Category: Troupe

Troupe – It’s Really Pretty Simple After All {mtk179}

Artist: Troupe
Title: It’s Really Pretty Simple After All
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk179
Release Date: 2007/01/28

A long, long time in the making, U.S. artist Troupe presents his first EP for Monotonik, ‘It’s Really Pretty Simple After All’, a plain spectacular mix of demo-scene inspired electronica, soaring melodies, and beautiful vocals.

Imagine, if you will, an American who has grown up and been musically influenced by the greats of the Amiga demo-scene – which this label itself was birthed from in 1996. Then mix in transcendent vocals reminiscent of favorite Monotonik releases like Bliss, and you get to…. a great place. You may know Troupe from his early EP for Backtrack, or, indeed, from his recent guest vocal appearance on the Seathasky release for Monotonik, but this 5-track EP from the teenager showcases why it makes perfect sense that he release with us.

So, what do we have? ‘It’s Complicated’ has a multi-layered synth start, before blasting in to a ridiculously lush melodic vocal bridge. Then we get to the even more demo-scene or even oddly jazzinfluenced tracks, like ‘The Way Things Would Have Been’, with super syncopated lead lines hissing in and out of view like snakes of melodic justice.

Perhaps the highlight is ‘At Least We Have Friends’, which is as close to a pop song as we’ve ever released here, in the best way, but then ‘Not Much Else’ blasts beautiful electro-pop to amazing effect, and the EP’s title track is drifting on layers of sound, and… I know Monotonik is all over the place stylistically of late, but you see the thread, right, listeners? I know I do. And this right here is the golden one.

Credits:
pic by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – It’s Complicated
02 – The Way Things Would Have Been Another Time
03 – At Least We Have Friends
04 – Not Much Else
05 – It’s Really Pretty Simple After All

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Seathasky – Exist EP {mtk176}

Artist: Seathasky
Title: Exist EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk176
Release Date: 2006/12/17

We’re delighted to release this 3-track EP from Seathasky, who you may not think you’ve heard of, but is also known as previous Monotonik releaser Blisaed, who uses this moniker for his more electronica tinged, beautifully produced electronic music.

And, well, we’ll let Blisaed himself describe his release: “Matthew Centonze, as an artist, has been in the game since 1997 creating music for the Internet scene for many different netlabels under his IDM/experimental moniker Blisaed. Now, going back to his roots of electronic music, he presents Seathasky… Since early 2004, Seathasky has only released one EP called Polygon Prison under the defunct netlabel Nuspirit. Now after 2 years, he releases the Exist EP.”

The EP itself starts out with the beautifully poised ‘In Space’, and continues through the delightful ‘Never’ before the final track, ‘Exist’, features upcoming Monotonik solo releaser Troupe with some spectacularly executed lyrics – and we’re delighted to release it on the label.

Credits:
pic by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – In Space
02 – Never
03 – Exist (featuring Troupe)

Artwork:
Front Cover

Download

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

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V.A. – L’Arbre d’un Train {BKTR007}

Artist: V.A.
Title: L’Arbre d’un Train
Label: Backtrack
Catalog #: BKTR007
Release Date: 2005/10/17

_L’Arbre d’un Train_, a compilation.

Pretty. Sad. Lovely. There’s just enough variation to both make you want to fall asleep to it and make you want to open your ears up in amazement. With the first sign of autumn, we use music to remember our lost years, and we do not forget our happiest days.

Featuring netaudio legends Grandma (Monotonik, Khonnor of Type Records), Proswell (of Merck Records), Sense (Neo Ouija and Eem records), Transient (Monotonik, Miasmah, Camomille), Xerxes (Hellven, Camomille, Apegenine), a slew of other netlabel popstars (Valisproject, 143, Kaneel, Imtech, and Blisaed) and brilliant rising talent (Xtatic, Mike Shusta, Troupe, Nil, Valzi, Fah, Mister Cat, Sunburn, Malmen, Nick Beman, and Insektr.)

Nearly eight months in the making, _L’Arbre d’un Train_ is well worth the wait.

Credits:
Cover art by 143.

Volume balanced by Atlantis at Atlantean Records –
http://atlantis.plastiqueweb.com

Download:
01 – Valisproject – Saturnine
02 – 143 – Goodbye Whisper
03 – Xerxes – Lo-fi Beauty
04 – Xtatic – Brothers
05 – Transient – Droplets
06 – Sense – Happy New Tears
07 – Kaneel – Et je Danse Seul
08 – Grandma – Holy Moon
09 – Mike Shusta – My New Toric Lenses!
10 – Proswell – Dorkqs
11 – Imtech – Hipa
12 – Troupe – This Is
13 – Nil – Cha
14 – Valzi – The Bad Feeling Is Gone
15 – Fah – B5
16 – Blisaed – Post Card Sent From A Plane Crash
17 – Mister Cat – On The Verge
18 – Sunburn – Contemplation
19 – Malmen – Just Like You
20 – Nick Beman – The Grain Of Truth
21 – Insektr – An Encouragement Won’t Change Anything

Artwork:
Front Cover
Full Art
Full Art (Hi-Res)

Additional Files:
bktr007 [TXT]

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Troupe – Crepuscular {BKTR004}

Artist: Troupe
Title: Crepuscular
Label: Backtrack
Catalog #: BKTR004
Release Date: 2005/02/23

Troupe’s first big ol’ EP is finally here! Troupe has been releasing dandy music for quite a while now, especially once you fully realize that he’s only a sixteen-year-old. Perhaps it is because, he lives in texas where there are music-enhancing cows and cacti, or maybe it’s just because he hangs out with our friend xerxes so much. Whatever the case, he sure knows how to bring a relaxing melody that minimalistic oldschool touch.

Artist Comments:
if i had a window,
this is what i would be able to see out of it as night fell,
as the clouds rolled away, as the stars began to shine.
look beyond our atmosphere into the never-ending abyss of space
and relax to 17 minutes of electronic music.

this is crepuscular.

-troupe

Tracklist:
01 – Crepuscular
02 – Obsidian Window (feat. Void Pointer)
03 – Vintage Telescope
04 – Vision Of Alpha Centauri

Artwork:
Front Cover
Back Cover

Additional Files:
bktr004 [TXT]

Download

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

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