Greetings from the last month on the 2015 calendar fellow progheads! The sand has almost run its course through the hourglass as the end of the year approaches. These past twelve months have proven to be quite an odyssey; band interviews, introductions to up and coming bands, album release parties, Kickstarter campaigns, and some great progressive music have all graced the Concert Closet this year.
Before it's time to flip said hourglass and start the clock on 2016, I thought it be might fun and interesting to do something a little out of the ordinary. It is often said that all good things must come to an end...this is as much true for the calendar we are about to flip as it is for a band...so this week the Concert Closet checks out a prog band that had its swansong and moved on, leaving some great music as its legacy. One last trip to Italy for the year as we check out the great audition that was; the Mohai Experiment.
I admit reviewing a band that no longer exists is both unusual and a tad to the left of what one would expect from a music blog...but that is part of what separates the Concert Closet from the pack--a burning desire to stand out among my peers and grabbing the opportunity to go against the tide. I believe it will be a fun week giving you my loyal followers something atypical to ponder...so let us march straight to the buffet before it is pulled down for the last time...
The first course served up this week is a hard hitting piece of music called "Part I: Utopia." An electronic display of sorts strikes you as the curtain draws back; Mohai Experiment seems to lean toward the Adrian Belew days of King Crimson--but just as suddenly the band swerves hard left and you feel as though you sailed through a time warp into an Alan Parsons Project jam session. The guitars bleed so profusely into keyboards you are hard pressed to detach one from the other. Meanwhile the drumming keeps you in lock-step. Mohai Experiment pushes boundaries with this piece; I sense aromatics of Transatlantic, Psicolorama, and perhaps a hint of Barock Project folded in to keep you entranced. Not sure why Mohai Experiment chose to call it a career, so let us keep digging...
Diving into the second course finds me ears deep in a cult-like slice of "Part I: Mud." As the headphones begin to pour forth with sound, I am immediately hit with images and musings of Pink Floyd's "Careful With That Axe, Eugene." The tension mounts and your skin gets all goose bumpy...but the screams of terror never materialize. What does shine through is darkness as smooth as the night sky during a lunar eclipse...the guitar and bass work so well together you almost sense one pair of hands playing both simultaneously. The drums and percussion cut through the base of your skull like a Sawzall cuts through plywood--with little effort and uneven edges. Mohai Experiment tests your senses with this piece; are you walking through darkness fending off terror, or simply walking through a tunnel with the promise of light as you approach the exit? Complex as King Crimson, intrinsic as Jethro Tull, and straightforward as Liquid Tension Experiment--the multiple personalities of a prog band...
Liner Notes...Mohai Experiment hailed from Turin, Italy, kept a relatively tight lid on who its members are/were, and released one helluva digital download CD in April. Peter Hamer is credited as Mohai Experiment's manager and the label under which the band records...my guess is Peter is also the one keeping Mohai Experiment alive via Twitter and Reverbnation--and quite possibly Mr. Mohai Experiment himself...
The band originally formed in 1993; not sure what led to the band's demise, but as prog artists--or performers in any music genre for that matter-- can attest, succeeding in the music world is extremely difficult. The ugly truth is it can sometimes take much more than talent...the list of bands that are in and those yet to be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame proves my point.
The upside is Mohai Experiment left a permanent mark with the release of "The Finite Infinity." Strong top notes of King Crimson and God Is An Astronaut permeate the band's sound...and I detect aromatics of Psicolorama and hints of Electric Mud buried between the layers.
The final selection for review this week is a heavier piece called "Part II: Follow the Blue Rain." Mohai Experiment hits hard with the keyboards and guitars here; the music pours down like heavy New England snow as your equilibrium takes small hits from all sides. Mohai Experiment lands some solid blows with this cut and the experimental side takes center stage for a while as sounds float across the top accented by a counter balance weighing down the foundation. Paint splattered on a dark canvas with accents of bright hues burning through at the edges...Mohai Experiment uses most of the colors on the pallet and mixes them together quite well.
I chose carefully the clip posted below--this is my best chance to convince you the listener that Mohai Experiment is worth the investment. "Part II: Eclipse" opens with heavy percussion that is kept afloat with keyboards and guitars that refuse to be weighed down. Think Transatlantic meets Under the Psycamore meets Atlas Volt...now you're feeling it! Although Mohai Experiment no longer exists in the "putting out new music" sense, you can still check out "The Finite Infinity" in its entirety at
https://www.reverbnation.com/mohaiexperiment. The band also has an active Twitter account @MohaiExperiment ...perhaps if enough progheads "poke the bear" who knows...maybe more music will be forthcoming from the Turin region of Italy...
Well fellow progheads, December is kicking into high gear as 2015 prepares the banquet hall for her final bash...hopefully you get the connection between the year coming to end and my desire to review a band that did the same. The Mohai Experiment may no longer function as a living breathing prog band, but fortunately for the masses their music still has a pulse thanks to modern technology. Mohai Experiment will still be relevant (I believe) twenty years from now because the music has depth and character; a personality if you will. There is a Brian Eno "ambient sound" feel to the music...and like a good pair of Levi's--that never goes out of style.
The search for all things prog continues toward its 2015 climax, so please spend some time enjoying the sounds of Mohai Experiment for a while...until next week...
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