Yonatan Gat


Yonatan Gat is a guitarist, producer, composer and bandleader based in New York. His cross-genre sound was called "a vital new music form" by Magnet Magazine, "melding improvisation, world music, punk and avant garde."
His performances were so controversial in his home country of Israel that his first band Monotonix got banned from playing shows in almost all venues of the country, leading Gat – a conscientious objector – to leave his country for a life of touring, playing 1,500 concerts in 50 countries in 5 continents in the last decade alone. Rolling Stone editor David Fricke celebrated the multiculturalism of Gat's sound, calling him "a citizen of the world," adding "Gat wields his guitar like a universal translator."
After relocating to Paris, Porto, and New Orleans, Gat found a home in New York, where his work was profiled by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Wire, UNCUT, Pitchfork, NPR, Vice,The New Yorker and People Magazine. The Village Voice named him "Best Guitarist in New York, 2013," and The Guardian listed his sophomore album Universalists in their top ten Contemporary Classical Music albums of 2018, while PopMatters called it a "Visionary New Album for Rock Music".

Biography

As Member of Monotonix (2000s)

Gat first came to prominence as the guitarist and founder of Monotonix. After finding themselves banned from most venues in their country due to the wild and controversial nature of their concerts, the band decided to leave Israel and tour the United States and Europe. With Monotonix, Gat released an EP and two albums on Drag City Records. Gat's guitar was the only harmonic instrument in the drums-guitar-vocals power trio and was singled out by the likes of Pitchfork mentioning "guitarist Yonatan Gat slides in and out of solos without ever throwing the rhythm off the rails... The descending guitar line that follows is sweet and yearning enough to fit onto a damn Strokes record."
During the band's 5-year existence, Gat played 1,000 concerts as its guitarist and co-founder, collaborating with musicians such as Fugazi's Ian Mackaye and Guy Picciotto and Beat Happening and K Records founder Calvin Johnson, while touring as support for Pavement, Faith No More and Silver Jews. The latter's frontman David Berman would go on to co-produce Gat's 2018 sophomore LP Universalists. Songs by Monotonix were used in TV, film and video games such as House, Grand Theft Auto and Better Living Through Chemistry. In 2008, Monotonix were called "the most exciting live band in rock 'n' roll" by Spin Magazine and by 2011, after completing a world tour for the final album, Not Yet, they stopped touring, allowing Gat to focus on his career as a solo artist.

As Composer and Solo Artist

After Monotonix's final world tours in 2011, Gat settled in New York and began recording and performing as a bandleader and solo artist, engaging Gal Lazer and Sergio Sayeg as his core studio-collaborators while expanding his projects to include musicians such as Brian Chase, Greg Saunier and Thor Harris.
Gat began touring the United States and Europe both as headliner and sharing the stage with artists such as Thee Oh Sees and Sun Ra Arkestra, often performing his set on the floor in the middle of the audience. He released his debut EP, Iberian Passage, written and recorded while he was living in Portugal, in the spring of 2014 on Joyful Noise Recordings and his full-length studio album debut, Director, followed in 2015. Within months of Director's premiere, an EP produced by Steve Albini titled Physical Copy followed.
Gat's latest album, Universalists, was released through Joyful Noise Records on May 4, 2018. In that same year he went on to release a split 7-inch with Os Mutantes, be featured as guest guitarist on legendary Nigerien band Tal National's new album, and premiere a collaboration with a Rhode Island Algonquin powwow drum ensemble – the Eastern Medicine Singers. The album's release was followed by a world tour with Gat backed by an 8-piece band which included members of his own ensemble of long-time collaborators, as well as the Native American drummers and singers of the Eastern Medicine Singers.