| CD REVIEW Monno |
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Band : Monno This somewhat weird band was initially formed in Lausanne (Switzerland), where the 4 original members met in the Experimental music scene during 1999. After playing together in several different projects, they recorded a demo and started playing live as a quartet (2002, in Berlin, the city they moved to), bringing music which was at that time a mixture of Heavy Rock, Free Jazz, and electronic textures. In 2003 Conspiracy Records subsidiairy Subdeviant Records picks up on the guys and released the debut CD Candlelight Technology. Joined by Canadian bassist Derek Shirley (who’d performed end toured both Canada and the US extensively with bands such as Zebradonk and The Woodchoppers Association before moving to Berlin in 2001, where he’s participated in several projects, including Hotelgäste, Paul Brodys Tango Boy, Coal Oven, Silk Convector, Alfred France, and of course Monno) the band [completed by singer/ laptop handler Gilles Aubrey (who uses field recordings, computer programming, surround sound, hacked electronics and improvisation in both the live performances and sound recordings since 1995), drummer Marc Fantini, and saxophone player Antoine Chessex (who’s not only played with Monno, but has quite a few collaborations to his credit, as well as a number of solo releases – most of which issued on cd-R)] left on tour for the first time, sharing stages with Melt Banana and Suicide’s Martin Rev. In 2004 Lightning Bolt invites the band to join ‘em on a European tour, and after that the band starts writing the material for upcoming album Error, which they first try out on a tour with Isis and Jesu (a live recording was done in Ljubljana). New was the fact that the sax player sent the sounds of his intrument through two guitar amplifiers, making for sounds which are fàr removed from that made by the instrument originally…and a far heavier sound overall thanks to the computer generated noises, frantic singing, and the groovy rhythm section! Not surprisingly, the band became a welcome guest at several comtemporary experimental music festivals throughout Europe! The band’s third album is also the first I’ve ever heard of ‘em, and I have to say the five songs on the album are enticing enough to induce me into trying to get the band’s earlier albums [in fact, I’ll be getting myself this one as well, as the editor-in-chief, for some dark reason (he doesn’t even like the music usually brought by this label, yoou know), considers the promo material we get from Conspiracy as additions to his personal collection). I mean, there’s your droning and Ambient (even if rather “heavy”) passages…passages which take some endurance from the part of the listener (some may say they don’t héar the subtle changes in the drone, others into the whole drone music scene will agree these passages were put together quite ingeniously, what with only the drums and bass recognizable as such…even the vocals aren’t always clearly discernable)…alternated against less “inert” passages where the sax is somewhat remeniscent of a ship horn (you know, there’s even moments when the sound of the sax is only distorted a slight bit, making for a short recognition of the instrument’s normal sound)…and moments where a certain degree of chaos (always enhanced by the used of computer generated extra sounds) is utilised, with each instrument picking up in pace accordingly! Vocals can be an extended “aahhh!!!” drone (like in the album opening “Negative Horizon”, which also happens to be the album’s longest track with its 14:34 length), but might also be distorted (by means of the laptop, possibly) and emotional screamed shouting (with actual lyrics, not that you’d be able to understand what Gilles goes on about, and at those moments the band comes close to a Black Metal incarnation), or even grunts. All of these words really hardly do justice to the somewhat dark works of this band (the info sheet suggests you “Think along the abandoned shores of Corrupted, Burning Witch, Nootgrush, Albert Ayler and Ulver”), and their music needs to be listened to, to be appreciated (or hated, as the case may be) at their proper value! You can listen to a couple of songs [two excerps taken from the aforementioned “Negative Horizons”, plus the album’s shorter tracks “Troye” and “Hull” (both also the most brutal ones on the album) and an additional two tracks off Error] at myspace.com/monnosound, or take the link posted at that page towards the band’s page on soundimplant.com [click the here link after “some mp3’s” to find a shitload of material off the band’s previous releases]. 98/100 Tony. |