{"title":"Monolake","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMonolake is an electronic music act based in Berlin. Founded in 1995 by Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles, the duo created a unique sound that has captivated audiences worldwide. While Behles now focuses on running music software company Ableton, which they founded together with Bernd Roggendorf, Henke continues to perpetuate Monolake as a solo artist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInfluenced by a diverse range of artists such as Pole, Fluxion, Vladislav Delay, and Jan Jelinek, Monolake's music pushes boundaries and explores new sonic territories. With their experimental approach to sound design and production techniques, they have become pioneers in the electronic music scene.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMonolake's discography includes critically acclaimed albums like \"Gobi: The Desert EP,\" \"Cinemascope,\" and \"Silence.\" Their tracks are characterized by intricate rhythms, atmospheric textures, and hypnotic melodies that transport listeners into immersive sonic landscapes.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"fragile-static","title":"Fragile Static","description":"\u003cp\u003eback in stock oh yess yess yess! probably our favourite of all the monolake twelves has now been lovingly re-mastered, re-cut, re-designed, re-packaged and re-released!! this is just classic material from robert henke - \"static\" more or less invented its own technoid language, fusing a deep, rigid 4\/4 skeleton with a decimated breakbeat, complete with some of the deepest dub stabs you'll ever hear on a techno record. just immense. \"fragile\" is more minimal but equally mindnumbing, utilising the low end in a remarkable dense fashion, something of a monolake speciality. totally essential purchase!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"12\"","offer_id":50451720634699,"sku":"291687","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"ionised-ping-frost","title":"Ionised Ping Frost","description":"\u003cp\u003eback in stock re-mastered, re-cut, re-designed, re-packaged and re-released!! robert henke returns with yet another landmark release under his monolake moniker. 'ionized' differs in tone and pace quite substantially from previous singles 'fragile' and 'ice' and the recent 'gravity' lp. the tempo has been slowed down and the chiming aquatic percussion is almost metallic. henke has a remarkable talent for producing sounds that grab you deep in the stomach and he does this here with almost numbing aplomb. the flip opens with yet another change of direction and a bit of a more radical departure for henke...a flat electronic double-bassline and chiming chords. it's a lush, hazy, sunstroked track that's just lush. the ep ends with the gargantuan 'frost' lifted off the aforementioned gravity lp - here available on vinyl for the first time. another breathtaking excursion from a true master - buy!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"12\"","offer_id":50451721126219,"sku":"291688","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"tangent-1-and-2-perpetuum","title":"Tangent 1 and 2 Perpetuum","description":"\u003cp\u003eproduced by henke \u0026amp; behles. vinyl mastering and cutting by r. henke and rashad becker at dubplates and mastering, berlin This classic 12\" from 1999 features three immense cuts from Monolake's second album 'Interstate', remastered and re-cut for extra audio crunchiness by Dublates and Mastering's Rashad Becker. 'Tangent' has truly never sounded better, those cyclic electrical rhythms and tweaked, insectoid basslines displayed here expertly and underpinned by the kind of atmospheres that Henke has patented - I'd say science fiction, but this has little or nothing to do with the kind of horribly trite electro sci-fi records that might hint at. Monolake is a sound and a style all of its own, this is just great quality, moving electronic music and it's really difficult to realise that you're listening to something that is now eight years old. 'Tangent' still sounds as fresh as it ever did and is without a doubt one of the most essential 12\"s in the great man's expansive catalogue. Buy it!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"12\"","offer_id":50451805110603,"sku":"294395","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"hongkong","title":"Hongkong","description":"\u003cp\u003eField Records proudly presents the first complete vinyl edition of Monolake’s seminal excursion into experimental dub techno, \u003ci\u003eHongkong\u003c\/i\u003e. Originally released on the now-classic Chain Reaction label in 1997, this collection of early singles by Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles has gone on to become a vital listening experience in its own right - a genre classic alongside the other groundbreaking works from the likes of Porter Ricks and Vladislav Delay. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe tracks which make up Hongkong were made while Henke and Behles studied computer science and immersed themselves in Berlin’s techno scene. Their early forays into computer-based music production were enabled by the use of the Max\/MSP programming environment, forming a backdrop to the landmark work they would undertake in developing the Ableton Live DAW. Henke and Behles travelled to \u003ci\u003eHong Kong\u003c\/i\u003e in 1996 to attend the annual International Computer Music Conference, and while there recorded extensive field recordings. These recordings became the glue that pieced together their collaborative tracks into a fluid listening experience for a CD-compilation at Chain Reaction’s request. \u2028\u2028\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile absolutely rooted in the embryonic sound of European dub techno, Monolake’s early work possesses a back room, headphone-ready demeanour which lends itself to the album listening experience. In the cascade of rhythms created by precision engineered delays and subliminal, expansive spatial world building occurring throughout Hongkong, the stage is set for a full and thorough immersion. Before the Monolake sound progressed into a more pointillist form of computer music as Henke’s solo project, Hongkong presented a gritty, grainy sonic still tied in some way to the traditional methods of techno production, even as the artists’ ideas were sending the sequencing and arranging in exciting new directions. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u2028\u2028Remastered and presented for the first time as a complete double 12” package, this is the definitive edition of an essential work in the evolution of experimental techno. As Henke himself explains, “twenty-five years later, this record still holds immense value to me in many ways.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Field Records","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":50523624800587,"sku":"2021834","price":39.