Mono ...
Mono (stylised as MONO) is a Japanese post-rock band, formed in 1999 in Tokyo. The band consists of Takaakira "Taka" Goto (electric guitar, glockenspiel), Hideki "Yoda" Suematsu (electric guitar, glockenspiel), Tamaki Kunishi (bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, glockenspiel), and Yasunori Takada (drum kit, glockenspiel, synthesizer).
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Japanese experimental group Mono came together in 2000, choosing to forgo vocals and concentrate instead on atmospheric, classical-inspired rock music. The foursome, bassist Tamaki (the lone female in the group), drummer Yasunori Takada, and guitarists Takaakira "Taka" Goto and Yoda, released their first full-length record, Under the Pipal Tree, in 2001 on John Zorn's Tzadik label. In 2003, after switching to Arena Rock Recording Company, Mono issued One Step More and You Die, a remix version of which came out the following year as New York Soundtracks. That same year their fourth album, Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined, recorded in Chicago with producer Steve Albini, was released on Temporary Residence. Albini also performed the same duties on Mono's April 2006 record, You Are There, and in September the band issued Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain, a mix between classical and rock that also featured a collaboration with World's End Girlfriend, among others.
The fascination with classical arrangements, strings, and atmospheres became an integral part of the band's sound. In 2006 they recorded You Are There, which included cellos on one part of the album and a string section elsewhere while keeping the dynamic and tension-building sound that had become the band's trademark, where beauty and chaos are woven together until they're an inseparable whole. On 2009's Hymn to the Immortal Wind, the band played live with a 25-piece chamber orchestra that featured woodwinds, reeds, and strings -- and added a Hammond B-3 in spots to extend the orchestral dynamic. This culminated in 2010's Holy Ground: NYC Live, with Mono accompanied by the Wordless Music Orchestra, another large chamber ensemble featuring everything from harp and strings to winds and piano, playing the band's compositions. For 2012's For My Parents, the band employed a smaller chamber group, conducted by Jeff Milarsky, dubbed the Holy Ground Orchestra, comprising two violins, two cellos, viola, upright bass, timpani, and cymbals.
After a global tour and a break, Mono returned to the studio in 2013 and recorded two albums simultaneously as parts of a whole. The Last Dawn was lighter, briefer, and more melodic; once again, it placed the band in sonic juxtaposition with strings. The second part, Rays of Darkness, included no strings for the first time since 2003. It was far blacker and heavier, and featured a guest vocal appearance by Tetsuya Fukagawa of Envy. Both albums were released by Temporary Residence in October of 2014. The following year Mono signed with the Pelagic label of German metal act the Ocean. Both bands collaborated on a split album called Transcendental. The recording was a preface for a joint European tour. Each band contributed a single extended track. Mono's "Death in Reverse" served to complement the Ocean's "The Quiet Observer" in that both cuts explored themes of life, death, and rebirth/regeneration, as well as the in-between "bardo" states. The album was released at the end of October by Pelagic. In July 2016, Mono released the 18-minute "Ely's Heartbeat" via the Internet. It was the pre-release single from the full-length Requiem for Hell, issued by Temporary Residence that October.
(Artist Biography by Marisa Brown)
ΠΑΡΑΠΟΜΠΕΣ-ΠΗΓΕΣ:
Sylvain Clapot
In The Woods
For My Parents (2012)
1. Legend: 00:00
2. Nostalgia: 11:56
3. Dream Odyssey: 23:50
4. Unseen Harbor: 31:51
5. A Quiet Place (Together We Go): 45:58
Joosje Seeling
Hymn to the Immortal Wind by Mono
1. (00:01) Ashes in the Snow
2. (11:50) Burial at Sea
3. (22:25) Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn
4. (28:25) Pure as Snow (Trails of the Winter Storm)
5. (39:50) Follow the Map
6. (43:48) The Battle to Heaven
7. (56:41) Everlasting Light
Anıl Çam
Mono - You Are There (2006)
Post-Rock
00:00 - The Flames Beyond the Cold Mountain
13:29 - A Heart Has Asked for the Pleasure
17:12 - Yearning
32:50 - Are You There?
43:14 - The Remains of the Day
46:55 - Moonlight
Sky
PaperCranes364
The Last Dawn / Rays Of Darkness (2014)
THE LAST DAWN:
1. The Land Between Tides/Glory: 00:00
2. Kanata: 11:38
3. Cyclone: 18:08
4. Elysian Castles: 24:30
5. Where We Begin: 32:39
6. The Last Dawn: 40:04
RAYS OF DARKNESS:
1. Recoil,Ignite: 48:50
2. Surrender: 01:02:06
3. The Hand That Holds The Truth: 01:09:51
4. The Last Rays: 01:17:45