5/12/07 - MONO w/ Worlds End Girlfriend and Grails @ Local 506

I must admit that LOUD post-rock shows are among the finest of life's pleasures. I have seen Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, plus a bunch of other LOUD experimental bands, namely Dinosaur Jr., who nearly made my head explode. But, none of these extremely "peel-your-face-off-LOUD" groups could prepare me for the force of Mono in one of Chapel Hill's smallest music venues. Last Saturday with Mono, Worlds End Girlfriend, and Grails would prove to be one of the finest three-band lineups I have ever seen.

Let me start by saying that if you don't own any Mono records, and you like other post-rock bands, you need to get your ass to the nearest record store. Mono takes the term "epic build-up" to a whole new extreme. They drone along for a while, keeping tight musical form, until they either add more and more effects, or take them away and then punish your ears all at once. And, the brutality of noise they create live is so intense, you'll swear the earth is quaking. They definitely recall early Mogwai classics like "Mogwai Fear Satan," only with better production and MORE noise.

Grails started the trilogy of noise with a rockin' set of instrumental psychedelic rubble. They used up to three guitars, a 12-string acoustic, and Lightning Bolt-esque drumming to create one of the most delightfully primitive storms of rock action I have seen in recent memory. All songs droned together seamlessly, as the guitarists kept dark drones running with their pedals in between songs. The set reminded me of Comets on Fire, Oneida, and Liars, with a more colossal air of noise during the loud parts.

Worlds End Girlfriend was an odd transition act. It was one long-haired Japanese dude with his laptop, a mixer, a Fender Strat, and a bunch of delay/distortion/reverb/loop pedals. It was FUCKING AWESOME. A pleasant surprise to say the least! It was like living in a bizarre dreamworld. The coolest shit ran through my head as I closed my eyes and peered into his world of drones, squealing drum machine beats, and LOUD processed guitar noise. 40 minutes of amazing mental isolation.

Mono, of course, ultimately stole the stage. They played six songs, all of them over 10 minutes, each one making my ears feel like they were being lifted off of my head, into an air of flames. One song, "Lost Snow," had the band going back and forth from loud to quiet twice, only to end in a nasty 15 minutes of pure noise. Those like me without earplugs paid dearly! My ears are still ringing like hell 2 days later! One might think that their post-rock-defining formula might get old, but each quiet part is so beautifully executed, and the loudness is so trans formative that it never gets old for me. Imagine if Godspeed You Black Emperor! removed all their samples and replaced them with long intros to beautifully cascading noise. That's what Mono is all about, and their live set certainly did their intense albums more than justice.