MONNO Error (Conspiracy) lp 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Our pals at Conspiracy Records, a label/distro based in Belgium, who in the past have brought us records by Boris, Jesu, Shora and more, are this year celebrating their 10 year anniversary. A decade of amazing music. From a bedroom based punk label, to one of Europe's most important and influential labels and distros, all we can say is HURRAY! And HUZZAH! It's always so exciting, when a bunch of folks get together to spread the word about great music, great WEIRD music, and survive, even thrive. Such is the case with Conspiracy. And as if that weren't already enough, just knowing that some great people were selling some amazing music, those sweeties at Conspiracy have decided to share the love with us. And you.
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, they've decided to do a super limited subscription series, 12 records over 12 months, each limited to somewhere between 200-500 copies, ONLY available to series subscribers. EXCEPT, they've decided to let AQ have 20 copies of each, we're the only store with copies of these subscriber only lps, and for a breif moment, we can offer them to you, our loyal AQ customers. Needless to say we are thrilled, as the series lineup reads like a who's who of AQ faves, as well as including a handful of lesser knowns. All pressed on super thick vinyl, and packaged in killer hand screened original art sleeves. But be warned, we only got 20 of each, and we will run out fast and we will not be able to get more. When we do run out, there is a chance you can still get more (or even subscribe to the series) from Conspiracy direct, but what that means is act fast and prepare to leave empty handed.
Monno are definitely a noise rock band. In fact, we're not even sure if they are a band, so maybe they're just noise rock. But actually, this doesn't really rock in the traditional sense, so maybe it's just noise. But the thing is, it's NOT. Monno ARE a band. And they DO rock. And they are about as noisy as a rock band can get. They produce a dense sonic squall that sounds like someone took Merzbow, Total, Skullflower and SUNNO))), chopped em all up, sprayed them out of thousand watt speakers, at a drummer who head down, resolutely pounds his way through a dense cloud of caustic, skin peeling, ear shredding noise. Rock. There are occasional riffs, and they totally slay, like a way more blown out Scratch Acid, and there are massive slithering low end bass grooves, but then the vocals, holy fuck, it's like some feral howls being run through a million distortion pedals with dying batteries and broadcast through a wall of tweeters with broken speaker cones. All wrapped in barbed wire-like swirls of shrieking tangled feedback. So harsh and heavy and so fucking great. Fans of Violent Students, Butthole Surfers, Clockcleaner and just loud fucking rocknoise in general will dig this in a big way!
Original artwork by artist Dennis Tyfus (who runs the Ultra Eczema label!), printed on hand silkscreened sleeves. The LP's are pressed on super thick 180 gram vinyl and housed in thick plastic sleeves.
MPEG Stream: "Necronomik"
MPEG Stream: "Tiny Fossils"

MONO Gone: A Collection Of EPs 2000-2007 (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 11.98
With all the talk of metallic post rock, or post metal, or whatever, bands like Isis and Pelican and the Grails and Conifer and Tides and a bunch of others always get referenced, but it seems like folks forget about Japan's Mono, who traverse similar sonic territory, but in many ways do it a whole lot better.
We've loved pretty much everything we've heard from Mono, but this singles and rarities compilation has really kicked our asses, so much so, that whenever someone is playing this in the store, inevitably anyone else working, or anyone in the store shopping, ends up heading to the counter to find out what's playing.
The thing with Mono, sure their loping moody post rock soundscapes are gorgeous, expansive and epic, they definitely hold their moody melancholy own in the esteemed company of bands like Mogwai and Godspeed and Sigur Ros, but they make that sound their own, steeped with emotion, gorgeous melodies, and deft arrangements, but where they really shine is in the heavy parts, they don't just get louder, and they don't just unleash big downtuned riffs, they EXPLODE into dense swaths of noisy fury, often drawn out into length stretches of swirling static and glitchy crunchy white noise, dizzying and gloriously suffocating. The end of "Black Woods" is the perfect example, what begins as a jangly mathy workout, builds into a full on fury, with the drums crumbling into clouds of cymbal sizzle, the guitars becoming jagged shards, enormous cresting waves of feedback swallowing everything whole, abrasive and intense, caustic and furiously fiery, sounding a bit like maybe Merzbow got a hold of the tapes. Elsewhere, the band seems to let loose any semblance of song structure, allowing the guitars to spill out of the amps like thick black pools of sound, but always to be deftly drawn back in by some gorgeous spidery guitar line, or simple soft melody.
And while the proceedings definitely tend toward the loping and melodic, the drawn out and pretty, and don't get us wrong, a whole record of nothing but Mono's dreamy moodiness would suit us just fine, it's the band's ability to simply destroy, to musically torch everything within sight, to turn guitars and drums into incendiary devices, all without ever completely letting the song crumble into chaos, always eventually finding their way back to a place of beauty and melody, that really makes Mono so special.
Lost compiles all of Mono's essential musical odds and ends: their track from the split album with Pelican, two out of print eps, their track from the TRL Thankful compilation and all the tracks from their Travels In Constants disc.
Amazing packaging too: die cut tray card, with the cd visible through the back of the jewel case, and a corresponding die cut slip case, which also allows the cd to be visible, the whole thing ends up looking like some cool mysterious map like buried treasure artifact.
MPEG Stream: "Finlandia"
MPEG Stream: "Black Woods"
MPEG Stream: "Yearning"

