Monolake - Cinemascope

Label: Imbalance Computer Music
Format: CD, Album
Country:Germany
Released: 2001
Genre: Electronic
Style: Techno

Recorded at Studio HDL 911 and Studio Neues Deutschland. Photos made in Shanghai 2001.
[Atmo] recorded in Seoul, Korea 1997.
Track 1 (atmo) is unnamed on the CD. The name is disclosed on the Monolake web site, however.
Alpenrausch (track 9) is a comissioned work by Migros Kulturprozent.

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Monolake is among the most acclaimed artists associated with the Berlin-based Basic Channel/Chain Reaction label group, run by Moritz "Maurizio" von Oswald and home to such champions of minimalist austerity as Vainqueur, Substance, and (initially) Porter Ricks. Consisting of Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles, the group have recorded just under a dozen singles for the Chain Reaction and Din labels, as well as a full-length CD, HongKong, released by CR in 1997. Monolake's music sits at the intersection between abstract computer music and the more dance-derived techno redux of their CR labelmates. Behles studied formally at Utrecht's Institute of Sonology (a noted fount of electronic experimentation formed in the late '60s by Stan Tempelaars and Gottfried Michael Koenig). Behles and Henke met at Berlin's Technical University, where Behles taught and Henke was studying sound engineering for film. Monolake formed somewhat by accident, when a first round of collaborative improvising in the studio led to a handful of tracks from which their first single, "Cyan," was soon pressed. A number of follow-up releases appeared in 1995 and 1996, with the best of these eventually joining new material on the 1997 CD release, HongKong, an important release both for Chain Reaction (it's widely considered the label's finest) and Monolake (whose previously vinyl-only 12-inches reached a somewhat small, specialist audience). The full-length Interstate followed in 1999, along with the EP Gobi: The Desert. Gravity was issued in early 2001.

In addition to his work with Behles, Henke is a mastering engineer for Maurizio's Dubplates & Mastering (the D&M inscription can be found on the run-out groove of many a European techno release), and also operates the Imbalance Computer Music label, home to the more experimental reaches of Chain Reaction and Basic Channel artists such as Andi Mellweg (of Porter Ricks), Wieland Samolak, and Henke himself.


On Cinemascope, Monolake (aka Robert Henke) blends the stark sounds of the street with beat-conscious elements, creating a reserved late-night brew of intense minimalism. Short bursts of light break through the dark cracks that underscore the majority of Cinemascope, allowing the largely clipped and clicky beats to comprise the framework of the record. Not unlike Richie Hawtin's later work, Henke utilizes subtractive theory to pull apart regular dancefloor structures into roomy, spacious reconstructions that echo endlessly, reminiscent of the introspective period of early-'90s Detroit techno. Perhaps the perfect record for driving around the city at night, Cinemascope takes in the wonder of architecture, construction, and how people tend to relate to those concepts. Certainly, Henke seems somewhat more closely aligned with his German, minimal-tech colleagues, but he no doubt is in safe territory with Detroit's innovators of the genre. His sometimes spooky and skittery layers of rhythm imitate the clunking and perfect cadence of factory machines in their restless stages. Little melody creeps in, but there's still something pleasant about the work. Perhaps this pleasantness is found in the music's general relaxedness. Nothing ever bubbles over with excitement, but ebbs and flows are still quite visible. And even still, Henke keeps the dancefloor in mind, especially on the track "Remoteable," which is dark and nondescript, held up with constrictive beats and subtle layers of rhythm.