Browse by Artist: MONO

Artist:	MONO
Title:	Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky,...
Label:	TEMPORARY RESIDENCE LIMITED
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	TRR 068CD

...Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined. "Tokyo, Japan's Mono are a peculiar group. While most bands offer up their sincerest and most genuine recordings in their infancy and spend the rest of their careers trying desperately to rediscover their youthful energy, Mono's trajectory has been quite the opposite. Their early recordings are a visceral homage to their past and present heroes -- the documents of a band boasting an impressive symphony of sound in spite of their relatively small line-up. These days, they have become one of the most passionately aggressive rock bands of the last decade, executing their soaring crescendos, titanic sheets of distortion and dark melodies with the delicacy and precision of a folded paper crane. This flourish of hopeful creativity was captured by Steve Albini in the form of the eight pieces that make up their third album Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined. More lush and orchestral than previous recordings, the album couples an overall slow-melting ambience with a thunderous drive that reaches far greater heights than the band's earlier work."

Artist:	MONO
Title:	One Step More and You Die
Label:	TEMPORARY RESIDENCE LIMITED
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	TRR 073CD

"Since its original release in 2002, One Step More and You Die has become the monolithic cornerstone of Mono's discography. Every subsequent release has been inevitably (and perhaps unfairly) compared to this album, as if it were the band's high watermark, never to be dethroned. Mono brilliantly answered even the most stubborn of naysayers with this year's transcendent You Are There. To celebrate that release, we dug into their back catalog and pulled out this masterpiece of dark dirge, repackaged with additional artwork. One Step More stared the 'sophomore slump' threat square in the face and pummeled it from note one. Four years later we can confidently say that it sounds just as brutal and beautiful as it did the day it was laid to tape."

Artist:	MONO
Title:	You Are There
Label:	TEMPORARY RESIDENCE LIMITED
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	TRR 098CD

"Throughout their six-year career, Mono has ascended consistently in both popularity and critical acclaim, with record sales and live show attendance corresponding. But still elusive to the Japanese quartet has been the successful translation of their powerful and violently beautiful live performances to their recordings. Despite their albums' masterful subtleties and majestic walls of noise, the consensus has remained that their transcendent live show is simply incomparable. If there is any chance of breaking that spell, it lies in You Are There, without a doubt the prime contender to unite the live and recorded worlds of Mono. With You Are There, Mono's representation of tragedy comes with an inherent joy, delivered with the hope that in all dark there is equal parts light. They're not heavy like Black Sabbath -- they're heavy like Beethoven."

Artist:	MONO
Title:	Gone: A Collection of EPs 2000-2007
Label:	TEMPORARY RESIDENCE LIMITED
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	TRR 121CD

"Collecting all of Mono's rare and out-of-print non-album tracks, Gone perfectly (and chronologically) displays their astounding growth, from the modest opening notes of 'Finlandia' to the scorched finale of 'Little Boy (1945-Future).' These tracks are culled from a series of highly sought-after releases, including the Japanese-only debut 'Hey, You.' EP, their split LP with Pelican, the Cameron Crowe-commissioned 'Memorie dal Futuro' vinyl 10", and 'The Phoenix Tree,' their out-of-print EP for the storied 'Travels In Constants' series. All tracks have been beautifully remastered from their original master tapes, with absurdly beautiful deluxe packaging."

Artist:	MONO
Title:	Under The Pipal Tree
Label:	TZADIK
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TZ 7237

"Mono is a young instrumental band from Tokyo combining elements of minimalism, psychedelia and trance rock to create a distinctive and powerful new sound via John Fahey, Sonic Youth and the Grateful Dead. Austere and intense -- their music is simple, beautiful and incredibly direct. Sheets of sound, lyricism, wailing guitars and pounding rhythms evolve slowly, morphing into a ritual of noise and ecstasy. A remarkable debut from this exciting new Japanese band."

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