Tag: Mono211

Izmar – Aze2 {mtw032}

Artist: Izmar
Title: Aze2
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw032
Release Date: 2003/11/15

Following the release of the first “Aze” album from Dutch artist Izmar, earlier this year, we carefully guarded the follow-up, containing more excellent chilled instrumental tracks recorded around the same time, which all ready to go. So, go now it does, and for fans of Fila Brazillia, Max Brennan, or any other deliciously funky chill hybrid shenanigans, you may, indeed, have a second treat in store.

It’s difficult to pick out specific standouts in this uniformly lush album, but “Aze2-06” and its gorgeously peaking keyboard improvisation, “Aze2-03” fragmenting chords over concussions of sound, and “Aze2-08” hitting a driving groove, with carefully concealed foreboding drone and beautifully echoing keys all over the top of it.

It’s partly the album’s uncategorizability that’s landed it on ‘nu-chill/breakbeat’ sublabel Mono211, like the previous release, but it’s wholly that lack of easy pigeonholing that has us loving Izmar’s carefully arranged jams, and wishing upon a star for a few more, real soon now.

[Thanks to Tony @ Kinglux for the excellent EP cover.]

Credits:
cover by tony@kinglux

Tracklist:
01 – Aze2-01
02 – Aze2-02
03 – Aze2-03
04 – Aze2-04
05 – Aze2-05
06 – Aze2-06
07 – Aze2-07
08 – Aze2-08

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Izmar – Aze {mtw031}

Artist: Izmar
Title: Aze
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw031
Release Date: 2003/03/31

So, we continue with the Mono211 sublabel tradition of releasing ‘good, but unclassifiable’ material that takes both breaks and chillout influences on-board. And this time, we were delighted to get “Aze”, an unexpected submission from the mysterious Izmar, and a whole album of delightfully groovy, beautifully programmed jazzy techno/chillout.

Right from the slow build of “Aze-01”, it’s clear that there’s something different going on here, with possible comparisons to the divine Fila Brazillia and a little of the new-wave UK chill-out of Lemon Jelly or Zero 7. Other highlights include the super-jazzy funk of “Aze-03”, the haunting melodies drifting around “Aze-05”, and the beautiful flute-led groove of the album-closer, “Aze-08”, alongside the wonderful improvised keyboard riffs flecked sumptuously all over the album.

And with another recent Mono211 artist in the same vein getting major-label interest, seems like hazing over with “Aze” is a great alternative to too much bleep in your diet for our ‘breath of fresh air’ sublabel. Better don your headphones and prepare to be enchanted.

[Thanks to Tony @ Kinglux for the excellent EP cover.]

Credits:
cover by tony@kinglux

Tracklist:
01 – Aze-01
02 – Aze-02
03 – Aze-03
04 – Aze-04
05 – Aze-05
06 – Aze-06
07 – Aze-07
08 – Aze-08

Artwork:
Front Cover

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Dice, aka Prob. – Skyline Remix {mtw030}

Artist: Dice, aka Prob.
Title: Skyline Remix
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw030
Release Date: 2003/01/21

We’re delighted to welcome back one of the former d+b kings of Mono back in the .MOD days, Jani ‘Dice/Prob.’ Niiranen, with this amazingly smooth remix of his 1998 .MOD release, ‘Skyline’ – a wickedly good re-tooling of a track from wayback.

Nowadays, Dice has released tracks on labels like Straight Up Breakbeat, Moving Shadow, and his own Mangofunk Records, with forthcoming releases – solo on Defunked, and alongside a long-awaited Peshay remix on Mangofunk. He also plays out regularly in Finland and Estonia – plus, watch out for his Soulfuel Sessions on net.radio station monofunk.net alongside DJ Pinball.

