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"Monika Barchen: Songs for Bruno, Knut & Tom"
In celebration of the label's 10th year of activity as well as 60 releases, Gudrun Gut of Monika Enterprise has curated this compilation of the label's artists that manages to accurately capture the intent and vibe of the label, from electronic experimentations to pure, unadulterated sugary pop. Fans will be happy to know these are all exclusive tracks, and those unfamiliar with the label now have a perfect starting point.
The compilation is well balanced between the abstract, stripped down electro-fueled day-glo pink take on Kraftwerk and the more subtle, subversive idiosyncratic take on pop music the label is known for as well. Chica and the Folder's "Kleines Hoppla" is one of the tracks that actually straddles this precarious line, meshing the big Bay City Rollers percussion section with Kraftwerkian electro and silly vocals and random sounds.
Members of Contriva each provide simple, but beautiful pop tracks adjacent to each other on the disc: Max Punktezahl's "Dashes" is a simple bit of gentle acoustic guitar over a metronomic digital synth pulse, while Masha Qrella's cover of Depeche Mode's "Goodnight Lovers" is all intimate acoustic guitar and soft, plaintive vocals that capture the mood of the original just fine. Both "L.A." by Eglantine Gouzy & Landini as well as Rosario Blefari's "Verdad" also manage to stay firmly in the realms of pop, the former is unadulterated saccharine while the latter's odd simplicity calls to mind some of Colin Newman's Provisionally Entitled the Singing Fish album with more vocals. Even with the backwards melody and stuttering rhythms of "I See A Soul," the unabashedly pop vocals of Mico place it squarely in conventional territory.
More suited to the dance floor would be label head Gudrun Gut's intentionally bizarre "Monika In Polen," which puts together polka samples, yodels, subwoofer rattling kick drum and basic synth elements that somehow make perfect sense together. Iris' "Fever" is more conventional, but its slow paced analog drum machine thump and soft vocals make it a perfect chill out kind of track.
Tracks like Dorit Chrysler's "Sweden" are even a bit more left-field: the instrumental theramin track manages to be both haunting yet somehow quaint, sort of like a perverse take on 1960s cartoon soundtracks. The plaintive, melancholy vocals and synth elements of Lile's "Sticky Images" make for a stark, but enjoyable contrast with the almost tangible, textural dissonance that enshrouds the track. Milenasong's "Streicheln" takes some simple folk elements and mixes them more with a dark, simple synth pulse and bizarre loops to make for one of the most captivating tracks on here, in my opinion. The piano and synth focus of Michaela Melian's instrumental "Locke Pistole Kreuz (Edit)" give the track an overall melancholy, reflective sense that is notably different than the mostly ebullient material here.
The fact that there is such a sense of joy and whimsy on this compilation is a definite asset, since so often music that is inclined towards the realms of experimentation and abstraction completely lacks those emotions, and would often choose to wallow in darkness. Here much of the material has no shame in being fun and jovial, yet still remains innovative and unique.
samples:
- Masha Qrella - Goodnight Lovers
- Gudrun Gut - Monika In Polen
- Mico - I See A Soul
