Monolake: linear.atomium.reminiscense 12"

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Monolake's new 12"

a1 sounds like a broken robot moaning during coitus with a lawn sprinkler. hardwax grit meets skeletal electro funk dsp-wise.

a2 slow march through grim canyons. movement as echo and reflection. rhythmic geometry emerges though sound clouds. nature soundtrack featuring metallic crickets and bird call algorithms.

b1. minimal club banger. Maurizio's Domina dub-pulse circa 93 meets wafer thin reaktor crackles and sound gauze over obscured synth washes and pneumatic percussion 2003 style.

The production isn't as detailed or as glossy as Cinemascope but the tracks have a raw drive and direction that was lacking in many of the tracks on the last album. Atomium and Reminiscense stand out. Look into it, it is worth your record money.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 04:12 (6 years ago) Permalink

i just can't believe monolake will ever do anything good again...they have shot their wad

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 04:58 (6 years ago) Permalink

but we shall see

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 04:58 (6 years ago) Permalink

'monolake club banger' is a challenge too good to resist!

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 08:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

i like monolkake there's nowt wrong with them. it is not only perfectly possible but likely that they will make a good record...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 09:22 (6 years ago) Permalink

what label? klang again? or on his own?
i sort of burned out on monolake -- never really went anywhere for me; seemed to be all about the sound design, but lacked the forward impulse that i crave. but this sounds like a promising change-up.

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 11:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

It's on Monolake's own record label. b1 is fantastic - sublime low-end bloom!

― Philippe, Tuesday, 15 July 2003 17:10 (6 years ago) Permalink

monolake was amazing at mutek. the bass in his tracks is mixed so perfectly and so oriented towards a deep groove that it commands you to succumb. :->

― disco stu (disco stu), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 17:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

I liked Cinemascope a gret deal but haven't listened to it much since it came out. I'll probably pick this up, but not before the new Stewart Walker.

― Andy K (Andy K), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 17:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

i'm really curious abt the stewart walker lp, too. this is the "live" one right? i really liked dischord on force tracks...

― disco stu (disco stu), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 17:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

it's by far the best of his last 4 or 5 12"s.

― stirmonster, Tuesday, 15 July 2003 18:50 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

thoughts on "Polygon Cities"?

I haven't heard it yet.

― fandango (fandango), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 13:46 (4 years ago) Permalink

I really like it. I was playing it in the background while having a conversation with a friend and he suddenly stopped talking and laughed. He asked me what it was, and I told him it was the new Monolake album. He said it made him think of some bad-ass guy on a motorcycle speeding through a futuristic sci-fi city at night. I think it was track 2 (CCTV) that invoked that reaction. (And the chronic he smoked earlier.)

The sound seems really stripped down to me, but the emphasis on melody is more consistent throughout the album than on Momentum. There aren't any grating (obnoxious imo) experimental percussion tracks on it, either. Overall, I think it's kind of a conservative and accessible album for them. I thought Monolake blew their wad, too, like Jess above, but I really like this album. I like it a lot better than Cinemascope or Momentum, but not as much as Gravity. Standout tracks are Pipeline, CCTV, North, and Plumbicon.

― recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 14:52 (4 years ago) Permalink

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