Malty Media – Bracken Bed EP {mtk189}

Artist: Malty Media
Title:
Bracken Bed EP
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk189
Release Date:
2007/08/18


There’s nothing like a little collaboration, and in this case, it’s thanks to a couple of dangerous New Zealand natives – previous Monotonik releaser Aquaboogie and long-time electronic musician and Japanese resident Jet Jaguar.

They’ve kindly formed the special duo named Malty Media (I believe they played some shows together in Japan earlier this year), and this nostalgic 4-track EP plays off childhood memories of TV shows and advertising in their native land, with odd samples and strange angles throughout, almost like a much more surreal, Antipodean version of The Orb.

But what exactly do we have? Well, the title track, ‘Bracken Bed’, is all dub and squeak and extremely odd samples, before ‘Flakiest’ weaves in a little bit of subtle drum and bass across a chocolate commercial that echoes childhood thoughts. Then we have ‘Twiki’, which sneaks in a sci-fi robot beep or two, before we end out with the positively serene ‘Goodnight Kiwi (Beyond The Infinite Mix)’, possibly the Orb-iest of them all, with sped up and slowed down themes and chirp dub wonders galore.

(Watch out for a solo Jet Jaguar EP on Monotonik later this year, too, following his earlier LPs for Involve and Capital Recordings.)


Credits:
pic by h0l


Tracklist:
01 – Bracken Bed
02 – Flakiest
03 – Twiki
04 – Goodnight Kiwi (Beyond The Infinite Mix)

Artwork:
Front Cover


License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)


Ckid – Down With Ghosts {mtk188}

Artist: Ckid
Title:
Down With Ghosts
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk188
Release Date:
2007/08/05


We’re delighted to welcome back René ‘Ckid’ Margraff, the German electronic artist who released on Monotonik back in 2000 (as Crashkid) and 2001, and went on to notable physical releases on Becalmed and Duotone Records, back to the label with a beautifully formed, evocative full-length album, ‘Down With Ghosts’.

Full of chanted and whispered vocals and an evocative, almost shoegaze-centric attitude to idm/electronics, ‘Down With Ghosts’ starts with the semi-conscious drawl of ‘From A To Z’, before the title track crosses subtle beats with drifting vocals, and things flow swiftly on.

Some of the other highlights include ‘Even Smaller’, which verges on decidedly funereal, paranoid pop music, and ‘Blink’, which swirls in layers and layers of vocals, melodies, and indecision, and multiple switches back to the ‘Ghosts’ formula, with the final one adding vocals, guitars, and vocoders to the mix. This is a mature, sophisticated, and wholly formed album, and we’re very pleased to put it out.


Credits:
pic by ckid


Tracklist:
01 – From A To Z
02 – Down With Ghosts
03 – Empty Carpark
04 – Ghost 3 (Yurei)
05 – Even Smaller
06 – Time Monsters
07 – Backwards
08 – Mulch
09 – Blink
10 – Closed
11 – Ghost4

Artwork:
Front Cover


License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)


Renzu – Reiha EP {mtk187}

Artist: Renzu
Title:
Reiha EP
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk187
Release Date:
2007/07/21


We’re delighted to debut the first Monotonik release from the Chicago-based Renzu, a professional 3D animator and self-described ‘animation nerd’ and composer of rather deliciously lush IDM soundscapes. And the ‘Reiha EP’ is just a sampling of his layered, deceptively complex electronic music stylings.

Renzu explains of his background: “My story is very typical of my generation of IDM artists in that I got inspired by BBS/internet computer music and started with trackers from an early age (10) and went from there. Following the artists of that general lineage and/or demoscene-relation like Lackluster, Sense, Esem, MD, Proem, Brothomstates and so on — it’s no surprise I’m a fan of Monotonik.”

Well, it certainly makes a lot of sense on the label, with the opening ‘Serifu’ showing cascading rivulets of sound, before the title track ticks along beautifully with an almost Blade Runner-esque alien tinge to the electronics. Other highlights include ‘Akihabara Time-Lapse’, with voices sampled from Japanese talking calendar software, counting up the hours of the day and the days of the month. And ‘Leviathan’ is an epic boom bip of an ending lament. Thanks again to Renzu for providing the noise.


Credits:
pic by renzu


Tracklist:
01 – Serifu
02 – Reiha
03 – Xephon
04 – Akihabara Time Lapse
05 – Leviathan

Artwork:
Front Cover


License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)


BitBasic – Grating Rainbows {mtk186}

Artist: BitBasic
Title:
Grating Rainbows
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk186
Release Date:
2007/07/01


A triumphant Monotonik debut from glitched-up UK resident BitBasic, whose ‘Grating Rainbows’ EP speeds through 8 tracks in just 18 minutes, and offers a whirlwhind tour to some deliciously cut-up drill & bass action, someone between early Squarepusher, our very own Beak, and somewhere entirely new. Hawesome.

Things start out with the loopy, surreal ‘Soap’, before the lush, hiphop-infused ‘Emaze’ wanders into view, all lyrical jazz riffs and drilled-up drums, gloriously sunny throughout. And what else? Ah, ‘Amen Break Steals The Show’ features an appearance from our favorite loop, apparently, and title track ‘Grating Rainbows’ is light, fleet, and funky as hell.

