(((O))) : Monde UFO – Vandalized Statue To Be Replaced With Shrine

In the world of modern music, where almost anything is getting that ‘post’ tag, many artists tie their post concept to a specific style or genre. Not many attempts to tie it to ‘almost everything’. The reason is quite simple – you need to know that ‘everything’ is quite well and you really have to be adept musically not to make just a big mess out of it.

Now, two Los Angeles artists, Ray Monde and Kris Chau (along with Kern Haug and Brian Bartus), who operate under the moniker of Monde UFO, seem to have found a post-almost everything formula that seems to work, and their latest effort, Vandalized Statue To Be Replaced With Shrine, is here to prove it.

The album is definitely an experiment, but one that eventually works.  Yes, Monde UFO practically throws in a kitchen sink, from spiritual jazz inclinations of Don Cherry, and latter-day Yo La Tengo, to Brazilian Tropicalia and Bark Psychosis-style vocal post-rock.

Chau, who had no previous musical experience handles the vocals to add an element of innocence that gives the music yet an additional (welcome) touch, something akin to Damo Suzuki’s recordings with Can.

If only other ‘all and the kitchen sink’ experiments were as good as this one.