MONO Hymn To The Immortal Wind (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
There was perhaps a time, when Japanese post rockers Mono were just that, a post rock group, but that time is long gone, now, they are anything but, or more accurately, so much more.
Mono take the soaring sweeping epics of groups like Godspeed into an entirely different dimension. Their sound is so grandiose, so emotional, so absolutley and stunningly epic, that it almost ceases to be rock. Sure there's plenty of rock like bombast, many of the songs culminate in a huge flurry of crashing drums and soaring guitars, but in the grand scheme of Mono's sound, those moments are fleeting. Like the old adage that it's more about the journey than the destination, the sound of Mono is all about the journey, the band weave elaborate soundscapes, that smolder and glow, rhythms pulse and throb, guitars are blurred into lush sonic backdrops, melodies are delicate and crystalline, the sound while instrumental, manages to sound choral, a sky full of weeping strings and angelic hymns. We can only assume that if Arvo Part, or Morton Feldman started a rock band, it would sound something like Mono. Hymn is like some post rock score to a massive role playing game, Final Fantasy 100 or something.... How can you not envision sweeping vistas, endless seas, crumbling cities, heaving seas beneath blackened skies, these sounds evoke so much emotion (this is REAL emo!) and passion, it does seem almost too reductive to call them a post rock band, or to call this 'rock', to us it sounds more like a symphony played by a rock band, or better yet a symphony attempting to play rock music, the result is grand, majestic, moving, stirring, something more momentous than a mere record, or a rock concert, Mono manage to conjure up a sound that seems to be alive, living, something capable of adapting and growing, every song sounding like a collection of sounds blossoming into still greater sounds, eventually a field of blossoming sound becoming Mono. It sometimes sounds like the most dramatic moments from every film you've ever seen distilled and converted into sound, then arranged into music... hyperbole? Probably. But the more we listen to Hymn To The Immortal, the more we're convinced that there's something truly magical going on here. And somehow, without even realizing it, we've listened to this record about 20 times in the last few days, which is most definitely saying something...
MPEG Stream: "Ashes In The Snow"
MPEG Stream: "Burial At Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn"

MONO Hymn To The Immortal Wind (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There was perhaps a time, when Japanese post rockers Mono were just that, a post rock group, but that time is long gone, now, they are anything but, or more accurately, so much more.
Mono take the soaring sweeping epics of groups like Godspeed into an entirely different dimension. Their sound is so grandiose, so emotional, so absolutley and stunningly epic, that it almost ceases to be rock. Sure there's plenty of rock like bombast, many of the songs culminate in a huge flurry of crashing drums and soaring guitars, but in the grand scheme of Mono's sound, those moments are fleeting. Like the old adage that it's more about the journey than the destination, the sound of Mono is all about the journey, the band weave elaborate soundscapes, that smolder and glow, rhythms pulse and throb, guitars are blurred into lush sonic backdrops, melodies are delicate and crystalline, the sound while instrumental, manages to sound choral, a sky full of weeping strings and angelic hymns. We can only assume that if Arvo Part, or Morton Feldman started a rock band, it would sound something like Mono. Hymn is like some post rock score to a massive role playing game, Final Fantasy 100 or something.... How can you not envision sweeping vistas, endless seas, crumbling cities, heaving seas beneath blackened skies, these sounds evoke so much emotion (this is REAL emo!) and passion, it does seem almost too reductive to call them a post rock band, or to call this 'rock', to us it sounds more like a symphony played by a rock band, or better yet a symphony attempting to play rock music, the result is grand, majestic, moving, stirring, something more momentous than a mere record, or a rock concert, Mono manage to conjure up a sound that seems to be alive, living, something capable of adapting and growing, every song sounding like a collection of sounds blossoming into still greater sounds, eventually a field of blossoming sound becoming Mono. It sometimes sounds like the most dramatic moments from every film you've ever seen distilled and converted into sound, then arranged into music... hyperbole? Probably. But the more we listen to Hymn To The Immortal, the more we're convinced that there's something truly magical going on here. And somehow, without even realizing it, we've listened to this record about 20 times in the last few days, which is most definitely saying something...
MPEG Stream: "Ashes In The Snow"
MPEG Stream: "Burial At Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn"

MONO New York Soundtracks (Arena Rock Recording Co.) cd 13.98

MONO The Sky Remains The Same As Ever (Temporary Residence Ltd.) dvd 17.98

MONO Under The Pipal Tree (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Mono are an instrumental rock quartet from Tokyo making their debut on John Zorn's Tzadik label. Let us quote from the obi: "[Mono combine] elements of minimalism, psychedelia and trance rock to create a distinctive and powerful new sound via John Fahey, Sonic Youth and the Grateful Dead." Hmm, intriguing. So we listened to the disc. Our first thought: whoever wrote the obi obviously has never heard MOGWAI! Our second thought: or maybe they just never actually listened to this Mono disc? 'Cause this sure sounds like Mogwai, and about umpteen other Mogwai-like post rock bands. I mean, this could easily be Explosions In The Sky or lots of other things on Temporary Residence. That said, this IS quite a nice effort in that vein, with quiet pretty parts (with boring drumming though) and searing, loud, psychedelic guitar epics both. Not bad at all, just not a "new sound". (But, it also sure doesn't sound like the Grateful Dead, so that's a relief.) Our advice: Zorn and/or his Tzadik staff need to get hip to what the kids are listening to (like the kids in Mono) before announcing another "remarkable" new find. After all, Zorn's the guy responsible for turning a lot of people in the US on to the likes of Boredoms and the Ruins, so his standard for "remarkable" you'd expect to be a bit higher! That aside, post-rock fans won't be disappointed by Mono.
RealAudio clip: "Karelia (Opus 2)"
RealAudio clip: "Jackie Says"

MONO Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
Is Temporary Residence looking to get some kind of award for having the longest album titles of any record label? Well, the long album title kind of goes right along with the music produced by this Japanese band, as they're masters of the epic, soft-loud, post-rock-athon. Instrumental, slow-building majesty, that will sound familiar to, and be welcomed by, fans of Mogwai, Kinski, Godspeed, Explosions In The Sky, etc. Not groundbreaking per se, but a consistent band who does what they do really well. Funnily enough, when we reviewed their debut on Tzadik a few years ago, we said that they'd fit in perfectly with a lot of the acts on the TRL roster, and now here they are! TRL followers will not be disappointed.
MPEG Stream: "16.12"
MPEG Stream: "Mere Your Pathetic Light"

