mono: The Japanese GYBE???

Just heard about this Japanese band 'Mono' as they are coming to play UK in May.  I promptly downloaded some of their new album, and its pretty amazing stuff - brooding, atmospheric, instrumental post-rock, complete with string sections, quiet/loud bits, and plenty of sampled weirdness/space loops.     

Fans of GYBE, Mogwai should try it out - whilst it doesn't blaze a trail in terms originality, there are some amazing moments comparable with the best moments of SKinny Fists and Young Team.   

Malice Mizer is amazing. If you like Japanese Prog, here's a list of my favorite Japanese prog bands:

Malice Mizer: Symphonic Prog. They mix rock with baroque classical music. Currently not making any more music. FAVORITE SONG: SYUNIKISS

Moi dix Mois: Symphonic Prog. Formed by the former guitarist of Malice Mizer, so they sound exactly the same. FAVORITE SONG: N/A

Gackt: Art Rock. Former lead singer of Malice Mizer. It's a combo of pop and art rock. Most prog albums are Moon, Mars, and Crescent, in that order. Rebirth is not very progressive oriented. He has an extremely wide vocal range. Think Freddy Mercury. FAVORITE SONG: LUNA

X Japan: Prog Metal. Probably not prog, but they sound prog-esque. They sound like a combo of Dream Theater and Scorpions. The first really successful Japanese band. FAVORITE SONG: SILENT JEALOUSY or KURENAI

L'Arc~en~Ciel: Art Rock. They sound kind of like Rush in the 90s, but more interesting because their songs are all different. Lead singer has a wide vocal range. He sounds a bit annoying when he sings high, but his middle and lower octaves are incredible. Their older music has more of an 80s feel (think Journey), but their newer stuff has better vocals because the lead singer sings deeper now. FAVORITE SONG: READY STEADY GO

Dir en Grey: Experimental. For fans of weird music. Their songs range from death metal screaming to dark prog melodies similar to Tool and Pink Floyd melded together. Their lead singer is not too good, but he writes all the lyrics, which mostly tell some kind of dark story. FAVORITE SONG: CAGE

Siam Shade: Art Rock. My favorite Japanese band. They sound like Rush's Moving Pictures or Permanent Waves melded with Van Halen. Their lead singer doesn't have a very wide range, but his tone is good. He reminds me a bit of Geddy Lee from the 80s. FAVORITE SONG: DREAMS

The Black Mages: Instrumental Prog Metal. They sound like Yes on steroids. They are composed of a bassist, a drummer, two guitarists, a keyboarder, and a hammond organist. The hammond player, Nobuo Uematsu, writes all the music, and he also composes film and game scores (like Trevor Rabin). FAVORITE SONG: FORCE YOUR WAY

d.o.k wrote: I see Mono as a lazy and uninspired band. This is repetitive music, but without any interest : you got the repetitive part but there is not the moving part that is oscillating around the repetitive part. One riff = one song. Always the same riff over and over again. They just activate their effect-pedals one after one to change the sound a bit. Their last album (walking cloud...) doesn't need more than 2 listening to be well known from start to end. "Under the pipal tree" is very monolithic, and it's not a compliment. The same thing on the whole disc. On "One step more and you die", the track "Com(?)" would like to be like... "Mogwai Fear Satan" or another good epic work but sadly... this is just repeating and repeating : one riff for 15 minutes. Did I say that Mono was very repetitive ? Oh yes, and really not in a good manner.

Your post is also kind of repetitive.

Mono is good, but not enough to be compared to GYBE or my fav. Sigur Ròs.

Tarentel and Magyar Posse, also great bands (currently listenning to Magyar Posse)