So, what is there to say about the “Skyline Remix” that can’t be cleaned from sailing through the warm, inviting seas of the track itself? For those who remember the original, this mix-up takes the essential melodies and layers vocals and some gorgeous new mixed-up breaks over the top of it, ending up with the sunny, intelligent melodic breaks sound that Mono211, when raised from dormancy like this, delights in providing you all. Enjoy the starshine.

Credits:
photo by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Skyline Remix

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Luminfire – Kudremukh Environmental EP {mtw029}

Artist: Luminfire
Title: Kudremukh Environmental EP
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw029
Release Date: 2002/11/01

Continuing the tradition of good but unclassifiable music on Mono211, and relishing the chance to break things up somewhat from the idm+bleep action that’s our normal path, the US artist known as Luminfire, who’s mixed up oldskool Mono .MOD action for us in the past, gives us an EP which meshes nicely with recent Mono211 releases like Braces Tower, but very much toes its own sunny, jazzy line too.

When we hear “Kudremukh Environmental EP”, we think.. recent Ninja Tune artists like Cinematic Orchestra or even Amon Tobin, but with a distinct twist. “The Day They Take Our Smiles Away” bounces spectacularly, scratching up a sunny, rainbow-filled storm outside _your_ window, and “Camellos Cubanos” flips up some half speed samba for your casa, and the final track, “Calador Isle”, hits the breaks, but only serves further propulsion in hazily sharp South American style. It may be that Mono211 is.. starting to regain its groove? Wow.

Credits:
cover by luminfire

Tracklist:
01 – The Day They Take Our Smiles Away
02 – Camellos Cubanos
03 – Calador Isle

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Braces Tower – Psshh EP {mtw028}

Artist: Braces Tower
Title: Psshh EP
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw028
Release Date: 2002/07/28

It’s interesting that Mono211 was originally meant to be the ‘main label’ that us here at Monotonik released music on. This was mainly because we were known in our early .MOD days for being eclectic, unclassifiable genre jumpers, and we wanted to carry that tradition on. But in the end, we found our love of idm+videogamebleep action on Monotonik took front stage (and rightly so!) But most of all, we found that there’s just not that many artists making good but ‘unclassifiable’ music that really _works_.

However, in Braces Tower, the London-based artist who submitted an EP of tracks to us earlier this year, we found exactly what we were looking for – the style-straddling, the inspiration, and most of all, the panache.

If his music can be compared to anything, it’s the sample-stitching of the ‘new chill out’ UK massif such as Bent, Lemon Jelly, Mr.Scruff, and so on. [In fact, Braces Tower’s Destiny’s Child vs. The Specials cut-up is already pretty well-known in bootleg circles, showing the kind of cheeky angles he enjoys mining.]

But trying to describe music always brings in dirty or overmined words, and it’s the music that stands on its own. In fact, it towers, with the lead-off track “Ten Fingers” weaving vocal samples and loops hypnotically all of the place, and “Scissorman” skanking up the place something tragic with its frantic brass hits and flamenco-ish trumpet. And when the final two tracks are “King Of Rock”, with feelgood hooks strewn all over the place, and “Valedictory”, a truly majestic flute and vocal sample-littered halcyon fade-out.. well, words fail us.

So yep, we know this isn’t exactly the kind of music we _normally_ release, which is why it’s on our sublabel, Mono211. And Mono211 will continue to be the sublabel we use to break things up with genre-confusing, breaks-borrowing pieces of genius that otherwise wouldn’t make it out there. And this EP is one of those. It’s actually probably far too classy for us. But psshh, don’t tell anyone.

Credits:
cover by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Ten Fingers
02 – Scissorman
03 – King Of Rock
04 – Valedictory

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Hoffman – Future Thief {mtw027}

Artist: Hoffman
Title: Future Thief
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw027
Release Date: 2002/06/22

Just to mix things up a bit, and to prove that Mono211 itself isn’t entirely dead in its guise as our breaks/freestylin’ sublabel, we’re proud to present another track from the recently elusive DJ Hoffman.