Overall, then, quite different from some of the more austere, symphonic idm Monotonik puts out, but a floatier, lightier, funkier approach for the summer makes everyone happy, not least our listeners – and we hope to hear more from the dazzling complexities of BitBasic soon.


Credits:
pic by bitbasic


Tracklist:
01 – Soap
02 – Left Here
03 – Emaze
04 – Shroom
05 – Amen Break Steals The Show
06 – Grating Rainbows
07 – Watch Less TV
08 – Rest

Artwork:
Front Cover


License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)


Idmonster – Preloved EP {mtk185}

Artist: Idmonster
Title:
Preloved EP
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk185
Release Date:
2007/06/17


After a long absence from Monotonik (his last release for us was back in 2002!), we’re delighted to welcome back UK-based musician Pendle Poucher, aka Idmonster, with a 3-track compilation of rather wonderfully varied electronic music, ‘Preloved EP’.

Nowadays, Poucher works as a documentary and TV series musician for a number of UK and Japanese shows, including “new Japanese Discovery Channel idents that i’m very proud of”, he tells us, as well as providing all of the audio for the BBC’s interactive history game CDX – and also somewhat oddly cowrote a ‘club smash’ with high-profile U.S. DJ Robbie Rivera. Hey, eclecticism is the root of all wonder!

Anyhow, the three tracks in this release successfully show off that eclecticism, with ‘Close Harness’ showcasing an almost Underworld or Fluke-ish groove in an understated, serene track, before ‘Charlie’s Orbit’ spirals off into abstract groove, with some pretty interesting loping percussion, before we finish out with the all out freak-out of ‘The Dog Under The Skin’, which shows off a heavy, intense feeling of dread – and we love it. Welcome back, Mr. Idmonster!


Credits:
pic by h0l


Tracklist:
01 – Close Harness
02 – Charlie’s Orbit
03 – The Dog Under The Skin

Artwork:
Front Cover


Chromatic Flights – Memories From The Audible Color Wheel {mtk184}

Artist: Chromatic Flights
Title:
Memories From The Audible Color Wheel
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk184
Release Date:
2007/05/19


A debut, then, for Florida-based Kyle Wyss, under his electronic music alias Chromatic Flights, with the floating, serene indietronica of ‘Memories From The Audible Colour Wheel EP’ – some of the lusher, more indie-influenced instrumental grooves we’ve run across in a while.

Wyss is just 17 years old, and we’ll let him explain: “This is my first solo EP (Memories from the Audible Colour Wheel), but I’ve been playing in an indie/experimental rock band for about 4 years. I decided over the past year or so that i wanted to make some even more experimental/acoustic organic indie with the advantages of electronic music while still using my own live samples of guitar, keyboard and vocals throughout.”

So, for starters we have ‘What Came To Life When The Toy Store Closed’, all kinds of lush tinkly indie-ish grooves that reminds of Transient vs. some of the more expansive indie organgrinding oddities of recent years, before ‘Trip To Wipilon’ pops up, casually strummed guitar tailing off into ambient airwaves. From there, there’s the radio tune-in of ‘Dripped’ before we end out with ‘A Cold Drift By The Reef’, which is happy and triumphant and reveals itself in carefully choreographed stages. An auspicious start, for sure.


Credits:
pic by chromatic flights


Tracklist:
01 – What Came To Life When The Toy Store Closed
02 – Trip To Wipilon
03 – Nado Con El Pulpo
04 – Dripped
05 – A Cold Drift By The Reef

Artwork:
Front Cover


License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)


Aleksi Eeben – Three Times The Music {mtk183}

Artist: Aleksi Eeben
Title:
Three Times The Music
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk183
Release Date:
2007/04/24


This one’s been coming for a while, but the latest release from incredibly unconventional Finnish musician Aleksi Eeben (the .MOD artist formerly known as Heatbeat) is the tremendously obtuse but lovable ‘Three Times The Music’, 8 tracks of offbeat but somewhat gorgeous bleeps and bloops.

Aleksi is, as ever, a bit of a jazz fan, and the kind of melodies and stylings he picks makes him an acquired taste, to say the least. But if you dig the odd, odd grooving of first track ‘Clockwork’, then you’re set – from there, we have just all kinds of skronk, with the trilogy coming to the end with ‘Western Movement’.

It carries on from there, though, with the beautifully understated ‘Quiet Place’ slinking up against the insanely named final track ‘To Climb A Tree Remove Branches And Reverse Gravity’. Pretty sure it makes no sense to us, and lots of sense to Aleksi, which is why he’s a true original, and someone we’re delighted to be releasing on Monotonik.

Also, there’s a short story explaining (or not!) the contents of the album, which goes as follows:

“I thought of him just every day. The little sailor boy I knew. His shirt so white, his cap so blue his trousers so straight and smart. Along he travelled, the world o’er and o’er and never would he stop. This sailor boy I knew, I knew. This sailor boy I knew.

