Monolake

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
Listening to some of his newer stuff on the Juno shop site, it sounds pretty varied and a hell of a lot more exciting than a lot of dubby techno. Can anyone confirm that it's worth splashing out on a CD?
 

jwd

Well-known member
I felt that Monolake really lost something important after their "Interstate" CD - things became a lot more linear (in a bad way) and not nearly as gorgeous. So my suggestion is to pick up "Hong Kong" and "Interstate" (the two essentials), go for the Chain Reaction 12"'s as well, and then tread very carefully w/subsequent releases. And ignore the Henke solo album "Signal to Noise" - 'passable' drone of a lesser variety. Recent Monolake has seemed a little in thrall to Ableton, whereas with the early stuff you had the duo's fascination with interlocking rhythms, nature sound, etc. - perhaps Monolake started to lose their way when Behles left & it was just Henke in charge?
 

DigitalDjigit

Honky Tonk Woman
I like the new stuff. "Hong Kong" was a bit sparse but still great. "Cinemascope" does nothing for me. His latest has quite a mix of different sounds but it does not really sound like your average dub techno or minimal. It's more of an experimental/freeform electronic sound. I especially like the last track, Credit, it just sounds like wind noise and time stops for me when it plays.

He was supposed to come to my city in February but got sick and had to cancel the US tour. I was gutted.
 

nomos

Administrator
say i wanted to start exploring monolake, where should i start? what are the crucial bits to check out first?
 

bassnation

the abyss
say i wanted to start exploring monolake, where should i start? what are the crucial bits to check out first?

hong kong, definitely. one of my all time favourite albums - and unlike most albums actually works better listening to it in its entirety. the best track has to be index, a pulsating dark trip into the abyss, endless recombinations of static, delay and an acid bassline. i listen to this album a lot while working and it stimulates at an almost unconcious hypnotic level. absolutely classic piece of music.

the reason why monolake is so in thrall to ableton is because he is one of the main people behind it - he came up with the concept [of sequencer as instrument] and unsuprisingly the software lends itself very well to monolake-style soundscapes. in fact when i had a problem with my copy and contacted them i found hes also doing tech support!

innerstate and cinemascope are both ok - wasn't frost on cinemascope? will check my copy when i get home this evening. signal to noise is ok - quite like the song composed entirely of thunder noises. but yeah, his best work is the early material.

also plumbicon is worth getting - the sleeparchive mix is worth the price of admission for its twinkling bass heavy rendition. the invisible ep is also good - used one of the tracks from that ("bex" iirc) on my darkestbeforedawn mix. its got this 2-step rhythm with an eerie vocal sample from an airport announcement system cut up to fuck which mixes very easily with dubstep / garage. remember kode9 remarking on it when i sent him a cd of the mix.

generally i always try to include at least one monolake track per mix - feel that sooner or later this will wear people down and they will eventually accept its brilliance.
 
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UFO over easy

online mahjong
The earlier 12"s are fantastic, but his back cat is really difficult to navigate just because the vinyl releases seem not to relate directly to any of the CD releases on which the same songs appear.
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
the invisible ep is also good - used one of the tracks from that ("bex" iirc) on my darkestbeforedawn mix. its got this 2-step rhythm with an eerie vocal sample from an airport announcement system cut up to fuck which mixes very easily with dubstep / garage. remember kode9 remarking on it when i sent him a cd of the mix.

Invisible Force? Yeah I like that one, it's well Germanic.
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
I felt that Monolake really lost something important after their "Interstate" CD - things became a lot more linear (in a bad way) and not nearly as gorgeous. So my suggestion is to pick up "Hong Kong" and "Interstate" (the two essentials), go for the Chain Reaction 12"'s as well, and then tread very carefully w/subsequent releases.
Wow, never come across someone echoing exactly my sentiments about these guys. I think they/he is utterly boring now, to the extent that I didn't even listen to the last album.

New Thomas Fehlmann album on Kompakt has a little of the feeling I wanted to get again from Monolake.
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Sweet, I just followed that discogs.com link and see that t++ is a newer alias for the guy who is Various Artists (mentioned upthread). He did some great stuff, also with his DiN label. I'll have to investigate the newer Monolake, I'd give them up.
 

Dusty

Tone deaf
According to the man himself, Hong Kong will be getting a reissue, for those of us who can't afford to hunt down the Chain Reaction edition. Interstate is also reissued this month.
 
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