endorse--Janelle Monae, the Mountain Goats, Matt & Kim, Ohio sports teams, responsible reporting of M.I.A.'s Tamil Tigers Tweets--the frantic live antics of Israeli stunt-garage trio Monotonix are high up there. Ami Shalev, a curly-maned lion of a frontman, almost always ends up shirtless, in shorts and sneakers, his squiggly rug of chest hair as much an identifying characteristic as the sharply accented consonants of his faux-metal roar. Last night, lager-bathed well-wishers were once again treated to an up-close-and-personal proximity to frontman Ami Shalev's pubic-hairy chest, courtesy of our pre-Siren-partying marketing department. Sam Horine took photos. You're lucky that dude is wearing pants at all.

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Rebecca Smeyne

Monotonix at Europa

Big week around these parts. Not only does this Saturday, July 17 mark the tenth anniversary edition of Siren Festival, but in the lead-up to the big day, we're just announcing a fairly amazing free pre-party that will take place this Thursday, July 15. Details are in the flyer after the jump, but do we really need to say anything else besides Monotonix?

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Here we have somewhat disquieting footage of the Monotonix dudes being profanely heckled as they very earnestly request medical assistance for lead singer Ami Shalev, who straight up broke his leg while given an apparently inadvertent piggy-back ride. Floridian friend/colleague-of-SOTC Arielle Castillo has the scoop, including the amusing fact that Surfer Blood, of all people, were on the bill as well. Godspeed to Ami, whose very real pain is by now hopefully being taken seriously by someone, somewhere.

Update: Success! BrooklynVegan's got hospital pics.

​Honorable Voice food scribe Robert Sietsema was there Saturday night to catch our favorite Israeli cock-rock band at a venue well-suited to their anarchic, jovially destructive inclinations. You're lucky that dude is wearing pants at all. Thanks for the pic, Robert. I hope you didn't get any trash dumped on you.

Nate "Igor" Smith

Japandroids

Now that Siren Festival is over, the sundry bands who played the Voice's Coney Island hotdogging extravaganza can announce their next New York shows without worrying about your proscratinated attendance. So if you did, perchance, miss an act you meant to see--either because you loitered too long somewhere or drunk mooks kept cutting you in the bathroom line (we actually opened the unlocked Port-a-Potty door on one of these assholes and it was sweet revenge) or, pray tell, you didn't actually go to Siren because you were busy taking care of homeless AIDS patients (the only acceptable excuse)--most of these guys will be back in the fall. Built To Spill, as we already told you, are headlining Webster Hall for two days in October. But The Raveonettes, Japandroids, The Ohsees, Micachu and the Shapes, Monotonix, and A Place To Bury Strangers have also declared their intentions to return to our fair stages. Dates and info below.

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Monotonix's frontman got some crowd-surf-drumming in, too.

So Siren '09 is in the books. Thanks for dropping by if you did, which we hope you did, as the weather was excellent (much less brutally hot than in previous years, which also cut down on ill-advised Coney Island boardwalk half-nudity) and the good times plentiful. Here, then, are four highlights and one regret. (Just one. Avoided the chili dogs this year, you see.)

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"It's the most . . . [pause] . . . fun . . . [pause] . . . place in the human body"

Here is very understated Monotonix album cover for their September full-length Where Were You When It Happened? that got a couple of paragraphs devoted to it in this week's paper. Despite the suggestion that Monotonix's recordings are Playboy articles, I heartily endorse their next record, which comes out on Drag City this September, for many reasons, including the fact that these guys find it completely suitable to name a lovelorn ballad "Something Had Dried."

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Rebecca Smeyne

Any excuse to run Monotonix photos. . .

In this week's Village Voice, we preview two of Siren Festival's lesser-known, but indubitably excellent bands: Rob Harvilla talks to Future of the Left, who're definitely the most gleefully hostile band at Siren; Camille Dodero celebrates the full-tilt, half-naked joys of Israeli cock rockers Monotonix.

Cristina Black hits Brooklyn Bowl with the Fiery Furnaces, everyone's favorite art-rock brother-sister act.

Phil Freeman spends a Spanish Harlem night with raucous Latin electro-rock trio Navegante.

In Film, J. Hoberman on Bogart's In A Lonely Place at Film Forum.

Illustrator Ward Sutton makes a cartoon review of Died Young, Stayed Pretty, a documentary film about show posters.

Scott Foundas on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Somers Town, a film that gets at the heart of working-class London.

Robert Wilonksy on Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer, which is a love story in a blender.

Plus reviews of Homecoming, Death in Love, The Way We Get By, and more.

In Art, Daniel Kunitz visits Deitch Projects where Justin Lowe and Jonah Freeman have turned the Wooster Street space into a snaking squat from hell.

In Books, Zach Baron interviews Irish novelist Nick Laird, which turns somehow to drinking with Nick Laird.

In Theater, Michael Feingold on Les Éphémères and Ivanov.

Plus Michael Musto on Mindy Cohn, a/k/a Facts of Life sweetie, costarring with gay porn studs, Free Will Astrology, and more..