Tag: Monotonik

Xlea – Rainy Afternoons {mtk070}

Artist: Xlea
Title: Rainy Afternoons
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk070
Release Date: 2002/01/26

Calmness in the face of glitchversity is something that Monotonik prizes highly indeed. So when we had the opportunity to release this track from the UK’s Xela, who has an album forthcoming on the divine Neo-Ouija label, plus appearances on material from Musik Aus Strom and Merck.. well, we got straight on the case.

The reason “Rainy Afternoons” hits the spot for us is that Harold Budd-esque underlying serenity, but with a carefully cultivated veneer of layer upon layer of stuttering static, melody, speech and lovingly crafted detritus. It builds and peaks and troughs and never stops. And, like skipping radio frequencies over and over, the whole creation is much more than the sum of its carefully constructed parts. Hats off to the man who experienced that rainy afternoon.

Credits:
cover by xela’s talented graphic designer friend 🙂

Tracklist:
01 – Rainy Afternoons

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Mistress Nine – As I’ll Ever Be {mrv006}

Artist: Mistress Nine
Title: As I’ll Ever Be
Label: monoRAVEik
Catalog #: mrv006
Release Date: 2002/01/18

As if to prove that the first release wasn’t a flash in the pan, monoRAVEik’s new find Mistress Nine returnz with something just a little sparser than the last time, but no less effective nonetheless.

Stripped-down industrial jump-up is the name of the game, and our Welsh siren is more than equal to the task. Harsh snares and a commanding vocal sample covered by an all-conquering bassline make this track one to be played loud, for there is no other way.

Apart from her DJing antics amongst the valleys, Nine fills her time in being worshipped as a fertility goddess by a tribe living in secret solar-powered homes on Natural Trust land. We’re not making this up, we swear. We believe what we’re told. Nine? Are you lying to us?

Credits:
cover by subi

Tracklist:
01 – As I’ll Ever Be

Artwork:
Front Cover

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Goto80 – Monkeywarning {mtk069}

Artist: Goto80
Title: Monkeywarning
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk069
Release Date: 2002/01/17

The Commodore 64 is still one of the most amazing-sounding pieces of musical kit of the past 20 years. And, fresh from his acclaimed “Papaya EP” 7″ on Bleep Street Records, which mixes up vocoders with divine SID riddims, Swedish wiz Goto80 shows us why the pure sound of the C64 is still king.

“Monkeywarning”, his debut release for Monotonik, is an 11 minute megamix of idm.tracks _purely_ composed on the Commodore 64 (no wimpy SIDStation action here), with only mixing and a couple of delay effects constructed outside of the C64 itself.

The breadth of styles and sounds that Goto80 wrings out of the box quite frankly beggars belief, from the sub.dub.d+b of the first track, “Amylnitrat”, all the way through to the spectacularly complex bippetybop funk of the final resolution, “Truth”. The end result is something that’s brand new _and_ retro.. from the get go 🙂

The tracklisting for the megamix is as follows:

1. Amylnitrat
2. Rkfab (by HAM-8, with Toki)
3. 2003
4. Affer
5. Truth

Credits:
cover by pliant

Tracklist:
01 – Monkeywarning

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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Sense – Icy L Tap {mtk068}

Artist: Sense
Title: Icy L Tap
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk068
Release Date: 2002/01/01

The first Monotonik release of 2002 is from the much-admired Australian ambient.idm maestro, Sense. Fresh from his much feted Neo Ouija album, “View From A Vulnerable Place”, Sense was kind enough to let us release this new track, “Icy L Tap”, which is featured on the “Annexe” 2xCD compilation now available from Neo Ouija.

The “Annexe” compilation also features great artists like Kettel, Lackluster, Bauri, Idmonster, Xela and more – so we suggest you go to www.neoouija.com right now and order “Annexe: Cottage Industries 2” online, or else wait for it to hit stores later this month.

“Icy L Tap” is a simply gorgeous piece of drifting ambient electronica, all at once calm, but bubbling under the surface with echoes of peace and harmony. There’s so many levels at once to appreciate this music on, but our favorite is the ‘hit repeat button and close eyes’ one. Life can be beautiful. And Sense shows us how.

Credits:
cover by dj.nova

Tracklist:
01 – Icy L Tap

Artwork:
Front Cover

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License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

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Subi – Trying 2 B Hardcore {mrv005}

Artist: Subi
Title: Trying 2 B Hardcore
Label: monoRAVEik
Catalog #: mrv005
Release Date: 2001/12/19

Quite frankly, there is only one person who could possibly open the proceedings of monoRAVEik as a self-propelled entity, and that is the old fart himself. Subi brings it back after nearly a year (was it?) away from the tracker with the nearly understandable title “Trying 2 B Hardcore”.

