Monolake "Interstate" Monolake / Imbalance Computer Music [M L / I] ML001CD 1999 (64:27)
(:22) Abundance (10:09)
Gecko (2:05) (5:21)
Tangent I (8:05)
Tangent II (9:28)
Perpetuum (6:48)
Amazon (5:51) (5:06)
Ginza (5:04)
Terminal (6:11)
Created by Gerhard Behles and Robert Henke
Overall impression: excellent. Monolake have left the Chain Reaction fold in favor of the freedom that a label of their own affords them. Their first album, 1997's "Hongkong" is a breathtaking example of how beautiful and emotional electronic music, "minimal techno" in particular, can truly be. With "Interstate", the first album on their own [M L / I] sublabel, the Monolake sound has successfully continued to evolve. This album picks up where "Hongkong" left off, but also adds much more. The basic foundations of the tracks are similar: lush washes of sound, bass, effects, percussion, etc ... but this time Behles and Henke have varied the beats/percussion more and layered all manner of processed sounds into their compositions. The stereo field of each track is a playground for steel ball bearings, robotic crickets, reverberated drippings and clankings, watery slaps, shimmering pools of sound, mechanical chirps and swirls, the sounds of a rain forest after being fed through a computer ... everything! All of these sounds are pleasant to the ear, interesting, enhancing and integral to the development and metamorphic process of each track. The dub influence that was prevalent on about 1/2 of "Hongkong" is not as readily noticeable here, this album has more of a "techno", sound collage and ambient feel. The sense of a spatial environment which sounds live and breed within has once again been created with "Interstate". Monolake have delivered another album that's a solid listen all the way through and the mixing/mastering is superb to ensure that you hear every nuance of sound. I am particularly enamored with "Abundance", "Amazon", "Ginza" and "Terminal" at the moment. One odd thing is the track indexing: the cd insert lists 8 track names but there are actually 11 indexed tracks on the cd itself (it seems that there is an intro track and that Gecko and Amazon are split into two), not a problem though if you listen straight through start to finish like you should. I think it's safe to say that "Interstate" will be one of a handful of essential albums for electronic music enthusiasts to pick up in 1999 ...
Monolake official page
Where did I get this cd? - mail order via Rioux's Records. Email Jason. (tell him markw@southwind.net sent ya!)