THE GUYS EXPLODING IN SHIBUYA WHILE ON TOUR WITH MONO IN 2008
THE GUYS EXPLODING IN SHIBUYA WHILE ON TOUR WITH MONO IN 2008

There have been certain bands throughout the history of music which have managed to magically to take influence from a variety of other musicians yet somehow create a genre all of their own. If you read any of the posts on last year’s fujirock.com site you may have noticed that I wrote both the introduction post as well as the live review for Scotland’s Mogwai. Being able to write those two short articles was one of the things I am proudest of in my life, I just love the band that profoundly. I do not claim to have an encyclopeadic knowledge of guitar based intstrumental rock music but as far as I am aware, there was no band before Mogwai who sounded quite like them. Over the last 4 decades or so, there have been a number of legendary bands including the Doors and Led Zepplin who were well aware of, and geniuses when it came to the use of contrasts between the extremes of volume and intensity to create emotion and power in their music. Yet Mogwai’s masatery of the contrast between playing incredibly quitetly and gently then either building up to or instantaneously bursting into a blissful sea of extremely beautiful noise was completely unique and utterly addictive.It is no surprise that their formula for epic, agressive, emotional and intelligent instrumental rock spawned a host of bands who usually became categorized in the post rock genre but could just as well have been classified as disciples of Mogwai. Well, Mogwai aren’t going to be at Fuji rock this year but two of thier greatest disciple bands will be: Explosions in the Sky (from Austin, Texas) and Japan’s very own Mono. Explosions in the Sky formed in 1999 and have put out 6 studio albums as well as done the soundtrack for the movie ”Friday Night Lights.” Just like Mono, they are a completely instrumental four piece, utilizing 2 guitars, 1 bass and a drum kit. Also like Mono they have realeased the bulk of their material on the ever brilliant Temporary Residence label and frequently do tours together. I have never seen them play live but they have a reputation for generating the kind of energy on stage which lives up to their name. If they can even come close to replicating the incomprehensible majesty and spine-tingling passion that Mono seems to bleed from their souls each and every time I have seen them live, then their show should be nothing short of phenomenal.

Here is a very pretty music video for one of the songs, “Postcards from 1952″ from their latest album Take Care, Take Care, Take Care which came out last year.

*Photo by saya38 and used with the permission of Smashing Mag.