Monde UFO

Monde UFO, LA-based duo of Ray Monde and Kris Chau, are a monochromatic sunset for the senses. A sonic journey through psychedelia, space rock and jazz. A cosmic space where Spacemen 3 meets Vanishing Twin, by way of Sun Ra. 7171 perfectly embodies the framework of lo and hi-fi sounds which have helped define the band. Included in this expanded package is 4 Songs, Monde UFO’s radical interpretation of Fugazi’s music, housed for the first time on LTD 7” with new artwork.

In a downtown Los Angeles warehouse, on 7th Street, Ray Monde began writing songs on an old Yamaha church organ for a project that eventually became Monde UFO. Utilizing the organ as a bass, alongside keyboards and a drum machine, he began making demos on a four-track cassette recorder, adding only vocals and guitar to the organ pieces. He explored making haunting and optimistic sounds while living in Skid Row as a one-man band. Heavily influenced by the musician Sandy Bull, sonically landing in a similar no-man’s land of Worldly Jazz and Psych Folk. Monde experimented with the themes mostly of meditation and UFO lore.

In time Ray moved in with the artist Kris Chau. With little crossover in musical tastes, they exclusively started listening to jazz, ambient and new age music in the house. Increased interest in sound baths and experimental music led to seeing music in a different light. Ray thought it would be interesting to add Chau into his slow burner music project envisioning something that would sound like Don Cherry making a record with Yo La Tengo. Chau, with no previous musical experience, would play a sacral singing bowl mic’d up though various guitar pedals and singing. Ray would write songs that fit these 436hz drones and in addition to the old drum machines added modal jazz alternatives to more limited song structures. By incorporating Kris, a non-musician, there was an added emphasis on simplicity and an innocence akin to Beat Happening and K records. Alongside a Community-College taught conservatory-rejected jazz musician the duo reached back to a more youthful punk foundation; without over rehearsing, they empathized more on creativity than virtuosity.

The reissue of 7171 includes the sought after 4 Songs EP, a complete reimagining of some of Fugazi’s early classics, songs that take on a life of their own, lost amongst the haze and sugar sweet psych.