Favorite Video of the Week: Monotrona


Hawkeye and Firebird on Chic-A-Go-Go

Monotrona is a performance art project, best explained in this record review from the Ink 19 site.

Monotrona
Hawkeye And Firebird
Menlo Park

I first saw Monotrona lip-synching “Cadillac Fantasy” on public access show Chic-A-Go-Go a few years ago, and then like now, it was easy to conclude one thing: Like kim chee, Monotrona is one of those things that polarizes people. She sings in what appears to be phonetic Korean, over classic game soundtrack samples from the Commodore 64. There is a story attached to this — “Crime-Fighting is Fun and Easy!” — so I suppose it’s a sort of concept album but frankly, if some girl singing phonetic Korean over C64 bleeps and blorps hasn’t got you running for the hills or leaning in for a closer look, it’s not worth going into it. The Web site should provide plenty of entertainment while you wait for your copy to arrive.
Menlo Park: http://www.menloparkrecordings.com
Monotrona: http://www.monotrona.tv

“Cute” as the fake Korean chick might be, she is totally upstaged in this performance by the little girl in pink. Little girl in pink takes Hawkeye’s ironic, disjointed dance moves and makes them her own, finding rhythm where there was none and injecting sincerity into a performance I might otherwise roll my eyes at. Little girl in pink’s grand finale dance moves cannot be missed.

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