Spread Your Legs, Release the Bats

VINYL FORMAT. From the fusion of two seminal post-punk independent bands, The Gossip and Sleet Mute Night Mute, comes avant punk group, Die Monitr Batss. Their first recording was a split 7" with Portland's Chromatics in 2002. This is their debut EP with four songs that evoke the late 1970's New York no-wave-era (a la Lydia Lunch, China Burg, and James Chance). Their cacophony is their trademark, and their trademark is fucking brilliant. "Spread Your Legs Release The Bats" is one of the best songs I've ever heard. Vocals are split up and sung between Nathan and Jenn; they do better harmonies than most R&B vocalists. Musically angular, like Erase Errata or XBXRX, Die Monitr Batss are also extremely freeform with a saxophone -- not as elegant as Coltrane but as fucked and raw as early James Chance.