If anyone thought that the cheesemix of “Serendipity City” was representative of Subi’s new direction, they are proved wrong by this jet-propelled slice of D&B&Rock&Roll. What new direction? 😉 Heavy on the distortion and the dynamics, and featuring vocals unwittingly provided by Christina Aguilera and Messrs Highpitch and Lowpitch, this one will have you whistling yet another of those irritating lead-lines for weeks. And quite possibly permanently damage your stereo.

He’s finally got total control of monoRAVEik. Do we hear the words “monkey” and “banana plantation” being uttered? Well… we _are_ talking about the man who used to do thrash metal covers of Kylie Minogue songs. No, really.

Credits:
cover by subi

Tracklist:
01 – Trying 2 B Hardcore

Artwork:
Front Cover

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Starmode – Thoughts Blend To Dreams (Zyad’s Magic Carp Ride) {mtk067}

Artist: Starmode
Title: Thoughts Blend To Dreams (Zyad’s Magic Carp Ride)
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk067
Release Date: 2001/12/15

More vital links back to the oldskool Mono connection, with this remix. The original track (as yet unreleased?) was done by Maleek, aka Starmode, a Dutch citizen of Moroccan descent who’s affiliated with the infamous+obscure Mortimer Twang + Disciples of Ageema organisation.

But the remix was performed by Zyad, a Finnish musician who’s released stuff on Mono since way back in the .MOD days – this is actually his first release on Monotonik since 1998 (or is it? heehee.)

Anyhow, “TBTD (Zyad’s Magic Carp Ride)” is a beautifully washed-out piece of perma-sustain echolocation, with the original, slightly harder electro-influenced track having watercolors splashed all over it, softening lines and chilling out even the hardiest observers. Beat the pre-Xmas chill with a magic carp ride?

Credits:
cover by _ and the secret formula

Tracklist:
01 – Thoughts Blend To Dreams (Zyad‘s Magic Carp Ride)

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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Mosaik – Rubik {mtk066}

Artist: Mosaik
Title: Rubik
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk066
Release Date: 2001/12/06

Having previously released for Monotonik under his famed demo-scene pseudonym, Radix, we’re delighted to present a new track by this Swedish idm.bot under his new pseudo, Mosaik. And with the idm ‘scene’ getting plenty of input from ex-demo-sceners (BStates@Warp, Lackluster/TimKoch/Esem@DeFocus, you know the score), here’s another talented scene-ster who should really be getting lotsa attention about.. now.

Mosaik’s demo-scene work was renowned for its lush, synthesised, melodic nature, and “Rubik” is no exception, with ultra-ultra-smooth production and gorgeously dense synth lines intertwining to produce a beautifully sparkling, pure drumsynthbass idm.melange.

So, there’s the world of glitch up the wazoo, and then.. there’s this one. Keanu may have been right to choose the red pill and have everything go glitchmungous, but we choose the blue if it means lying in the sun above the rabbit-hole, and looking up at the gorgeous, gorgeous, fake sky.

Credits:
cover by dj.nova

Tracklist:
01 – Rubik

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Links:
[Bandcamp]

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

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Ckid – Where’s My Parka? EP {mtk065}

Artist: Ckid
Title: Where’s My Parka? EP
Label: Monotonik
Catalog #: mtk065
Release Date: 2001/11/27

In his second release for Monotonik, German artist Ckid (also known as Crashkid) expands on his chilled but warm style that’s marvellously close to the indie side of electronica, and all the better for it. We can only stand the beeps for so long, you know.

So, lead-off track “TV-People” tickles you under the chin with drifty organ and crispy percussion action, before phasing in and out some nifty melodics. See, drifty, crispy, nifty? At which point, “Speaksoon” takes organic sounds and skips around with them quite dreamily, all August afternoons and sunny meadows. We like sunny meadows.

With all this evocative evocation going on, it’s not surprising Ckid has a 12″ forthcoming on smart indie label Becalmed Records at the start of 2002, plus multiple remixes and compilation projects (Couchblip, Simball, et aliis..) forthcoming. Eez good, yah?

Credits:
cover by rents

Tracklist:
01 – TV-People
02 – Speaksoon

Artwork:
Front Cover

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

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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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