MONO You Are There (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
If you've followed Tokyo's Mono, you will know that their brand of post-rock is the kind that is equal parts orchestrated beauty and slow building metallic eruptions. This sound gets them mentioned in the same breath as kindred spirits Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky. There is no denying that they aren't really reinventing this sound by now, but what they are doing is releasing really consistent and good records one after the other. This one unfolds really nicely as an entire album. The slow build, the pretty beginning, the subtle tension building, and then the loud eruption which breaks down in shimmering waves. Unlike some of their contemporaries, they have kept their songs vocal free and we thank them for that as we can all attest to the fact that so often post rock or metallic post rock or whatever you want to call it can suffer from some pretty uninspired sounding vocals thrown sort of randomly on top. You get the feeling listening to this record that Mono are quite particular and precise in a way that doesn't feel forced but instead you can feel their labor and thought as you listen to every note on this record.
MPEG Stream: "Are You There?"
MPEG Stream: "Moonlight"

MONO You Are There (Human Highway) lp 15.98
If you've followed Tokyo's Mono, you will know that their brand of post-rock is the kind that is equal parts orchestrated beauty and slow building metallic eruptions. This sound gets them mentioned in the same breath as kindred spirits Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky. There is no denying that they aren't really reinventing this sound by now, but what they are doing is releasing really consistent and good records one after the other. This one unfolds really nicely as an entire album. The slow build, the pretty beginning, the subtle tension building, and then the loud eruption which breaks down in shimmering waves. Unlike some of their contemporaries, they have kept their songs vocal free and we thank them for that as we can all attest to the fact that so often post rock or metallic post rock or whatever you want to call it can suffer from some pretty uninspired sounding vocals thrown sort of randomly on top. You get the feeling listening to this record that Mono are quite particular and precise in a way that doesn't feel forced but instead you can feel their labor and thought as you listen to every note on this record.
MPEG Stream: "Are You There?"
MPEG Stream: "Moonlight"

MONO & WORLD END'S GIRLFRIEND Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
Wow. This collaboration between Japanese epic art rockers Mono and their equally arty countrymen World's End Girlfriend is nothing short of gorgeous. Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain is an absolutely breathtaking five-part mood piece that enshrouds the listener in looming desolate shadows cast by classically composed guitar, strings, piano, saxophone and even a fleeting vocal chorus. A staggeringly moving work definitely for fans of Godspeed You Black Mogwai or anyone else looking to have their jaw dropped by some seriously bleak beauty.
MPEG Stream: "Trailer 1"
MPEG Stream: "Trailer 5"

MONO / PELICAN split (Temporary Residence Ltd.) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As some of you already probably know, this limited 12" is a split release on both NYC based post rock label Temprorary Residence, and now-L.A. based thinking man's metal label Hydra Head. Accordingly there are about 7 or 8 different versions, some on Hydra Head, some on TRL, some with different colored labels, but you know what? That's just tough. We have to draw the line somewhere, and it's now right here. We have about 30 copies of the Temporary Residence version, which is already out of print. When we run out of these, we might get some of the HH version(s). Not sure which ones. This collectable vinyl business is beginning to obscure the whole reason we all buy records, because we love music, and we love to hear amazing music, and this record is absolutely fantastic. So try to stop worrying about the color of the vinyl or the number pressed or any of that stuff and just pick this up because it's so damn beautiful. Pelican deliver a massive slice of gorgeously grandiose post rock, sweeping and emotional, melancholy and but weirdly hopeful with its minor key arrangement. Not a trace of 'metal' to be found here. Which is fine by us. Imagine a slightly heavier version of the song that plays during the final scene at the end of the movie, after the boy has gotten the girl and we finally realize everything is going to be okay. It sounds a little like that. Really beautiful. The second track makes up for it though, as James Plotkin (Khanate, Joy of Disease) takes Pelican at their dirgiest / sludgiest and adds tons of extra grind and grit and grrr and effects and crumbling distortion and malfunctioning electronics. Like your favorite Pelican song dipped in blood and rolled in the dirt. Wow.
Mono, who are often touted as being metal, stick closer to their mighty epic post rock sound with a sidelong track that is as Godspeed You Black Emperor as a non-Godspeed band is likely to get. Brooding and melancholy, building to a huge explosive coda, before drifting back into a creeping maudlin dirge, that sort of drifts and fades into the dark. So nice. And as we mentioned before, far too limited.

MONO / PELICAN split (Hydra Head Industries) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As some of you already probably know, this limited 12" is a split release on both NYC based post rock label Temprorary Residence, and L.A. based "thinking man's metal" label Hydra Head. Accordingly there are multiple versions, different colored vinyl, some on Hydra Head, some on TRL, some with different colored labels, etc. But you know what? That's just tough. We have to draw the line somewhere, and it's now right here. We sold out of the Temporary Residence version, which is now out of print. We now have about 25 copies of the Hydra Head version, which we would imagine is also out of print by now. We have all different colors: white, green, gold, and black. We have so few that these are limited to one per customer, and it will be totally random which color you get (we'll go through the colored vinyl copies first). This collectable vinyl business is beginning to obscure the whole reason we all buy records, because we love music, and we love to hear amazing music, and this record is absolutely fantastic. So try to stop worrying about the color of the vinyl or the number pressed or any of that stuff and just pick this up because it's so damn beautiful. Pelican deliver a massive slice of gorgeously grandiose post rock, sweeping and emotional, melancholy and but weirdly hopeful with its minor key arrangement. Not a trace of 'metal' to be found here. Which is fine by us. Imagine a slightly heavier version of the song that plays during the final scene at the end of the movie, after the boy has gotten the girl and we finally realize everything is going to be okay. It sounds a little like that. Really beautiful. The second track makes up for it though, as James Plotkin (Khanate, Joy of Disease) takes Pelican at their dirgiest / sludgiest and adds tons of extra grind and grit and grrr and effects and crumbling distortion and malfunctioning electronics. Like your favorite Pelican song dipped in blood and rolled in the dirt. Wow.
Mono, who are often touted as being metal, stick closer to their mighty epic post rock sound with a sidelong track that is as Godspeed You Black Emperor as a non-Godspeed band is likely to get. Brooding and melancholy, building to a huge explosive coda, before drifting back into a creeping maudlin dirge, that sort of drifts and fades into the dark. So nice. And as we mentioned before, far too limited.

