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Mono – You Are There
Reviewed by Mike

Instrumental rock bands bands are often self indulgent and ham-handed. Mono is not one of them. You Are There was recorded and produced in Chicago by Steve Albini in 2005. It’s release in 2006 was underreported, thus the need for a followup two years later. Mono was founded by guitarist Takaakira “Taka” Goto. What Mono does so well is provide music that is more the pace of the natural world, It’s steps are not robotic or panicked, but rather sure-footed and controlled.

1. The Flames Beyond The Cold Mountain: 10.0

Few rock instrumental acts are able to balance powerful, sweeping strides with delicate nuances. On Cold Mountain, Mono takes us on a breathakingly beautiful journey, played out over thirteen minutes. Usually only the most talented of rock acts can pull off thirteen minute long songs without losing the listener’s interest(see Pink Floyd). Many acts and their identity-seeking fans will claim long songs to be “indulgent”, but that’s only because the bands that make those tracks don’t have the talent to pull it off. In this case, Mono is up to the task. Slow, watery guitar and tension filled backgrounds rise and swell to reveal a gigantic cleansed landscape, like driving hours through a rainstorm only to have the sun pierce through the clouds and your windshield finally translucent. This isn’t all about the calm, however. It’s also about the storm itself.

A sense of place and time pervades the song. I’m reminded of the long drive out to the Northern Rockies of the U.S. via Chicago. The drive through Wisconsin, Minnesota and the eastern half of North Dakota are pleasant enough, but it feels fairly hemmed in. Things start to change about two thirds of the way through North Dakota. The reality as I knew it – the humidity, bright green decidous trees and farmland gives way to a more arid and brown landscape. Tumbelweeds roll into the road. The horizon starts to go on forever, with bigger hills. A few stunted dry pine trees dot the landscape and raptors suddenly appear everywhere, like some altruistic bellhop in the worlds largest and oldest hotel lobby.

This song is that sense of change, of the “unfolding”, of entering an alien atmosphere that in the end, was more comfortable than the one you called home. I can only imagine it’s similar to what Lewis and Clark felt as they plied westward into the unknown.

2. A Heart Has Asked For The Pleasure: 9.4

This feels like a post-rock love song. There are no vocals of course, but the melody and strings convey a human touch. It’s short for Mono standards, rolling along at under four minutes. But it’s no less stunning for it. Simple chimes accentuate the rise and fall of the strings, creating an ethereal musical partnership.

3. Yearning: 9.6

Sonically stunning for all of it’s fifteen minutes. We’re introduced by hushed guitar picking, creating a subdued atmosphere before the song builds into a massive wall of tension. In a way, it’s similar to The Flames Beyond The Cold Mountain, but it’s able to create it’s own identity within the album by undertaking a more defiant and rebelious tone.

Six minutes in, we’re treated to soaring, triumphant guitar work anchored down by a slow pulse of invigorating drums.

4. Are You There?: 9.8

Is it possible for a song to ask a question? It seems Mono is attempting to do just that, swirling on the edge of your consciousness, a playful interrogation on the senses. In the end, the tease reveals itself to be majestic and true.

5. The Remains Of The Day: 9.4

Sunset and dusk. The title eludes to that, and musically there’s an almost resigned quality, of one realizing the day is almost over. Is this the end of the first day in the new landscape, as drawn out in The Flames Beyond The Cold Mountain? Perhaps. Just like the sunset, it’s over before you know it. The best light of the day here, and then gone.

6. Moonlight: 10.0

Night has set in, and moonlight greets us. Echoing shimmers of guitar reflect moonbeams, and a bewitching electric piano strides inbetween. Interrupting this earthy interlude is an upswell of strings, like some great big owl stretching it’s wings in the night, skimming the tops of the trees. A lonely guitar breaks that pattern, taking us over the far off ridge, up and up the slopes, out of the pine and into the apline tundra of the mountainside where waterfalls crash onto barren rock and one of the last wolverines in North Amercia stakes out it’s claim – alone, but the last vanguard of the mountain, of place and of time.

The air is thin, but that’s only because it’s closer to the stars.

