Review Summary: It didn't finish off as well as it could have, but Monoral showed off what they were capable off, and it turned a few heads.
Everything begins and ends the way it began, that's just life. The circumstances and situations may differ, but life has a funny way of repeating itself over and over. In 2001, Monoral began their first EP in the form of
In Stereo. Monoral had begun gaining steam early on in 1999, as their music was an oddity in the Japanese Alternative Rock market. Their music featured an absurd mix of Alternative Rock, Psychedelic Rock, and Shoegaze. That wasn't their only odd trait, however. Another weird addition was that Monoral's lead singer Anis Shimada sung entirely in English. Granted, English was nothing new to Japanese music; but most songs mixed snippets of heavily accented English to mostly Japanese lyrics. In a sense, modern Japanese music used, and still uses, English as a decoration. Monoral, turned it into an entire act.
Critics in Japan at the time were pretty dismissive of
In Stereo at the time of it's release. Who can really blame them？
In Stereo was all over the damn place. Despite being only five songs, it contained combinations of three genre's of Rock. Most of
Release Me was a slow Progressive Rock tune with creepy xylophone echoes pervading odd lyrics about elements and releasing someone's soul.
Good Bye was a manic Acid Rock feast with heavy distortion and a slow percussion sequence. My personal favorite track,
Weird Kind Of Swings, is a Punk-Pop track with lyrics that I can't seem to understand completely, but I enjoy its Punk tone and heavy emphasis on drums over most of the other instruments.
Nothing on this EP is coherent and it completely threw critics over a window. It was because of this lack of attention that
In Stereo wasn't as much of a success as it could be. What about America though？ Shouldn't Monoral have gained a nice fanbase in an English speaking country？ No, and there's a reason for that.
The problem with
In Stereo was that most of the tracks were good, but not amazing. Not to mention that it was too mainstream a record for experimental fans to foam their mouths over, and too experimental to attract a mainstream audience. To put it bluntly, this EP was doomed to fail. Nevertheless,
In Stereo showcased a lot of talent that Monoral had.
Release Me featured a glorious xylophone piece and
Goodbye was amazing for an Acid Rock tune. The problem lay in two other songs.
This Band Has Not Begun started off terribly, with a basic xylophone synth being played in a simple harmony while a guitar went to work. Everything was completely sterile and basic, something the rest of the EP was not. Another issue came in
Wash, an Alt Rock train wreck having a percussion beat that fell flat with the rest of the song, while the rhythm and tone matched a bit too close to
Good Bye only without the madness.
There were things that went very well here, but there were also things that utterly fell below sea level. Still,
In Stereo was establishing a small niche following in Japan, as they were producing a product that wasn't being imitated at the time. This EP showed a lot of talent and promise, and although this wouldn't be a huge success, they would get another chance a couple years later.