MONO PAUSE Peeping Through The Listen Hole (Electro Motive Records) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brand new lp by East Bay's Mono Pause. Taking cues from the early days of Thinking Fellers and Sun City Girls then building on it, Mono Pause's compositions range from off kilter ethno-prankster-rock, to seemingly semi-German classic psych, to improv skronk. The multitude of such musical tangents are at times discreet and others brilliantly blended. Quite good.

MONO PAUSE / AAVIKKO El Cebo / Of Stomping Men (Seeland) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Split between east-bay ethno-rockers Mono Pause and Icelandic organ power-trio Aavikko, with each band covering the other's work. Mono Pause takes a mighty fine stab at "El Cebo", slowing down the tempo and filling out the arrangement with guitar, ud (mandolin? other ethnic-lute-thingy?), whacked synths, drums, bass, trumpet and more. After a Kraftwerk style vocoder intro, Aavikko, for their part, do almost the opposite with their arrangement of their chosen Mono Pause tune: stripping it down to fit their organ, organ and drum format and speeding up the tempo to a lively jaunt. Very purdy cover art on this Seeland release, makes it worth the slightly steep 7" price. We wonder if Seeland has designs on possibly reissuing some of that out of print Aavikko stuff.
RealAudio clip: MONO PAUSE "El Cebo"
RealAudio clip: AAVIKKO "Of Stomping Men"

MONOBROW s/t (Meatlocker) lp 14.98
Years and years and years ago (2001!), we reviewed a record by a Canadian seventies worshipping hard rock combo with the bizarre name of Sir Hedgehog, and it was one of those classic records pretty much all the aQ heavy rockers here were obsessed with, we sold a ton too, and always sort of wondered what happened to those guys. Well, apparently at least some of them now play in another goofily monikered outfit, this one called Monobrow, and while they may not worship the seventies as much as they once did, they're still heavy and hard rocking and psychedelic, the new band is all instrumental though, with a more stoner metal vibe, big riffs, killer leads, bombastic drumming, the songs mathy and a little bit proggy, we even hear a little Fucking Champs, if the Champs were on MeteorCity. And actually, the deeper we get into the record, maybe these guys haven't ditched that seventies love as much as we thought, plenty of proto-metal sounding grooving, wild wah wah guitar freakouts, thick meandering melodic basslines, and songs that are pretty goddamn catchy considering they're instrumental, as well as pretty dense and proggy, but hell, we can't imagine anyone into heavy psych, stoner metal, riff rock or just classic heaviness, not flipping out over these guys.
Most definitely recommended, and another one of those records we can't seem to stop listening to.
MPEG Stream: "Naught Witch"
MPEG Stream: "From The Brown Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Ministry Queen"
MPEG Stream: "Swan Of The Superplanet"

MONOCHROME SET, THE Love Zombies (Water) cd 15.98
The awesomely titled Love Zombies was record number two from UK post punk combo the Monochrome Set, released a handful of months later then their debut in 1980, and while the band professed that Love Zombies was meant to be more accessible than their Strange Boutique debut, it's hard to get that from the album opening title track, which sounds like it could have come right off Strange Boutique (then again, the records were recorded just months apart), but weirdly enough reminds us of a band that would come way later The Cardiacs, proggy and bombastic and cabaret-like, the music intricate and lush, the vocals crooned and dreamily dramatic, with strange bits of pop bombast and weird production, a buzzing main melody (a synth maybe), some spidery guitar leads, the word 'zombie' chanted ominously, it's hard to believe this was their idea of more accessible. And while the wild tribal drumming that was all over the debut is notably absent, and the vibe is definitely slightly less dark, everything else is still present, the songwriting, the strange arrangements, the fey vox, if anything, Love Zombies reminds us a little bit of another seminal post punk pop reissue, the Cleaners From Venus, we'd imagine most folks who dug those Cleaners reissues would like this as well, although Monochrome Set, especially on Love Zombies, are a whole lot more precious, a bit jazzier for sure, in fact, in the review of Strange Boutique we mention Murray Head and "One Night In Bangkok", which again, much of this reminds us of, but there are plenty of subtle surprises and bits of weirdness here and there, like the garbled freak out opening of "In Love, Cancer?", which sounds like it came straight off a Teenage Filmstars records, but for the most part this is just a classic slab of eighties (post punk) jangle pop.
MPEG Stream: "Love Zombies"
MPEG Stream: "Adeste Fideles"
MPEG Stream: ""In Love, Cancer?""

MONOCHROME SET, THE Love Zombies (4 Men With Beards) lp 17.98
The awesomely titled Love Zombies was record number two from UK post punk combo the Monochrome Set, released a handful of months later then their debut in 1980, and while the band professed that Love Zombies was meant to be more accessible than their Strange Boutique debut, it's hard to get that from the album opening title track, which sounds like it could have come right off Strange Boutique (then again, the records were recorded just months apart), but weirdly enough reminds us of a band that would come way later The Cardiacs, proggy and bombastic and cabaret, the music intricate and lush, the vocals crooned and dreamily dramatic, with strange bits of pop bombast and weird production, a buzzing main melody (a synth maybe), some spidery guitar leads, the word 'zombie' chanted ominously, it's hard to believe this was their idea of more accessible. And while the wild tribal drumming, that was all over the debut is notably absent, and the vibe is definitely slightly less dark, everything else is still present, the songwriting, the strange arrangements, the fey vox, if anything, Love Zombies reminds us a little bit of another seminal post punk pop reissue, the Cleaners From Venus, we'd imagine most folks who dug those Cleaners reissues would like this as well, although Monochrome Set, especially on Love Zombies, are a whole lot more precious, a bit jazzier for sure, in fact, in the review of Strange Boutique we mention Murray Head and "One Night In Bangkok", which again, much of this reminds us of, but there are plenty of subtle surprises and bits of weirdness here and there, like the garbled freak out opening of "In Love, Cancer?", which sounds like it came straight off a Teenage Filmstars records, but for the most part this is just a classic slab of eighties (post punk) jangle pop.
MPEG Stream: "Love Zombies"
MPEG Stream: "Adeste Fideles"
MPEG Stream: ""In Love, Cancer?""

