Cooning

Monoland is a four-piece indie band formed in Berlin, Germany in 1996 by vocalist/guitarist Marco Blazajczak, guitarist Henrik Schiemann, bassist Matthias Ecker-Erhardt, and drummer Daniel Grinstead. The band made their debut with the first album Manouva on Germany's Noiseworks label and has released three albums up to their third album Ben Chantice in 2006. After playing several gigs with bands such as TAM, Die Art, and Jeans Team, Monoland began recording “Cooning” in 2000. The album was produced with sound engineer Sebastian Fell at Einstürzende Neubauten's Multiple Noise Studio, using old tapes, MIG-Motors, and a huge bass drum. The album draws inspiration from a number of sources, including My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, Slowdive, Bowery Electric, trip-hop, and electronica. It features a diverse range of elements, including noise guitars, ecstatic sampling loops, sad and touching melodies, and an experimental atmosphere that is typical of the Berlin, hub of electronica and dub-techno. This analogue reissue also includes a bonus track, “Manouva,” a representative song from their early days, which is being reissued on analog for the first time. At the time of its release, Cooning was described as sounding similar to My Bloody Valentine's “Loveless.” Interestingly, the album cover art was reminiscent of the artwork of My Bloody Valentine's "m b v," which was released later in 2013. This led to some discussion among shoegaze fans.