Mono - Part Two

Mono was a flash-in-the-pan late nineties electronic duo out of the UK.  Comprised of Siobhan de Maré and Martin Virgo, Mono toured once, put out one full-length album, and then disappeared off the map.

But while they were around, Mono put out some solid music.  Their only album, "Formica Blues," crosses genres and eras.  Sitting somewhere between the refined downtempo drawl of house music, and the sexy,  big-band feel of a sixties jazz symphony, its an album that truly feels divorced from any particular time period.   It is not
something you would immediately recognize as a product of the late nineties.  As one reviewer wrote:

What distinguishes the album from a shopping list of mid-'60s cool is the enormous affection de Maré and Virgo conjure up for the period they invoke. It's the lack of irony or distance in that affection that are the key to understanding this band.

In other word, this isn't hipster sixties.  It's an earnest, modern take on an older style of music on an earlier era.  I think this which is why it's not immediately obvious when it was made.  Although some contemporary critics saw the band as a product of the nineties ("that very Nineties pairing of the shady back-room knob-twiddler and the photogenic chanteuse") I think Mono was too honest to be discounted as gimmicky.  

Anyways, the first time I listened to Mono was maybe six years ago, in a mini documentary on David Choe.  That documentary was called Whales and Orgies.  It was a quick look into his life and his methods--a sort of ten minute manifesto on who David Choe was, what he did, and how he did it.  For better or worse (and probably worse) he became somewhat of a lovable anti-hero and a role model to me in my teen years.  I was a lonely, artsy, angsty teen and his--almost nihilist approach to art and life was refreshing.  Anyways, Whales and Orgies opens "Blind Man," an excellent track off of "Formica Blues."





Here's "Blind Man" in full:






Mono also has some interesting videos of their own: