Tag: Monotonik

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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Esem – Thinmute {mtk092}

Artist: Esem
Title: Thinmute
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk092
Release Date: 2002/10/17

We’re pleased to finally get around to a release from Bulgaria’s Esem, who’s been slowly orbiting the whole net.label scene for a long time (he’s known in pre-mp3 days as Stereoman/Noise), and recently broke through with an excellent 12″, ‘Ikae’, on DeFocus, and a debut album for the same label, ‘Enveloped’.

Now, with a forthcoming album for Merck, ‘Serial Human’, and an appearance on the Machine Drum remix CD on Merck (gotta catch ’em all! oh, we did!), George (Esem) is continuing to develop his beautifully chilled idm sound, and we’re proud to present this exclusive track, from him, “Thinmute”.

So, “Thinmute” starts out all peachy keen and pure, and swiftly kicks in with the wonderfully shuffling, lo-fi percussion, with punctuations from an echo-filled trumpet, whilst the layers build and build and peak subtly, and.. oh my. It’s the most delicate of delicate of tracks, and its fragility spurs our virility towards it, perversely. Highly recommended.

Credits:
watchcam photo by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Thinmute

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Aleksi Eeben – The Grand Rules {mtk090}

Artist: Aleksi Eeben
Title: The Grand Rules
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk090
Release Date: 2002/09/30

Fresh from pretty much cleaning up in the oldskool competitions at the Assembly ’02 demo-party in Helsinki, Finland, in July (well, 3rd in oldskool music, 3rd in oldskool demo, 2nd in oldskool graphics utilising classic machines like the Commodore 64, Vic20, and Gameboy, you get the idea..), the prodigously talented Aleksi ‘Heatbeat’ Eeben, formerly an Amiga demo-scene legend as part of CNCD, has used his own JohnPlayer ‘tracker’ for C64 to produce this new opus, over eleven minutes of, well.. would it be wrong to call it a heavy metal-orientated bleep symphony?

That’s certainly somewhere around where “The Grand Rules” is orientated, and it’s pretty amazing to consider that the entire piece was composed on a 20-year old home computer with 64k of memory and just five and a quarter inch discs (if you’re lucky!) to keep you company. So, from the first delicate introduction, through the gut-wrenching bass and drum solos, through the almost pizzicato middle section, right up to the triumphant density of the final coda, it’s not only the musicality, but the breadth of sound that astounds.

Sure, it may not be to everyone’s tastes, but a “Good Vibrations” for the C64 in terms of unheard sounds and clarity of vision? Put it this way, Aleksi can come and play in our sandbox any time he wants, with or without the fireman’s hat.

Credits:
cover by aleksi eeben

Tracklist:
01 – The Grand Rules

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Sense – Ruminous (Ambient Mix) {mtk089}

Artist: Sense
Title: Ruminous (Ambient Mix)
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk089
Release Date: 2002/09/22

We’re proud to present the first Monotonik release from Australian artist Sense for almost 2 years (where does time go?), and since his last release with us, his Neo-Ouija album, “A View From A Vulnerable Place”, has come out to not insignificant acclaim. Add to that a split 12″ with Xhale on Civik, a couple of very neat EPs on Aural Industries, and forthcoming material on Enough Records and Merck, and we can see he’s pleasantly indisposed in terms of releasing material.

Fortunately, he managed to find time in his busy schedule to sneak us “Ruminous (Ambient Mix)”, and it’s a doozy of a hyper-melodic drift through the kind of arpegiating idm landscapes that Sense is truly best at creating. From the initial understated start, right through the build to the conglomerated whole, it’s clear that this is a superclassy proto-ambient act. And, quite frankly, long may Sense prevail over craziness and keep creating such gorgeously chilled masterpieces.

Credits:
cover+photo by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Ruminous (Ambient Mix)

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Sabi – Four Thousand Years EP {mtk088}

Artist: Sabi
Title: Four Thousand Years EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk088
Release Date: 2002/09/14

With summer slowly sliding into autumn, we figured a little contemplative ambience was in order, and Japanese artist Sabi, who released on Mono a _long_ time back with .MODs under the name of Taro, and has since done excellent work for net.labels like Inpuj.

On this EP, beautiful, puretoned sinewaves mix with sampled ambience from real-life, as “Yello Sand Back” gives us the subtlest drifts of sound ever, “Johdo” iterates in the smallest of ethereal beats, and “Uki 3 2” has what sounds like Japanese street scenes twinned with gorgeous limbo-floating wonder.

A prime candidate for Winamp perma-repeat and curiously womb-like, we suggest you make a Freudian statement to be reckoned with, and download four thousand years of eternity, yours for the toying with, courtesy Sabi.

Credits:
photo by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – Yello Sand Back
02 – Johdo
03 – Uki 3 2

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Toby1 – European EP {mtk091}

Artist: Toby1
Title: European EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk091
Release Date: 2002/10/09

The ever-fertile Australian electronic scene has spawned another gem, this time the offspring of an earlier Monotonik releaser, in the duo Toby1, comprising Ruth Wilson (vocals/instruments) and Duann Scott (composer/producer/instruments). Duann put out an earlier Monotonik release under his real name, and also released a warmly-received album on Surgery as part of Modula, and Ruth was formerly with cult Aussie band Masongreystrange.

Anyhow, the duo have been getting significant buzz down under, with an acclaimed live session for the Triple-J radio show, and we eagerly await their forthcoming debut on Surgery Records. But in the meantime, they’ve been kind enough to donate us a couple of stunning tracks to whet your appetite.

“European” is a gorgeously sustained lullaby of whispered thoughts, evoking perhaps Lamb, but with so much of a crunchier, chiseled edge, with the wistful vocals intoning “Let’s go for a drive.. let’s be European”. And “Homely” twins mellow but stuttering drums with leaping synths and vocals so intertwined that there’s literally a sea of sound to float in. “This feels like bliss”, indeed..

Credits:
photo by h0l

Tracklist:
01 – European
02 – Homely

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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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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