Mono and World's End Girlfriend 5/17/07

 

Bowery Ballrooom, 6 Delancey Street.  Chinatown. 

 

Grails: 8:00 (should be added to PA)

World's End Girlfriend 9:00

Mono 11:15

 

We entered the building at around 8:30 to watch the end of Grails perform.  They were fantastic.  They played with ferocity and their crescendos were firerce and powerful yet never redundant and or too protracted. They performed tracks from their new album, one the tracks had a great balance of Mid-eastern acoustic guitar and slow, ominous drum beats.  It evoked images of Aladdin (I know its sounds immature, but it really did, ethereal bliss).  Grails were more akin to Russian Circles and Red Sparrowes than the bands they opened for; the ferocity and their drum bass crescendos set the a high standard for my expectations fro their new album, which I have not listened to yet.  Howeevr, I intend to grab it later this summer.  This was the last show of their tour, and I was fortunate to be able, I strongly radvise you to go seem them when they tour again, especially if you appreciate Red Sparrowes and Russian Circles. 

 

World's End Girlfriend:  Simply put, Wow.  Katsuhiko Maeda was incredible.  He performed for roughly fifty minutes and covered every genre from classical to hard rock.  He sat on a small, black stool with his fender strat and computer opened and created some mind-blowing beats and guitar flurries.  The programmed violin and piano playing added an interesting element to the set.  He was so into the music, and kept bending over his guitar as if he was exorcising a spirit on stage to play with the music.  I was enthralled by Maeda's performance, especially the juxtapostion of his guitar against the soundscapes and beats in the background.  I seldom have an opportunity to see artists performance this sort of music.   I am unsure of the tracks, either way the songs were fanatstic and energizing.  The quieter moments of his set created a cathartic wash of soundscapes and dulcet melodies for the crowd to entrance themselves within, which I did.  Overall, I would reccomend WEGf to anyone who enjoys the serenity of Steve Roach and Robert Rich and the energy of 65daysofstatic and Mouse on Mars. 

 

Mono:  It is 11:30 and the headline act has not come on stage yet.  A few minutes later, Mono comes on stage to relatively quiet crowd.  They opened with, I beleive, "The Flames Beyond the Cold Mountain."  Sadly, I was ill-versed with their material, and thus, found it difficult to identify the tracks of their set.  Maeda's energy was matched by Tamaki, Taka, Yoda, and Yasunori.  The Tamaki stood in the middle with her long, black hair and bangs covering most of her face ( she looked like the girl in the ring), Taka and Yoda flanked her both sides and Yasununori was on the drumkit in the back.  They were flooded in red poolights which created an ominous, almost apocolyptic atmosphere.  When they reached the first crescendo the "The Flames Beyond the Cold Mountain" Tamaki, Yoda, and Taka went nuts.  They gripped their guitars with so much energy, just shaking their heads, fully entranced in the cathartic atmosphere of the music, you couldnt see their faces, three lanky bodies trying to combat the their intruments amidst a heated duel with melody and distortion under the guidance of Yasunori's drumming.  He delivered powerful, foreceful drumming which considerably elevated the intensity of the performance.  They interrogated their guitars with melancholy guitarlines set against a deafening distortion, a rush of intesnity through the fatal avalanche of crescendos awaiting to cradle the silent snows of the mountain pass in the valley of melancholic guiar lines.