He’s still hiding out in the South-West of England and providing us with dangerously good, dangerously unclassifiable breakbeat-ish tunes which help us hark back to the classic, more beat-leaden days of Mono .MODs which he was a big part of under his Dreamfish pseudonym 🙂

This time round, “Future Thief” takes its cues from the harder techno that Hoffman loves, and applies some of the looping, phasing, and layering facets to a much more breakbeat track. So, take a mini-sonic pan-sonic journey with us, flip to the pulsing bass, helicopter to the nimble drum programming, and headspin to the cut-up lead synths, wontcha? Then watch it all fade away like a really daft skinhead and hit you back up, hard. Wham?

Credits:
cover by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Future Thief

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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DJ Nova – Twang Thang: Mortimer Twang Mixed Up {mtwdj05}

Artist: DJ Nova
Title: Twang Thang: Mortimer Twang Mixed Up
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtwdj05
Release Date: 2002/01/10

This immaculately dressed mix, by Slovenia’s DJ Nova, of .MODs (and a few.MP3s) from the all-time tracking great, Sweden’s Mortimer Tee, serves to illustrate MT’s prodigous and gorgeous output from 1993 to the present day. Always operating beneath the radar, Mortimer is an obscure prodigy who demands your attention – like, why isn’t this stuff major-label released?

So, whether he’s busting out the heavy hiphop grooves of “Streetjazz” or the mixed-up funk cut-ups of “Born Toulouse”, Mortimer’s sample choices and rhythms are always exquisite. His influences from abstract jazz, hiphop, dub, and funk, and bad-ass vocal snippets combine to create the sound which put him at the vanguard of things with his cult .MOD groups Black Sista and Disciples of Ageema on the Amiga in the mid-’90s.

And indeed, one mustn’t forget the sterling mixing efforts of DJ Nova, who really knows his Mortimer material, and even slips in a crafty Alan Partridge sample or two in between his neat mixing and lightingfast cut-ups in this officially- sanctioned-by-MT-himself mix. Nice one, guv.

The tracklisting for the mix is as follows (the original .MODs are hard to source online right now, maybe the ‘mythical’ mod.soul.brother .MOD site mtk+friends might eventually make will fix that problem!):

1. Mortimer Twang – “Street Jazz” (Black Sista)
2. Mortimer Twang – “Near To You [Original/Loop]” (Divine Stylers)
3. Mortimer Twang – “Land” (Black Sista)
4. Mortimer Twang – “Beathead” (Black Sista)
5. Mortimer Twang – “Dirty Revenge” (Black Sista)
6. Mortimer Twang – “Medina’s Revenge” (Choqolat Records)
7. Mortimer Twang – “Born Toulouse” (Black Sista)
8. Mortimer Twang – “Ageema Blues” (Black Sista)
9. Mortimer Twang – “Le Singe Bleu” (Black Sista)
10. Mortimer Twang – “Dream Soundtrack” (Black Sista)
11. Mortimer Twang – “MT’s King Groove” (Black Sista)
12. Mortimer Twang – “Tranquility” (Black Sista)
13. Mortimer Twang – “Dub2000” (Disciples Of Ageema Blues)
14. Mortimer Twang – “Lovetheme From Me” (Dunka/Ageema)
15. Mortimer Twang – “Tranquil-mt981028” (Disciples Of Ageema Blues)
16. Mortimer Twang – “Originaldub” (Ryal)
17. Mortimer Twang – “Anita” (Divine Stylers)

Credits:
cover by dj nova

Tracklist:
01 – Twang Thang: Mortimer Twang Mixed Up

Artwork:
Front Cover

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Ramone – Unreleased Works Part 2 – The Firehorse Sessions {mtw026}

Artist: Ramone
Title: Unreleased Works Part 2 – The Firehorse Sessions
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw026
Release Date: 2001/11/14

As you may know by now, Andi Horvath, aka Ramone/Mono, passed away very unexpectedly and prematurely in June of 2001. He was a source of the most amazing hiphop jungle tracks and ascii/graffiti art, as well as possessing an amazing spirit, and he’s fondly remembered by all of his online and offline friends.

