MONO Patronaat (Kleine Zaal) Haarlem The Netherlands 4th December 2014 (2014-12-04) RECORDING: Type: Audience master, recorded 8 metres back from the suspended left-hand side PA. Source: Factory-matched pair of Schoeps CCM 41V microphones (DINa mounted) -> Marantz PMD661 recorder with Oade Concert Mod (-18 dB gain/44.1 kHz/24 bit WAV) Lineage: Audacity 2.0.6 * Independently normalised channels to 0 dB. * Applied variable envelope amplification across recording for consistent listening experience. * Attenuated audience applause. * Applied Click Removal effect to further attenuate applause (Threshold 200/Max Spike Width 40). * Added fades. * Split tracks. * Converted to 16 bit. -> FLAC (compression level 8) [libFLAC 1.3.1 20141125] Taper: Ian Macdonald (ianmacd) SET LIST: 01. [13:32] Recoil, Ignite 02. [10:31] Burial at Sea 03. [06:29] Kanata 04. [11:44] Pure as Snow 05. [08:59] Halcyon 06. [07:29] Where We Begin 07. [12:27] Ashes in the Snow 08. [11:26] Everlasting Light Total running time: 82:40 NOTES: A chance e-mail on the day of this gig reminded me of its existence and the fact that I had forgotten to either note it or purchase a ticket for it. MONO are not a band I would ordinarily skip over, particularly given my dismal performance at their last gig in Utrecht, when I somehow managed to arrive at the show without microphones. An accident on the A9 almost costs me the support act, Helen Money. I arrive at the venue with literally just enough time to head to the toilets (the ladies, too, because all of the cubicles in the gents are full and I just don't have the time) to suit up and get myself back in front of the PA. Money is OK. The infernal racket she conjures from her cello is amusing, but isn't something that would hold my attention for long. I record it anyway, of course. MONO are next, here in promotion of two -- rather unusually -- simultaneously released albums, 'The Last Dawn' and 'Rays Of Darkness'. It's a small, but appreciative crowd in the Patronaat's Kleine Zaal, a room I'm not even sure I knew the venue had. I certainly haven't recorded here before. For a good 80+ minutes, MONO pile shimmering guitars on top of crashing drums and guide very song to its inevitably explosive crescendo. Post-rock's a bit like pasta, really. You have to like the basic formula or you're not going to get much out of it. At the end of the day, whether it's cylindrical penne, long strands of spaghetti, corkscrew fusilli or bow-ties of farfalle, it's all still just pasta; and if you don't like pasta, you're not going to like any of it. Similarly, whether it's Mogwai, MONO, Explosions In The Sky or Godspeed You! Black Emperor (or any number of others), if the basic formula of protracted songs that start quietly, build up a head of steam and then explode in your face doesn't appeal to you, then you're quite unlikely to see much in any of these bands. That's not to suggest that all of these bands sound the same -- indeed, many of them reject the label post-rock, and over time there is an increasing amount of divergence from the formula -- but then again, a pasta aficionado will probably tell you that the shape your pasta has been moulded into is somehow significant. In any case, I happen to like both pasta and post-rock, and MONO offer a good, wholesome serving of the latter. They play tonight for 82 minutes, and I do mean play, because not one second is wasted on idle banter with the audience. MONO are a pretty static bunch on stage. Guitarists Takaakira Goto and Hideki Suematsu remain seated for the entire concert, and for many in the room, they must be invisible. The visual focal point therefore defaults to female member and bassist, Tamaki Kunishi, and, to a lesser extent, drummer Yasunori Takada, but they, too, offer little in the way of visual stimuli. Close your eyes here tonight and you risk missing nothing. The set's highlight for me is predictably the classic 'Ashes In The Snow', but everything performed tonight, including the new material, is enjoyable. The recording is outstanding, above my usual (hopefully already high) standard. As such, I highly recommend this one to fans of the band. App\Http\Controllers\Api\FileDownloadController::download(): Return value must be of type string, none returned