Album Total 9.7/10

Response Keywords after hearing this album:

adventurous, patient, melancholic, triumphant, powerful, melodical, grandeur

You Are There is one of the greatest rock instrumental albums ever, let alone post-rock. You can buy a hard copy or download a copy here:

You Are There

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My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
Reviewed by Mike

It’s been three years since My Morning Jackets last album, Z. Evil Urges was recorded partly in Manhattan and Colorado, and is the first My Morning Jacket album to have vocals not performed solely by Jim James.

1. Evil Urges: 3.0

The song starts off with a similar vibe to Radiohead’s Subterranean Homesick Alien, although a bit more organic. Unfortunately, it immediately steers into some sort of tropicalia sound, with poor vocals, both in terms of energy, quality and enthusiasm. This isn’t mailed in, this *is* the post office.

2. Touch Me I’m Going To Scream: 2.0

Remember that hippie jam band back in the 90’s that sounded like a cross between Blues Traveler and Phish? Remember how everyone said they were going to be big as they passed around a bong? Remember how they said they were entering their “trippy” phase? Yeah.

3. Highly Suspicious: 0.0

Enter at your own risk.

4. I’m Amazed: 4.0

A big chunky drum beat opens the song, along with some Dave Matthews style noodling. There are some triumphant sounding chord changes, but the song loses the plot soon after. The melody is as familiar as your own feet. The guitar solo is hackneyed and a complete retread.

5. Thank You: 2.0

Thank You enters K-Lite FM territory right form the start. Sadly, it stays there the entire time. There’s enough cheese here for a Green Bay Packers tailgate party.

6. Sec Walkin’: 7.0

More cheese, but at least it’s done reasonably well this time. There’s some great interplay between a steel guitar and an acoustic. There’s Witchy Woman-like background vocals which add an interesting dimension. Unfortunately it seems like they ran out of ideas halfway through the song.

Demon eyes, Demon eyes
Are wathcing everywhere

7. Two Halves: 3.0

This song is tainted by some increbibly bad lyrics. Any momentum the song had musically is crushed.

Twenty one everything stays in place
Forty one somethings start to fade
When you’re so young you wanna be older
And when your older, you want the body you have now

That’s deep.

8. Librarian: 8.8

A beautiful acoustic guitar opens Librarian. It’s a comforting sound, a darker twist on the Youngbloods. Easily the best song on Evil Urges.

9. Look At You: 1.0

Syrupy, off-kilter, forced, cheesy.

10. Aluminum Park: 5.0

Imagine Weed Party by Band of Horses, but remove the enthusiasm.
Wait…wasn’t Band of Horses supposed to be the My Morning Jacket imitator?

11. Remnants: 2.0

Remember that episode of The Sopranos where Christopher and Adrianna were trying to get that bad rock band signed, and the only thing the music exec wanted was Adrianna’s ass? Yeah.

12. Smokin’ From Shooting: 8.7

One of the better songs on the album. There’s a synergistic moment where the smoking guns line interplays with the steel guitar that is truly sublime. The song builds into a powerful climax with a George Harrison style guitar solo.

13. Touch Me I’m going To Scream Part II: 6.0

Sonically interesting beginning with intertwining keyboards. The rest of the song can’t seem to make up it’s mind, but what it lacks in focus it makes up for in beauty.

14. Good Intentions: 0.0

Pointless six seconds of nothing. We will use the editing foresight My Morning Jacket didn’t and not include this track in our final score.

Album Total: 4.0/10

Response Keywords after hearing this album:

Boring, forced, plodding, cheesy, try-hard, derivative, inconsistent, unfocused

My Morning Jacket has been building expectations for years due to an outstanding live act and a handful of excellent songs. Since Z, there have been tell tale signs of a band losing their grip on their studio abilities. What once sounded like a brilliant band now sounds like a bunch of session musicians hanging out, veering into jam band-lite territory. It’s clear to me that My Morning Jacket is becoming sort of the Allman Brothers of our time, starting off with several quality records and maintaining a career based largely on above average live performances. However, they don’t quite have the back catalogue to compete with that sort of longevity.

The biggest problems with Evil Urges are a very refined and MOR engineering/producton level, inconsistent song quality and an overall lack of spark or fire. Hopefully, this promising band’s next release will be less bloated and more focused, both in terms of songwriting and production/engineering.

I’m not going to insert the usual “buy it here” link for this album. Instead, download Smokin’ From Shootin’ and Librarian from iTunes and save your money for Get Together: The Essential Youngbloods

You can buy that album here:

Get Together: The Essential Youngbloods