From MONUMENTS to MASSES
From Monument To Masses.
"How can we expect anyone to listen if we are using the same old voice? We need noise..."
- Refused
"The work: to make revolution irresistible."
- Toni Cade Bambara
Revolutionary. While it's become increasingly difficult to refrain from rolling one's eyes whenever one hears the word, it's even harder not to use it when describing From Monument To Masses. This San Francisco area three-piece, founded in late 2000, is constantly pushing the boundaries of instrumental post-rock--combining layers of guitar loops, driving polyrhythm and breakbeats, and sampled sound into emotional, ever-changing song structures. FMTM's music has always moved away from the pop music standards of lead vocals, verse-chorus-bridge song structures, and radio-friendly song lengths. But there is a conscious limit to their instrumental experimentation... a desire to stay away from the suffocating artsiness of highbrow indie wankery in favor of tunes that remain grounded in a driving rock sensibility.
Among FMTM's influences, stand out artists like Refused, Fugazi, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and DJ Shadow who are particularly inspirational for their ability to combine progressive sounds with equally progressive political ideas. Living in the Bay Area, it's no wonder that their music celebrates political activism and social change. The group has always held that art cannot exist independently from political struggle.
With their latest album, "Schools of thought contend.", FMTM chose to collaborate with a diverse group of artists as well as record two new studio tracks. The result is an album that showcases the band's new musical directions and presents radical interpretations of songs from their previous full-length, "The Impossible Leap in One Hundred Simple Steps." with sounds ranging from indie and electronic pop to drum&bass and post-rock. "Schools of thought contend." is not some "throwaway" remix album but a true notch in FMTM's discography that the band attests is as vital, representative, and artistically challenging as its last two albums. *EDIT* The band is touring Europe this summer and ending their European tour in Russia. Hopefully one day they will get to go out to the third world where some of the influence of their music stems from.
From Monument To Masses:
Francis Choung - drums, keys, programming
Sergio Robledo-Maderazo - bass, keys, samples
Matthew Solberg - guitar, loops
Contact From Monument To Masses at:
frommonumenttomasses@gmail.com