MONOCHROME SET, THE Strange Boutique (Water) cd 15.98
We missed the Monochrome Set the first time around, then again we were only ten or eleven when this record, their debut full length, came out in 1980. But then a few years back, someone turned us on to these guys and we became sort of obsessed, total seminal post punk radness from the UK, catchy and weird and a little bit fey, jangly and hooky, with wild tribal drumming, Morricone-ish guitars, dramatic crooned vox. Apparently, the Monochrome Set was born from a band called the B-Sides, a group that also featured the future Adam Ant, and at least on MC's debut, it's easy to hear that both Adam Ant and the Monochrome guys shared similar influences, especially in the drumming, just give a listen to the "The Monochrome Set (I Presume)", the opening could be an Adam Ant song, big tribal drumming, pounding toms, surrounded by all sorts of jungle sounds, but where Adam Ant would take that song in a more rock direction, the 'Set add some spidery minor key melodies, and the result is almost like a sped up Tom Waits jam, the guitar very Marc Ribot-ish, it's not hard to imagine Waits' raspy growl, but instead, more guitars enter and add a little woozy groove, and then the vocals a sort of sung spoken croon that reminds us a bit of Murray Head ("One Night In Bangkok"!), then the chorus, with it's weird sing songy vocals, it's such a weird, killer song. Our favorite for sure. But the rest of the record is nearly as good. "The Lighter Side Of Dating" unfurls a string of low slung bass pulses underneath some effected guitar strum, and then the drums come in, a dizzying spray of fills, which lead right into an almost Smiths-like chorus, very twee and again dramatic. And so it goes, the record rife with coulda/shoulda been classics, some dark and churning and groovy, others lighter and poppier, with a cabaret streak a mile wide running throughout. So good!
MPEG Stream: "The Monochrome Set (I Presume)"
MPEG Stream: "The Lighter Side Of Dating"
MPEG Stream: "The Puerto Rican Fence Climber"

MONOCHROME SET, THE Strange Boutique (4 Men With Beards) lp 17.98
We missed the Monochrome Set the first time around, then again we were only ten or eleven when this record, their debut full length, came out in 1980. But then a few years back, someone turned us on to these guys and we became sort of obsessed, total seminal post punk radness from the UK, catchy and weird and a little bit fey, jangly and hooky, with wild tribal drumming, Morricone-ish guitars, dramatic crooned vox. Apparently, the Monochrome Set was born from a band called the B-Sides, a group that also featured the future Adam Ant, and at least on MC's debut, it's easy to hear that both Adam Ant and the Monochrome guys shared similar influences, especially in the drumming, just give a listen to the "The Monochrome Set (I Presume)", the opening could be an Adam Ant song, big tribal drumming, pounding toms, surrounded by all sorts of jungle sounds, but where Adam Ant would take that song in a more rock direction, the 'Set add some spidery minor key melodies, and the result is almost like a sped up Tom Waits jam, the guitar very Marc Ribot-ish, it's not hard to imagine Waits' raspy growl, but instead, more guitars enter and add a little woozy groove, and then the vocals a sort of sung spoken croon that reminds us a bit of Murray Head ("One Night In Bangkok"!), then the chorus, with it's weird sing songy vocals, it's such a weird, killer song. Our favorite for sure. But the rest of the record is nearly as good. "The Lighter Side Of Dating" unfurls a string of low slung bass pulses underneath some effected guitar strum, and then the drums come in, a dizzying spray of fills, which lead right into an almost Smiths-like chorus, very twee and again dramatic. And so it goes, the record rife with coulda/shoulda been classics, some dark and churning and groovy, others lighter and poppier, with a cabaret streak a mile wide running throughout. So good!
MPEG Stream: "The Monochrome Set (I Presume)"
MPEG Stream: "The Lighter Side Of Dating"
MPEG Stream: "The Puerto Rican Fence Climber"

MONOCHROME SET, THE The Lost Weekend (Cherry Red) cd 16.98

MONOCHROME SET, THE White Noise : Early Recordings 1975-1977 (Captured Tracks) lp 13.98

MONOLITH, THE Here Comes... (self-released) cd 12.98
Brand new band from our own backyard brings us 9 impeccable pop songs. Their debut album, "Here Comes The Monolith" sounds more like the work of a seasoned rock mainstay than a rookie's first time at bat. The Monolith successfully harken the sounds of Cheap Trick, Beatles, E.L.O., Big Star and more recently, The New Pornographers. The latter probably most noticeably distinguished by the silky vocal harmonies present in every song. Superbly crafted pop arrangements with heart-snagging hooks, bridges & choruses filled with horn sections and strings are merely the icing on the cake. The cherry on the top is the gorgeous production that is so often sadly lacking from debut releases. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "10 X Infinity"
MPEG Stream: "Ruby"

MONOLITH, THE Meet You At The Monolith (self-released) cd 11.98
Oh the yummy pop power of The Monolith! They continue to dish it out in heaping spoonfuls on this their second album. This terrific Bay Area foursome take the standard pop band instrumentation of vocals, guitar, bass and drums, and plush it up so nicely with horns, keyboards and strings. The Monolith sound is alternately reminiscent of Quasi, Apples In Stereo, Big Star, Beatles, Beach Boys, maybe even a bit of Bread too -- y'know, all the best popsters! Bright, bouncy, harmony filled sweetness. Meet you there? You bet!
MPEG Stream: "Fallout Sunset"
MPEG Stream: "Sunday Keeps Returning"

MONOMEN Another Way (Estrus) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The sleeve must be seen to be believed -- full on glitter in rich brights (by Thingmaker of course).

