Author: netlabelarchive

Grandma – Spinach Gas Room Spaghetti Straps EP {mtk087}

Artist: Grandma
Title: Spinach Gas Room Spaghetti Straps EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk087
Release Date: 2002/09/07

It’s always good to find an original, slightly more maverick voice in the world of electronics – someone who, if not channelling the punk aesthetic, at least goes out on a little more of a limb to imbue their music with edge, unpredictability and, well, soul.

So, when US-based Grandma sent us a whole raft of his music, we immediately cottoned on to the mix of alternately classic idm-ish melodies, super-intricate drill+bass programming, and improvised guitars/vocals.

That in itself should be enough. But then, we found out that all this music was only composed with the most lo-fi of components – only one speaker, using a microphone purloined from a Japanese languagelearning CD-ROM, being forced to use a single take for all the guitar and vocal elements, and, most incredible of all, that Grandma, aka Khonnor, is only 15, and this is his first widely-released music _anywhere_. So it’s just the start. And we can’t wait to see what happens next.

This debut EP for Monotonik, “Spinach Gas Room..”, is compiled from a selection of Grandma’s most prodigous output from the last few months, and we start with the echo-filled guitar improvisation and the super intricate drum patterns of “He Near Krxern”, before transitioning into the total idm classiness of “Sandy Point”. The second half is, if anything, even better, with the incredibly soulful, barely sung drift of “Why The Fuck Did You Eat My Babies?”, and the straightahead, supremely melodic intricacies of “Strawberry Rhubarb Oppai”, all adding up to.. specialness. We dig. A lot.

Credits:
photo by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – He Near Krxern
02 – Sandy Point
03 – Why The Fuck Did You Eat My Babies?
04 – Strawberry Rhubarb Oppai

Artwork:
Front Cover

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License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial 1.0 Generic (CC BY-ND-NC 1.0)

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Virt – FX 2.0 {mtk086}

Artist: Virt
Title: FX 2.0
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk086
Release Date: 2002/08/29

Ladies and gentlemen, back for an encore, and WHAT an encore, it’s our friend and yours, the incorrigible, indelible Jake Kaufman, also known as Virt, with the second installment of his astounding NES chip disc, now known as ‘fx 2.0’.

Since the mtk.release of the original ‘fx’, which was an entire imaginary NES soundtrack in pint-size .S3M format, Jake has been doing demi-deific stuff with Nintendo’s sound chips in his primary career as a game musician. His “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (Disney) and “Scorpion King” (Universal) soundtracks on Gameboys Color and Advanced respectively showcase his amazing skills, and his newly released soundtrack to Capcom’s “Shantae” on Gameboy Color is, quite frankly, one of the best ever GBC scores, as well as being one of the last.

But this time, Virt posed an intriguing question – what if he was given the job of re-scoring classic-era Nintendo titles from Konami? So, he revved up his Delorean trackball, took things back 15 years, and we have these absolutely astounding pieces of NES sound-chip nirvana, with completely new tracks made for classic Nintendo videogames as if Jake were actually soundtracking them at the time.

So, whether he be bustin’ moves out for “Gyruss” in the divine “Blastoff”, which comes complete with a ‘bonus beats’ mp3 version, arranged Playstation-remake stylee, or a new “Option” theme for the classic “Gradius 2”, it _all_ hits the spot. And carrying on right through to the afterburner-effect burn-up of “Bogey At Your 6” for “Top Gun”, a pair of Renaissance efforts for the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” games, and finally, a terse and triumphant “Contra” re-score in “Vile Red Falcon”, well.. this is one sequel that stomps its muddy little squarewave paws all over the original.

‘Nuff said – leech now, and if you’d like to read the release-text that Virt included with the .S3M versions of the tunes, with more info on each track and the idea behind the interpretations, then click here.

Credits:
pic by virt

Tracklist:
01 – Blastoff (Gyruss) [S3M] [MP3]
02 – Bogey At Your 6 (Top Gun) [S3M] [MP3]
03 – Vile Red Falcon (Contra) [S3M] [MP3]
04 – Pizza Time (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) [S3M] [MP3]
05 – Option (Gradius 2) [S3M] [MP3]
06 – Shell Shock (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3) [S3M] [MP3]
07 – Blastoff – Bonus Beats [MP3]

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Files:
v-fx2 [NFO]

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License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial 1.0 Generic (CC BY-ND-NC 1.0)

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Vim! – Time For The Squares {mtk085}

Artist: Vim!
Title: Time For The Squares
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk085
Release Date: 2002/08/24

Whilst our long-time companion Vim! is preparing for his second album on Surgery, upcoming material on Civik, and his appearance on the Machine Drum remix LP on Merck, he’s been doing some sabbatical work on the VERY cool Nintendo Gameboy music creation software package, ‘Little Sound DJ’.

So, exclusively for the benefit of Monotonik types, we have this megamix-styled Vim! jam, “Time For The Squares”, all created just using an old-style black+white Nintendo Gameboy and LSDJ! Spanning over 11 minutes, it starts with some serious bassline + drum-roll callisthenics, before transitioning into arpegiating goodness and off-beat, pure, sinewave-y melodies, and finishing off, supremely, with a cover version of Leftfield’s “Phat Planet”, complete with robotvoicesampled bliss.

