Today's MP3 Monday is inspired by the news that Japanese post rock band Mono is coming to Shanghai on November 27. In terms of notoriety and acclaim in the genre, it doesn't get much bigger than Mono, and their coming to Shanghai is quite the momentous occasion. As a genre, post rock has really taken off in China, and the imminent arrival of one of the world's best bands is sure to be a huge deal. Click here to be redirected to their MySpace. Check out the pictures of them kicking out the jams with a full orchestra. That's a real post rock thing to do. In recent Mono news, they played All Tomorrows Parties in Somerset, England in 2008; the festival was curated by the band Explosions in the Sky, so there you go. Mono also just released their fifth album, Hymn to the Immortal Wind. I was looking through my old CDs and came across this band, 21 Grams, a Shanghai post rock band that were quite active around 2006-2007. Despite being a relatively new band, 21 Grams attracted a lot of attention around that period, and played a bunch of higher profile shows at Live Bar, LOgO, Yuyintang, ddm warehouse, culminating -- crescendo'ing really -- in the band opening for PK14 at 4Live. The band's success (as much as success is available to bands in Shanghai) had them sort of poised to be the city's answer to Dalian's Wang Wen and Wuhan's Hua Lun -- two other really talented, nationally-touring post rock bands that imprint their own localized stamp on the genre. If memory serves, 21 Grams also embodied the key elements detractors of the post rock genre despise most -- namely, there was basically no visual element to the show. With the emphasis being on sonic texturing, the ebb and flow of layered guitars, no vocals, and seven to ten minutes of crescendo and decrescendo, if you're not down with that style, seeing it live can be totally excruciating. It's mostly really sparse, and if you're not willing to be open to the subtleties, it's really fucking boring -- four motionless dudes staring at their feet, playing songs that last forever with no singing. Of course, that's not really a criticism of the band but more the style in general. To each their own. There tends not to be a middle ground with the post rock; you either really like it or you really don't. But if you do, you should keep an eye out for this band 21 Grams, who haven't played in a while, but are rumored to be still around and practicing. These songs are off their 2006 eponymous EP-type thing. All their songs are inspired by movies and it seems like they are explicitly writing scores for said movies. 21 Grams �C 21 Grams 21 Grams �C Brokeback Mountain 21 Grams on the web: here's their MySpace page and here's a internets music show video about the band. Looks like they're rocking out in a certain now-closed practice space on Wuxing Lu. Ahh memories... And here's a classic: Mogwai Fear Satan at the Fuju Rock festival. Wait for it.......... BOOM!