MONOMEN Recorded Live! At Tom's Strip-n-Bowl (MONOMEN) cd 13.98

MONOMEN Recorded Live! At Tom's Strip-n-Bowl (MONOMEN) 10" 8.98

MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS Infant Spirtuality Rates Coconut Percent (Pacific City) cd-r 9.98
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MONOSHOCK Runnin' Ape-Like From The Backwards Superman: 1989 - 1995 (S-S) cd 13.98
A massive scuzzy, sloppy, fuzzed out, psychedelic, deleriously damaged blast of spaced out garage rock from the (not so) legendary Monoshock. This collection gathers up all the singles, compilation tracks and demos from this criminally under appreciated band. Overblown, and lo-fi, stumblingly brilliant, psych rock jams of the highest order. All chaos guitar and splattery drums, howled vocals, and a surprisng amount of hooks buried under all the fuzz and grit and blown speaker detritus. Think Hawkwind played by the Stooges, recorded on a boombox. They even cover the Hawkwind classic "Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)".
MPEG Stream: "Primitive Zippo"
MPEG Stream: "Change That Riff"

MONOSHOCK Walk to the Fire (Blackjack) cd 13.98
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MONOSHOCK Walk to the Fire (Blackjack) 2lp 15.98
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MONOSHOCK Walk To The Fire (S.S.) 2lp 29.00
Now available again on vinyl, the only proper full length from this legendary crew of SF psychedelic punks whose sound was a drunken and drugged out freakout equal part the Stooges, Flipper and Hawkwind, makes sense that some of these guys also play(ed) in the equally noisy and fucked up psych rock garage punk outfit Liquorball!
Needless to say, if you love Liquorball, you'll definitely want to get a load of these guys, who sound like a more fucked up and freaked out Comets On Fire, every track a full bore psych-punk blowout, dirgey and crusty and droned out, the drums and bass locked into endless grooves, the vocals a distorted bark, the guitars thoughÉ wild swirls of wah wah everywhere, constant leads, shredding one second, spitting gouts of textural noise the next, slipping easily from hypno-rock crunch to loose almost free form psychedelic space rock, or dirgey swaggery Stooges-y churn. Gloriously loose and ramshackle, lo-fi and noisy, atonal and angular, the sound constantly on the verge of collapse, but for every stretch of fractured damaged psych, the band were capable of conjuring some equally genius blissed out drug rock radness, often impossible to tell which was which. While maybe a bit too lose and fucked up for the current crop of psychedelic space rockers, this stuff is fierce and feral and delivers the kind of true psych few bands were or are able to conjure.
MPEG Stream: "Crypto-Zoological Disaster"
MPEG Stream: "I Took You To It Baby"
MPEG Stream: "Hong Kong"
MPEG Stream: "Tom Guido Philosophically Stoogely"

MONOSOV, DJ ILYA AND THE 21 CENTURY PUNKS New Music (Holy Mountain) 12" 13.98
It seems Ilya Monosov has been letting down his hair of late and going sonically all out (or all in?), and following his muse wherever it might take him, creating a varied and vast array of wild and wonderful sounds.
From his Gainsbourg inspired solo outing on Language Of Stone to his latest 12" of tropical fucked up late night sleeze offered up by The Shining Path, these wildly disparate and super passionate sounds feel light-years away from his earlier, much more academic leanings. These four songs, clocking in at about thirty minutes total, find Ilya completely on fire! The opener "Always Look To You (Extended Mix)" is a motorik burner full of fiery Suicide-isms and a very Wooden Shjips like groove. Next comes "Tropical Relaxation", a dark and infectious prog-like jam rife with otherworldly sounds that unravel into a hypnotic chaos that we could lose ourselves in forever.
The B side opens with "Belly Womb" a dissonant track would feel right at home on an early Matmos record, referencing the more fucked up side of Excepter/Black Dice. The record closes with "Unnatural Ways" which sounds like some late night DJ fading in and out of records by Master Musicians Of Joujouka, Throbbing Gristle, Sun Ra and Cabaret Voltaire. We can't stop playing this 12", so full of vibrant color and bombastic energy while hitting all its idiosyncratic targets so right on!
MPEG Stream: "Always Look To You (Extended Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Unnatural Ways"

MONOSOV, ILYA Sailor Man (Holy Mountain) lp 15.98
Latest from Ilya Monosov, a one time member of psychedelic outfit The Shining Path, as well as one half of the Monosov Swirnoff duo (along with Irwin's brother Preston), we weren't sure what to expect, but somehow this really wasn't it. That said, we're digging it a lot. The sound is still psychedelic, but it's almost like a classic rock sort of psychedelic, urgently strummed acoustic guitars, crunchy riffs, big drums, even some tambourines, wheezing organs, some rad wild super distorted leads, really, in some way, this could be some classic slab of old school hard rocking psych, EXCEPT for the vocals, which transform this into something else entirely. Not sung, or crooned, but more sort of spoken, delivered in a seriously creepy, whisper, we thought maybe it was just an affectation on the first track, but the vocals are like that throughout, a sort of gruff Tom Waits sung/spoken rasp, ominous and a little bit sinister, all over barrelhouse piano, classical guitar, buzzing rumbling strings, horns and various percussion, dreamy female background vocals, druggy effected 12 string guitars, plenty of fuzz, what sounds like maybe a Theremin, and really, the music sans vocals is all shades of the Doors, and Santana, and War, and Big Star, and Crazy Horse and the like, but then those vocals change everything, and really, that's gonna determine how much you dig this. We're digging it quite a bit.
Includes a download coupon as well!
MPEG Stream: "All Day All Night"
MPEG Stream: "Bird"
MPEG Stream: "Sailor Man"

MONOSOV, ILYA E. Seven Lucky Plays, Or How To Fix Songs For A Broken Heart (Language of Stone) cd 13.98
Multi-talented experimental music maker shows his softer more self reflective side. With a set of songs in the tradition of Serge Gainsbourg, Vincent Gallo, and Leonard Cohen.

