MONO

This instrumental band was formed in February of 2000 in Tokyo, Japan. Since then, MONO has quickly piqued interests in both audience and critics alike by staging overwhelming, emotionally splendid, atmospheric performances. In September of 2000, MONO released a 4-song EP called Hey, You. EP, released on Forty-4 Records, which received exceptional reviews in both Japan and the US. In March 2001, MONO performed at SXSW, broadening their fan base. In December 2001, the band’s long-awaited debut full-length album, Under the Pipal Tree, was released on John Zorn’s TZADIK imprint. The album was well received by a variety of influential underground media outlets.

In March 2002, MONO embarked on their fourth North American tour. They hit 10 cities, including Seattle, Portland, Philadelphia and Boston, and shared the stage with Jim O’Rourke at Tonic in NYC. They wrapped up their tour by performing at SXSW for the second year in a row. They followed with numerous festival appearances, including the industry-centric Popkomm Music Festival in Cologne, Germany and Fomoz Fest, the Largest music in festival in Taiwan. They also found time to record their second full-length album entitled One Step More and You Die which was released October 2, 2002 in Japan, and was supported by a 30-city tour throughout Japan and North America, sharing bills with Kinski and Black Dice, among many others. This led to the band signing a deal (excluding Japan) with the ARENA ROCK RECORDING COMPANY, followed by a worldwide release of One Step More and You Die in early 2003.

Following their most successful US tour to date in the fall of 2003, MONO signed a deal with one of their all-time favorite labels, TEMPORARY RESIDENCE LTD. Since 2003 MONO have released three full-length studio albums: Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (2004), You Are There (2006), and Hymn To The Immortal Wind (2009). Additionally, they have released a singles and rarities collection called Gone (2007), and collaborated with acclaimed experimental electronic artist World’s End Girlfriend for the melancholy Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain (2006).

Within the rage of distortion and bombardment of feedback, you are just as likely to experience sadness and beauty, light and darkness, chaos and peace, happiness and melancholy. It is MONO’s ability to combine, intertwine and swing back and forth from two such opposite extremes to create an emotional phantasmagoria that makes this band worth experiencing.

Takaakira “Taka” Goto: guitar Tamaki: bass Yasunori Takada: drums Yoda: guitar