Yonatan Gat

Yonatan Gat was one of the founders of high-energy Israeli trio Monotonix, a band known for its wild live shows and tireless work ethic. Monotonix toured the world nonstop for several years with their psych-heavy hard rock, and when the band called it a day in 2011, Gat continued on solo. Wasting little time, he began performing improvisatory dates with drummer Igor Domingues and keyboardist Tamar Aphek. Shortly after going solo, The Village Voice named Gat “Best Guitarist of 2013” and his first solo EP, Iberian Passage, surfaced shortly thereafter in 2014 on the Joyful Noise label. Gat’s guitar playing was characterized by both Brazilian-influenced melodies and blown-out punk production. On album he also contributed other various sonic elements, sometimes singing, playing guitar, or weaving in field recordings he’d gathered himself. He followed the brief Iberian Passage the next year with the full-length album Director, a series of improvisations with drummer Gal Lazer and bassist Sergio Sayeg recorded live by Thee Oh Sees producer Chris Woodhouse while the band was on a U.S. tour. Before Director even saw proper release, the same band had already finished recording another album, this time tracked at the studio of legendary punk anti-producer Steve Albini in just one day. Three years later, the trio returned with Universalists, an ecstatic, eclectic album that incorporated samples of an Italian choir and Balinese gamelan musicians, in addition to a collaboration with the Eastern Medicine Singers, a powwow ensemble from Rhode Island. ~ Fred Thomas