MONOSTADT 3 Experiment 8.2 (Digestive System Records) lp 14.98

MONOSTADT 3 Experiment 8.2 (Digestive Systems) lp 14.98

MONOTONIX Body Language (Drag City) cd 12.98
First off, go see these guys if you get the chance. It's a crazed rock spectacle, kinda like Japan's DMBQ but more dangerous, or at least shirtless. They live up to the hype you may have heard about their live performances, that's for sure. This guitar/drums/vocals trio from Israel are very, very rock n' roll, and they know how to put on a show. Probably everyone who's ever seen them has a good story, likely to include the drummer soloing whilst simultaneously crowd surfing, and the band's wiry, longhaired, mustachioed frontman (who looks like a cross between Iggy Pop and Doug Henning) energetically scampering about, spilling many, many audience members' beers (grabbing 'em with his teeth and tossing them back over his head, usually, at least if they're served in plastic cups). Allan's Monotonix show story even involves a goat!
But, the question remains, does any of that translate on record? Well this six song, 24 minute Drag City debut should answer that question. It reveals some depth to the riffy, hard and heavy, good times rock they dish out at their shows, with more melody and intricacy certainly (surprisingly). The title track, ferinstance, is almost prog pop! Yet, they don't stint on the fuzzy guitar and pounding drums we were expecting either, so if you play it loud, you might manage to spill a beer or two on yourself at home. If you just see 'em live, what you'll remember is how they played, not what they played. But spin this a few times, and some of these riffs may get stuck in your bangin' head. However, Monotonix live is a tough act to follow, which is their own damn fault, and so this still seems a bit secondary, like, they've gotta make records, if only to have something to sell on tour. But it is nice to see that they've put some effort into this aspect of the Monotonix experience too, instead of totally coasting on their live insanity.
MPEG Stream: "Body Language"
MPEG Stream: "No Metal"

MONOTONIX Body Language (Drag City) lp 12.98
Also we got this on vinyl, here's what we said about the cd last time.... First off, go see these guys if you get the chance. It's a crazed rock spectacle, kinda like DMBQ but more dangerous, or at least shirtless. They live up to the hype you may have heard about their live performances, that's for sure. This guitar/drums/vocals trio from Israel are very, very rock n' roll, and they know how to put on a show. Probably everyone who's ever seen them has a good story, likely to include the drummer soloing whilst simultaneously crowd surfing, and the band's wiry, longhaired, mustachioed frontman (who looks like a cross between Iggy Pop and Doug Henning) energetically scampering about, spilling many, many audience members' beers (grabbing 'em with his teeth and tossing them back over his head, usually, at least if they're served in plastic cups). Allan's Monotonix show story even involves a goat!
But, the question remains, does any of that translate on record? Well this six song, 24 minute Drag City debut should answer that question. It reveals some depth to the riffy, hard and heavy, good times rock they dish out at their shows, with more melody and intricacy certainly (surprisingly). The title track, ferinstance, is almost prog pop! Yet, they don't stint on the fuzzy guitar and pounding drums we were expecting either, so if you play it loud, you might manage to spill a beer or two on yourself at home. If you just see 'em live, what you'll remember is how they played, not what they played. But spin this a few times, and some of these riffs may get stuck in your bangin' head. However, Monotonix live is a tough act to follow, which is their own damn fault, and so this still seems a bit secondary, like, they've gotta make records, if only to have something to sell on tour. But it is nice to see that they've put some effort into this aspect of the Monotonix experience too, instead of totally coasting on their live insanity.
MPEG Stream: "Body Language"
MPEG Stream: "No Metal"

MONOTONIX Where Were You When It Happened? (Drag City) cd 14.98
If you've ever heard anyone speaking about Israeli trio Monotonix, you've no doubt heard one main detail: the band is fucking INSANE live. There's not even enough hyperbole that could accurately describe the sensation of seeing these three hairy, scantily clad, mustachioed dudes chugging Red Bull (no, really, there wasn't a beer in sight, just... Red Bull... and lots of it) and rocking their balls off like, well, no one else. Their super stripped down approach, consisting of guitar, drums, and a singer decked out in nothing but a pair of short shorts, is sure to appeal to fans of sleazy, sweaty rock in the vein of the Estrus Records roster, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Royal Trux. The band's unhinged live performances have certainly set the bar pretty high and sort of jinxed any attempts to review their albums, because no one - NO ONE - could ever capture that kind of energy in the studio. And even still, Monotonix know how to bring it, and their albums are a perfect lesson in relentlessly wild, bloozey fun. While the sound is not exactly "tight", the band has mastered the art of holding it together in their own way, never missing a beat in the process. The sound of Monotonix is relatively simple, but very effective: Super thick, octaved guitars, heavily accented wildman vocals, and drumming that is even more impressive when you see the guy being hoisted up on his bass drum while audience members hold the snare and the hi-hat and pass him through the crowd. All in all, Monotonix make ridiculously fun music, giving you the freedom to get drunker than drunk while they do all the hard work. Instant party. 'Nuff said.
MPEG Stream: "Flesh And Blood"
MPEG Stream: "My Needs"
MPEG Stream: "Spit It On Your Face"