We think the particularly neat thing about this megamix is that it sounds pretty different from the majority of lo-fi, retro stuff out there – there’s no overdone chords, there’s no excessive saccharin. What there is is surprisingly complex beats and a harder, cleaner aesthetic that, ultimately, pays off bigtime. We claim.

Credits:
cover+photo by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Time For The Squares

Artwork:
Front Cover

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License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial 1.0 Generic (CC BY-ND-NC 1.0)

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Secede – Mommylove & Daddypride EP {mtk084}

Artist: Secede
Title: Mommylove & Daddypride EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk084
Release Date: 2002/08/15

We’re very proud to present the first release on Monotonik from Secede, a Dutch-based artist who’s just starting to get a lot of buzz online, with a remix featured on the hotly anticipated Machine Drum remix CD due out on Merck pretty soon, plus a full length solo CD (also on Merck) to follow.

So, this 4-track EP is a perfect introduction to the lush, melodic and intelligent sound of Secede, with the first track, “Depart & Arrive”, cutting up a gorgeous ambient waltz with the American president’s strangely melodious ramblings about the situation in Afghanistan.

From then on, things can only get better, with “Option Screen (Phantas)”, bringing in an immaculately cowbell-infested hip-sway groove, almost Nightmares On Wax-esque in its nonchalance, and “Seafold” cutting up haunting melodies and wayahead chilled cuts. Finally, “I Can’t Help Fearing You” is a spectacular mess of notes gelled into one nutritious, ambient parting whole.

So, whether you’re a shover or a pusher (but a pusher’s a jerk), shove yourself into the horizontal position and enjoy this EP – we’re pretty sure we’ll be hearing more of Secede. If only when he mails us to complain about this overblown, but very necessary song description 😉

Credits:
watchcamphoto by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Depart & Arrive
02 – Option Screen (Phantas)
03 – Seafold
04 – I Can’t Help Fearing You

Artwork:
Front Cover

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License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial 1.0 Generic (CC BY-ND-NC 1.0)

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~aD – Pharis Wheel {mtkdj08}

Artist: ~aD
Title: Pharis Wheel
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtkdj08
Release Date: 2002/08/07

Well, we certainly don’t release many DJ sets here at Monotonik – in fact, the last one was over 2 years ago, wow. And the main reason for this is that there’s very few good eclectic mixes out there. Until now, that is.

We first heard the mixing skills of Chicago’s ~aD being spread via, of all places, Usenet. So we’re proud to present the first of a number of stunning DJ sets we’re going to put out from him – hop on the “Pharis Wheel” 😛

So, why do we love this mix so much? Well, firstly, it’s the track selection, twinning cut-up delights like Yoshinori Sunahara with the genius sleaze of Jamie Lidell, and some of the new-skool beat heroes like Si Begg and Prefuse 73, then the swift slip-in of more unlikely but totally fitting material like Pop Will Eat Itself.

Secondly, it’s the way it’s mixed, an almost Coldcut-esque multi layered approach which means not only seamless mixing, but entirely new sounds created when 2 or 3 tracks overlap each other. Thus, we get Pete Namlook battling Orson Welles, and even, in one of the highlights of the disc, Moby duelling both a drug-ranting Bill Cosby and Orbital’s “Halcyon” all at once – at least, that’s what it sounds like to us.

Please be aware that the mix is semi-bootleg quality, since it’s encoded at 112kbps (intentional!) and has a few speaker-overstressing waveform-maxing moments (unintentional!). Hopefully, this means that it’s listenable without upsetting the copyright holders, but will also encourage you to go out and buy material from the artists ~aD has mixed up here – that’s the way we want it.

The tracklisting for “Pharis Wheel” (some track names are made up from multiple songs!) is:

1. War of The Namlook – “Hoshi No Koe”
2. Yoshinori Sunahara – “Cross Wind Take-Off”
3. Bola – “Mauver (feat.Dennis Bourne)”
4. Moby Huckstable – “Porcelain Addiction”
5. Jamie Lidell – “Daddy’s Car”
6. Persona – “Thumper (Warn Defever mix)”
7. S.I.Futures – “I’m The Bomb”
8. Prefuse 73 – “Nuno”
9. Yoshinori Sunahara – “Journey Beyond The Stars”
10. Persona – “Release The Dogs”
11. Prefuse 73 – “Hot Winter’s Day”
12. Talvin Singh – “Ha Sandwich”
13. Machine Drum – “Fury (feat. Poly-Sci)”
14. LFO – “Tied Up”
15. Pop Will Eat Itself – “Everything’s Cool (Alien Invasion)”
16. Paul Haslinger – “World Without Rules”
17. Drome – “Hoax! What did you got?”
18. MC Conrad – “Logical (Blame RMX)”
19. Niraj Chag – “The Firefly”
20. Wink – “Young Again”
21. Yoshinori Sunahara – “Sun Song 80”
22. Prefuse 73 – “Afternoon Love-In”
23. Unkle – “Guns Blazing”
24. Atomic Babies – “Cetch Da Monkey (Sonology Mix)”
25. Aphex Twin – “Ziggomatic V17”

Credits:
cover+photo by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Pharis Wheel

Artwork:
Front Cover

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