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/FIELD35_843fc8f9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728021335"},{"product_id":"studio-3","title":"Studio","description":"\u003cp\u003eMy studio is my shelter, I feel comfortable there, surrounded by wonderful inspiring machines. A small cosy room where ideas emerge, mature, morph, and solidify into their final shape. Studio is the result of spending time in that space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe album's intention is simple: Presenting a beautiful personal musical journey. The creative process in itself matters to me, the interaction with my instruments, the accidental discoveries, the successful execution of a vision and anything in between. Most of the tracks on this album got revised countless times, and then even more, once I knew in which context and order I wanted to arrange them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have been living with my music for months now, listening, thinking, changing, diving deeper and deeper into each piece. I love albums, they are a beautiful long-form format where each part has its place, a journey from the start till the end. Each piece has its own story, its own flavour, and history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome of them have been with me since a while already. There is material which I created years ago for installations and music derived from previous audiovisual works, all completely ripped apart and rearranged multiple times. During their creation my pieces often turn into something completely different, they repeatedly shift from one state to another until they become solid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat I consider a core element at the beginning might be later discarded completely, and a little detail in the background might become the essence. Many explorations ended in the trash bin before the results had a chance to be part of \u003cem\u003eStudio\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThings did not fall into place, did not feel right. Other compositions had to fill the void instead, some created quickly in a rush of inspiration, some slowly, shy, questioning their significance. This album did not come into existence in a hurry, it took as long as it needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI used the time to walk around my creations, to listen to them from the distance, physically, mentally, with friends, in all kinds of different contexts. I tried to understand what I just did. I started to see patterns, hidden motifs, things that were buried in between too many layers of sound. What is essential? What is ornament? I reduced, rearranged, added again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe closer I got to the final state of \u003cem\u003eStudio\u003c\/em\u003e the more clarity I found. The inherent doubts and the nagging voices from the inside got more quiet, and a sense of achievement started to manifest itself. More and more details just fell into place. And now it is done.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter making electronic music since almost thirty years I don't care anymore about genres, about how to label things. It is music, my own personal music, and that's it. Call it electronica if you wish.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Imbalance Computer Music","offers":[{"title":"Black LPx2","offer_id":50532231709003,"sku":"2206864","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50532231446859,"sku":"2206863","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/ML-036LP_42799c4d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728117124"},{"product_id":"gravity-11","title":"Gravity","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwenty-four years on from its original release, Monolake's seminal Gravity receives its first vinyl pressing courtesy of Field Records\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOccupying its own space at the intersection of dub techno, minimal and electronica, it's an ageless album of staggering vision and technological prowess which has matured into an all-time pillar of electronic music. This edition, remastered by the album's key architect Robert Henke, follows on from the recent reissue of Monolake's first album, Hongkong. \u2028\u2028Arriving just after the turn of the millennium, \u003ci\u003eGravity\u003c\/i\u003e marked a turning point for Monolake. With co-founder Gerhard Behles moving on to other ventures, Henke produced most of the album solo and journeyed deeper into spatial exploration and the dub-informed principles that underpinned their project from the start. Minimalism and negative space run through the whole record, from the keen slithers of percussion pinging through lattices of delay to the hypnotising pulse of subliminal basslines anchoring the tracks. \u003ci\u003eGravity\u003c\/i\u003e is a record which hangs on techno's linearity as a form of meditation, but the crystalline clarity of the mix allows every micro-fluctuation in rhythm and sound to cut through.\u2028\u2028Compared to a lot of overly sterile digital music released in the early 2000s, \u003ci\u003eGravity\u003c\/i\u003e endures thanks to the warmth and texture Henke elicited from his processes — even when leaning into none-more-digital effects like bit reduction. He described the ninth-floor view over Berlin from his studio at night as a key influence on the sound of the record, but the space Gravity shapes out feels thrillingly implacable. Unbound by the standard conventions of time and space, \u003ci\u003eGravity\u003c\/i\u003e stands proud as a true original and finally gets the ceremonious vinyl pressing it so richly deserves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Field Records","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":51144967881035,"sku":"2240873","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/FIELD37_6d53ac1c_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1737646086"},{"product_id":"interstate","title":"Interstate","description":"\u003cp\u003eContinuing its faithful documentation of the early years of Monolake, Field Records proudly present the first-ever vinyl pressing of seminal 1999 album \u003cem\u003eInterstate\u003c\/em\u003e. In a kaleidoscopic lattice of micro-rhythms and exquisitely dynamic textural work, Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles fully collaborated for the final time on this record — and created an electronica landmark in the process. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMonolake's evolution from their earlier dub-techno-tinted works saw their exploration of Max\/MSP go further out. The duo yielded greater complexity in the behaviour of their sound palette to achieve an organismic quality that remains an enduring influence on so many strands of experimental electronic music today. Interstate is a vivid record that builds up eight different ecosystems of sound and subtly threads elegant grooves through their root structures. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's a house-like undulation to the low-end driving 'Tangent-I' and 'Tangent-II', but the infinitesimally detailed layers of sound on top swoon from techno synth shimmers to trickling waters, snaking delay trails and pin prick percussion. You can hear the unmistakable, snappy rhythmic thrust of drum \u0026amp; bass driving 'Ginza', but here it's used as an engine for the crispest array of designer percussion and dub-soaked synth chirrups. Across every track, Henke and Behles demonstrate a potent combination, both groovily instinctive and eternally fascinating to try and pick apart. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter Interstate, Behles departed to focus entirely on the development of Ableton Live and Henke steered Monolake towards a leaner — but no less pioneering — sound. Every Monolake record has its own unique context and sound, and the circumstances of Interstate could never be repeated. Capturing the leaps in progress that were being made in digital music production at the end of the millennium, it's an information-rich document of a moment in time that still sounds wildly futuristic 27 years later. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Field Records","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":57072978395467,"sku":"R8249-9164","price":43.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Field_2039.jpg?v=1776682878"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/monolake.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}