Category: Beak

Artist: Beak
Title: Hard Nights
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk207
Release Date: 2008/11/29

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Things have been slowing down a little at Monotonik HQ recently. We think it’s something to do with just how crowded the netlabel scene has got – with literally thousands of labels, how is anyone going to find just one?

Fortunately, we’ve got a good idea of how to do it – just release stellar tracks from awesome Monotonik stalwarts. And this method is getting kicked off via Beak’s ‘Hard Nights’, the fourth release from the awesome guitar-electronics spaz on Monotonik since his epochal 2003 debut, ‘Amoral Mayor Earwig’.

We start off with ‘Sea Pen Meets Anglerfish’, the story of a subaqua coming-together which shows off Beak’s gorgeous melodic stylings, before we segue into the super-funky ‘Limozeen’, all low vocoder yelps and staccato splats.

Of course, there’s more – particularly ‘Forlon’s Diminish’, which is evocative, far-off jams in Beak’ssignature electro-acoustic doublestep, and we end with ‘Red H’, as Beak-y as you can get, with his  Squarepusher through an echo chamber beats pushed to the beautiful limit. Now, that’s a way to get your confidence back.

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Credits:
pic by beak

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Tracklist:
01 – Sea Pen Meets Anglerfish
02 – Limozeen
03 – Cup
04 – Forlon’s Diminish
05 – Red H

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Links:
[Bandcamp]

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License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US)

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Artist: Beak
Title: Bishop Whitney EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk180
Release Date: 2007/02/18

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The latest release for guitar and beat-strewn idm artist Beak on Monotonik, following the ‘Amoral Mayor Earwig EP’ back in 2004 and ‘El Hacedor EP’ in 2005, the ‘Bishop Whitney EP’ continues his extremely unique mix of strongly played guitar, acoustic noises and cut-up percussion in fine, fine style.

This time, we start out with the characteristic plucked freneticism of ‘Context Clues’, before seguing into the languid crawl of ‘Teach Texas Manner’, further showcasing his totally individual, beautiful melodic stylings. ‘Buggy Ride’ almost sounds indie pop to start out, before layering delicate melodies on top of the plucking.

We finish out with the extended drawl of ‘Cakes’, all waiting for the sun to rise, and the downright funk of ‘Essines’ Hair’, bopping around like a crazy man, and we come to the conclusion that the unique guitar funk of Beak should never be forgot, at least not in this house.

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Credits:
pic by beak

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Tracklist:
01 – Context Clues
02 – Teach Texas Manners
03 – Buggy Ride
04 – Cakes
05 – Essines’ Hair

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Links:
[Bandcamp]

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License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5)

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Artist: Beak
Title: El Hacedor EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk150
Release Date: 2005/07/31

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We’ve made release #150 in style, thanks to Monotonik artist Beak, who previously released the muchloved ‘Amoral Mayor Earwig EP’ last year. This time, he’s returned with the guitar-idm specialness of ‘El Hacedor EP’, featuring three tracks originally composed for the Project168 collective’s efforts earlier in 2005, and his mix of contemplative acoustics and carefully nimble percussion.

We start proceedings with ‘Baileyi’, all peaking hi-hats, wolf howls, and carefully picked guitars, before moving on to the beautifully slowed-down ‘The Maker’, which gently weeps while pirouetting around the subject – much more a Spanish lament than anything that can be classed ‘intelligent dance music’, whatever the heck that means. Finally, we have ‘He Descends Into His Memory’, which is spectacularly complex, wonderfully driving, and a suitably fitting end to this touching sophomore effort. Long may Beak keep quacking.

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Credits:
pic by Beak

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Tracklist:
01 – Baileyi
02 – The Maker
03 – He Descended Into His Memory

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Links:
[Bandcamp]

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License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5)

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Artist: Beak
Title: Amoral Mayor Earwig EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk136
Release Date: 2004/09/26

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We first hooked up with shadowy U.S. artist Beak earlier in 2003, when he made an ‘absolutely checken’ appearance, providing us with a few choice tracks featuring his unconventional but beautiful twinning of multi-tracked acoustic guitars and harder electronics. But it’s taken us until now to choose the absolutely perfect combination of sweet and savory songs from his extensive, largely publically unreleased output for the enchanting randomly titled ‘Amoral Mayor Earwig EP’.

So, where did we end up? Well, with the loping ‘How A Hot Air Balloon Works’, we have silent impulse into sonic heaven, all surprisingly summery, before new track ‘I Saw Two Of Me’ goes a whole lot more complex, really twisting the guitars and the jittery kitten-y drums together. Meanwhile, the title track simply multitracks weird spokenword interludes and beautifully played acoustic melodies with the pitter patter of drums, and our still-beating heart. Then, a brief interlude for the powerful phasing of ‘Yellow Hat’, before everything falls to piece with ‘Candrea444’, an out of time, out of space, in place rendering of a much more intensely acoustic, hardly normal daddy.

And what did we learn? That it takes time to get things right, that time is on our side, and that when phrased just right, the call of the string can sound like the call of the wild. Many thanks to Beak for teaching us.

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Credits:
cover by Beak

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Tracklist:
01 – How A Hot Air Balloon Works
02 – I Saw Two Of Me
03 – Amoral Mayor Earwig
04 – Yellow Hat
05 – Candrea444

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Links:
[Bandcamp]

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License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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