So, we’re proud to be able to present the second part of our tribute to him, a full CD album he recorded back in 1998, originally for a release on German-based Firehorse Records, though this didn’t end up panning out. Thus, “The Firehorse Sessions” languished in the vaults until now, when his friends back in Germany were kind enough to pass us on a copy for release online as mp3s – they will also be releasing it on limited CD, as originally intended, in further tribute to Andi.

What to say about the music? Well, it’s the .MOD/.XM Ramone style writ large on a larger canvas, stripped down to the bone, and it sounds amazing for it. All the way from the terse loops of “Intro”, through the two-step funk of “Weapon Assassinator”, to the radio cut-up (featuring Mono .MOD releases in the radio mix, *sigh*), right up to the pure class of “Til We Come” and crazed multi-layering of “Number One”, this record oozes class, and epitomises the breaks-heavy sound Ramone and Mono was renowned for and Mono211 is still pushing in yr area. So burn this on a disc, put it in yr car CD player, and, well, shake yr booty, darnit.

Credits:
cover by rents

Tracklist:
01 – Intro
02 – Weapon Assassinator
03 – Radio Mono
04 – Ah Yeah
05 – Til’ We Come
06 – Boomin’ The Funk
07 – I Hear Things
08 – Smooth Operator
09 – Work It Out
10 – Keep Funkin
11 – Number One
12 – Interlude
13 – Dope Jam
14 – We Like

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Hoffman – Unreal 2001 {mtw025}

Artist: Hoffman
Title: Unreal 2001
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw025
Release Date: 2001/10/09

It’s been 10 years (at least) since Hoffman, aka Dreamfish, aka Hydlide, was hanging out on the UK Amiga .MOD scene with h0l, Subi, Twilight, and a whole bunch of the other Mono founders. It’s been 5 years since the first ever release on Mono was a remix of “Time Slip” by Hoffman. It’s been 4 years since the release of the original “Unreal” .MOD (grab here), a truly kickin piece of supa.loop.led d+b action on Mono211.

And now, the present day, whereby the still.got.it Hoffman gives us “Unreal 2001”, a radically gorgeous break-filled reworking of his ’97 .MOD classic. Nine minutes of madness later, you’ll see why we wanna be releasing stuff by Hoffman in another ten years. God, did we mention we feel really old about now? We’re going for a little sitdown whilst you witness the smartness of the music doing the talking. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Credits:
cover by rents

Tracklist:
01 – Unreal 2001

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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DJ Fish Finger – Gone Fishin’ EP {mtw024}

Artist: DJ Fish Finger
Title: Gone Fishin’ EP
Label: Mono211
Catalog #: mtw024
Release Date: 2001/08/22

There’s a lake at the bottom of Tim Koch’s (DeFocus artist + Surgery ‘label-boss’) garden. And one day, when Tim was down there trawling for VST plug-ins, he found DJ Fish Finger, wedged under a big rock. [Oddly, DJ Fish Finger is also the shape, size and consistency of a fishfinger, which makes DJ-ing out surprisingly problematic, especially in frozen food stores.]

This discovery turned out to be fortuitous, however, because whilst DJ Fish Finger was stuck there, he had been working on a 6-track EP of tunes utilising everything from weird jazz records to ethnic weird-oness, with a little moaning and Japanese people passing gas sneaked in too (think Mr.Scruff, but more looptastic?), and he passed them onto Tim. Who passed them onto us. And now we’re passing them onto you. Weirdly karmic, isn’t it?

Credits:
cover by tim koch

Tracklist:
01 – Dad’s Organ
02 – Herbie’s Harmpits
03 – Choose Your Opponent
04 – Fishing Without Conviction
05 – Tiffanies Tuna Farm
06 – The End

Artwork:
Front Cover

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License:
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