I met him first in the park above. Way, way above. The clouds below like waves of snow. Oh, waves of snow and a boat. The sailor boy and his crew.

I held his hand and skipped along and he grinned at me with his smile so true. The sailor boy with his smart black shoes and his walk a clip, clip, clip.

Spiralling buildings we left behind as I stood upon his ship so fine. The waves of clouds of snow sublime. My sailor boy of my desire.

And on we went into the night. The owls waved up as we went by. The grounds below a running, a running. Faster we went on. Speeding along the skies we went in our sailing boat so fine. Pink and blue and green we see, how everything falls between, our journey round the world, we so liked to leave.

A ruin greets as the clouds depart. An ancient civilisation, hello! Tied to themselves we think again, of civilisation once so great. I stand beside the sailor boy and forget those long-gone souls.

He took me to the end of the world. A drop of gold and mounds of dirt. We sat in them to play all day, my sailor boy and me. Full of joy and full of games, so innocent as we were. The end of the world, they all do say, is really no fun at all, but we danced around without dismay in the pits of dirt and clay. Black smoke rose from every hole. Up and up it went, to build the world on which we must live. Just a place where everyone lives. Our weird old globe, with cities above, amongst the clouds, and sailing boats without a sail and people with nowhere else to go. And sailor boys who hold my hand, and never do run away. Who never, ever once escape and who are always mine oh mine.

With sailor boys who’re mine oh mine.

Of Contraptions and Things
by Kristoffer Lawson.”


Credits:
pic by aleksi eeben


Tracklist:
01 – Three Times The Music, Part 1: Clockwork
02 – Three Times The Music, Part 2: Ocean
03 – Three Times The Music, Part 3: Western Movement
04 – The Drive
05 – Quiet Place
06 – Traffic Lights Are Tomato, Orange And Kiwi
07 – Bright’s Polka
08 – To Climb A Tree Remove Branches And Reverse Gravity

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Links:
[Bandcamp]


License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)


Same Nice Lamb – Lack Of Lamb {mtk182}

Artist: Same Nice Lamb
Title:
Lack Of Lamb
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk182
Release Date:
2007/04/01


So, the latest Monotonik release is from Justin Hassler, aka Same Nice Lamb, with the 4-track piece of classic meandering electronica, ‘Lack Of Lamb’ – and we’ll let Hassler explain his own background here: “I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. By day, I work in a public library. By night, I play with electricity. I have no music released under my name.” Well, now he does.

Why put out ‘Lack Of Lamb’, then? To put it bluntly, it’s our kind of sound – the looped idm melodic grind that gets into your head and won’t get out. From the first track, ‘Archipelago’, through the floating leads and crunching drums of ‘Feather’, there’s a nice blend of layers and builds and dimuendos that reminds us of previous Monotonik artists like Aereal in only good ways.

We end with two mint tracks, ‘The Struggle For A Cab’, which is mewling in some adorable ways, before we end up with the funky, beepy ‘Gold Master’, rounding out a perfectly shaped 4-track EP. Thanks to Same Nice Lamb for the contribution, and we look forward to continue bringing you music in the genres and styles we like, such as this little beauty, yay.


Credits:
pic by same nice lamb


Tracklist:
01 – Archipelago
02 – Feather
03 – The Struggle For A Cab
04 – Gold Master

Artwork:
Front Cover


License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)


Flutterspot – Suitable For A Desire To Share {mtk181}

Artist: Flutterspot
Title:
Suitable For A Desire To Share
Label:
Monotonik
Catalog #:
mtk181
Release Date:
2007/03/11


We’re delighted to present a second release from Finnish graphic artist and musician Flutterspot, following the ‘Labmat EP’ back in early 2006, and this time round, ‘Suitable For A Desire To Share’ is almost 40 minutes of lushly layered electronic music to die for – or at least freeze a little bit.

We start off with the oddly titled ‘Small, Brightly Coloured, Highly Arboreal’, which hops up into the trees for some almost Boards Of Canada-esque loping beats and marvellously complex electronic beats. From there on, there’s just all kinds of mature fun to be had, with ‘Cumulonimbus Arcus’ looping all over the place in delight.

What else? Blimey, ‘A Minor Lovesong’ is all guitars and style and ‘Hover In Mid-Air’ is semi-ambient bliss, and this all adds up to one of the most accomplished Monotonik releases we’ve had in some time – so everyone say thank you to the mysterious Flutterspot, eh?


Credits:
pic by flutterspot


Tracklist:
01 – Small, Brightly Coloured, Highly Arboreal
02 – Softening Distortions
03 – You Are Not An End Of A Rainbow
04 – Cumulonimbus Arcus
05 – Take Care, Etc.
06 – A Minor Lovesong
07 – I Think The Way You Moved The Stars Around…
08 – Alignments Of Heartal Points
09 – Hover In Mid-Air By Rapidly Flapping Their Wings
10 – What Is This?

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Links:
[Bandcamp]


License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)


Beak – Bishop Whitney EP {mtk180}

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


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.


Credits:
pic by beak


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

Artwork:
Front Cover

Additional Links:
[Bandcamp]


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