MONOTONIX Where Were You When It Happened? (Drag City) lp 15.98
If you've ever heard anyone speaking about Israeli trio Monotonix, you've no doubt heard one main detail: the band is fucking INSANE live. There's not even enough hyperbole that could accurately describe the sensation of seeing these three hairy, scantily clad, mustachioed dudes chugging Red Bull (no, really, there wasn't a beer in sight, just... Red Bull... and lots of it) and rocking their balls off like, well, no one else. Their super stripped down approach, consisting of guitar, drums, and a singer decked out in nothing but a pair of short shorts, is sure to appeal to fans of sleazy, sweaty rock in the vein of the Estrus Records roster, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Royal Trux. The band's unhinged live performances have certainly set the bar pretty high and sort of jinxed any attempts to review their albums, because no one - NO ONE - could ever capture that kind of energy in the studio. And even still, Monotonix know how to bring it, and their albums are a perfect lesson in relentlessly wild, bloozey fun. While the sound is not exactly "tight", the band has mastered the art of holding it together in their own way, never missing a beat in the process. The sound of Monotonix is relatively simple, but very effective: Super thick, octaved guitars, heavily accented wildman vocals, and drumming that is even more impressive when you see the guy being hoisted up on his bass drum while audience members hold the snare and the hi-hat and pass him through the crowd. All in all, Monotonix make ridiculously fun music, giving you the freedom to get drunker than drunk while they do all the hard work. Instant party. 'Nuff said.
MPEG Stream: "Flesh And Blood"
MPEG Stream: "My Needs"
MPEG Stream: "Spit It On Your Face"

MONOTRONA Hawkeye & Firebird (Menlo Park) cd 13.98
Upon first seeing the robed, glow-in-the-blacklight performance artist/superhero/lo-fi synth mistress Monotrona last year, chanting distorted gibberish while striking imposing stances onstage, we were ready to beleive she was from outer space. However, evidence of her involvement in Duotron (with New Orlean's Mr. Quintron) canceled that theory, and recent reports link her to New York. Her songs have something to do with the cosmology of a set of superbeings, of which "Hawkeye & Firebird" represent the heroine/slave. Or something; I guess we'll find out when her website is built up more. This is frantic, weird, sugary-to-sinister synth ultra-pop videogame music, sung in a language resembling bizarro japanese- and there's a smashing cover of Doo Rag's "Thermos Malling's Coin." Like a J-pop Matthew Ritchie trapped in a gameboy, Monotrona has created a strange, alternate universe, governed by it's own gods and languages -- definitely an interesting place to spend the next 20 minutes.
RealAudio clip: "Cadillac Fantasy"

MONOTRONA Ooka Meets Jing Pow Ki Poo (Eerie Materials) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MONOZID Say Hello to Artificial Grey (Major Label) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Everyone loves the '80s right? Well, no, but that doesn't mean that we can't take the good stuff that the '80s created and turn it around and make it better. That's what Monozid (from Leipzig, Germany) does time and time again on their debut full-length. There's a few post-punk bits, an early Sonic Youth noise-guitar element, and a lot of Three Imaginary Boys/Seventeen Seconds era Cure, but all of it topped with a 21st century sensibility. Monozid is not re-hashing old tricks worn out twenty years ago; they're using what came before to make great modern pop music. Some songs are instrumentals, the remaining are either sung in German or English. With song titles like "Du Bist Mein Mann, Sabrina" ("You are my man, Sabrina") we wish we could speak more than infant-German to understand just what they're singing about! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Let's Shake Hands and Wonder"
MPEG Stream: "Soundtrack zur Frisur"
MPEG Stream: "Stanislawa Popielska"

MONOZID Say Hello to Artificial Grey (Major Label) lp 8.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Everyone loves the '80s right? Well, no, but that doesn't mean that we can't take the good stuff that the '80s created and turn it around and make it better. That's what Monozid (from Leipzig, Germany) does time and time again on their debut full-length. There's a few post-punk bits, an early Sonic Youth noise-guitar element, and a lot of Three Imaginary Boys/Seventeen Seconds era Cure, but all of it topped with a 21st century sensibility. Monozid is not re-hashing old tricks worn out twenty years ago; they're using what came before to make great modern pop music. Some songs are instrumentals, the remaining are either sung in German or English. With song titles like "Du Bist Mein Mann, Sabrina" ("You are my man, Sabrina") we wish we could speak more than infant-German to understand just what they're singing about! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Let's Shake Hands and Wonder"
MPEG Stream: "Soundtrack zur Frisur"
MPEG Stream: "Stanislawa Popielska"

MONROE MUSTANG De Avonden 091099 (Jagjaguwar) cd 8.98
Recorded live for Dutch radio, an all-acoustic set of old and unreleased Monroe Mustang tunes, plus one Pete Townsend cover. Plaintive and lovely.

MONROE MUSTANG I Am The Only Running Footman (Emperor Jones) cd 10.98
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Sleepy and lo fi, Austin outfit Monroe Mustang release this 20 minute slice of deep melancholia, calling to mind the bleakness of Will Oldham, the quiet delicacy of Bedhead, and the lush minor epics of Black Heart Procession. Two part lead vocals complement the softly clanging guitars. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Weren't Cone"

MONROE MUSTANG Plain Sweeping Themes for the Unprepared (Trance Syndicate) cd 13.98
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Austin quartet whose label compares them to the Byrds crossed with Bowie. Epic and sweeping. John from the Mountain Goats compares them to Pink Floyd circa the first two albums, minus the spacerock.

MONROE MUSTANG Plain Sweeping Themes for the Unprepared (Trance Syndicate) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Austin quartet whose label compares them to the Byrds crossed with Bowie. Epic and sweeping. John from the Mountain Goats compares them to Pink Floyd circa the first two albums, minus the spacerock.

MONROE MUSTANG The Elephant Sound (Jagjagwuar) cd 12.98
The second record from these Austin shoe-gazing lo-fi twang popsters find them retreating even more from the rock, and lands them somewhere between the dreamy slo-rock of Bedhead / American Analog Set and the murky drones of Stars of the Lid. Recommended!