Monolake/Imbalance Computer Music helped minimal techno keep pace early on with the advances of technologies and the development of a quality aesthetic. This was back in 1993, and now Monolake's dubby, aquatic techno tracks can be easily identified at some of the more exclusive clubs in any town. Released on his own eponymous label, Monolake albums like Interstate, Gravity and Cinemascope are recognized as some of the finest techno ever produced.
Orginally Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles were Monolake. In true devotion to innovation, Behles went onto developing the gold standard of techno production: Ableton Live. Henke remained as Monolake and continues to find success to this day with both his rythmic soundform and his more experimental sublabel, Imbalance Computer Music. A regular visitor to the MUTEK convention in Montreal, and live at clubs around the world, Henke is a tireless supporter and innovator. The short of it: Monolake, despite its size, holds up to other labels of its time: Chain Reaction, Force Inc. and Basic Channel: classic minimalien techno for the home and the club.
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ML 036LP
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Double LP version. Monolake: "My studio is my shelter, I feel comfortable there, surrounded by wonderful inspiring machines. A small cozy room where ideas emerge, mature, morph, and solidify into their final shape. Studio is the result of spending time in that space. The 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. I 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 flavor and history. Some 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. What 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 Studio. Things 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. I 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. The closer I got to the final state of Studio the more clarity I found..." Composed, mixed and produced by Robert Henke, 2024.
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CD
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ML 036CD
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Monolake: "My studio is my shelter, I feel comfortable there, surrounded by wonderful inspiring machines. A small cozy room where ideas emerge, mature, morph, and solidify into their final shape. Studio is the result of spending time in that space. The 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. I 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 flavor and history. Some 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. What 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 Studio. Things 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. I 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. The closer I got to the final state of Studio the more clarity I found..." Composed, mixed and produced by Robert Henke, 2024.
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CD
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ML 032CD
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Robert Henke presents VLSI under his Monolake alias. In the late 1970s, a series of significant enhancements in technology further accelerated the evolution of the digital age. Graphical interfaces, networked computers and new software tools allowed the design and manufacturing of integrated circuits with tens of thousands of functions on one chip; a process called Very Large Scale Integration - VLSI. The structures became so complex, that for the first time computers were needed to build the next generation of even faster computers. As a result of that evolution, the heart of a computer could now be put onto a single chip - the microprocessor was born. Amongst other developments, it enabled the creation of completely new electronic musical instruments: digital sound generators, drum machines, samplers and effects. Most of the signature sounds on VLSI were programmed using early digital synthesizers; machines built by individuals or small teams of adventurous engineers and music enthusiasts during the 1980s. VLSI is sonic archeology. Tiny artifacts of the instruments used have been carefully excavated and brought to new light. What was once perceived as limitation and dirt can now be experienced as character, color and patina. The interaction with these machines guided a minimalist and structural approach to sound and rhythm, expanded and re-contextualized into a futuristic soundtrack, utilizing the recording technology of 2016. The result is inspired by early techno, UK breakbeat and dubstep, African dance rhythms, future glitch, ambient and a variety of academic computer music. The concept for VLSI emerged during an artist residency at the Center for Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University in 2013, which helped Henke understand not only some deeper technical aspects of his trade, but also the social and cultural peculiarities of Silicon Valley. Thus, VLSI is also a reflection of social, economic and political topics driven by high tech companies more powerful than governments, hence the dystopian undercurrent. Some of the "historic" instruments used: Alesis Quadraverb, Dynacord DRP-20, E-mu Systems SP-12, Turbo Ensoniq ASR-10R, Eventide Eclipse H3000, Lexicon PCM-80 480L, Korg DDD-1, Linn Linn Drum NED Synclavier II, Oberheim Xpander PPG Wave 2.3, Quantec Yardstick, SCI Prophet VS, Yamaha DX27 DX7. VLSI marks the endpoint of a series of six EPs, released between 2014-2016. "Pio" is co-produced by Electric Indigo. Mixed by Mark Ernestus and Robert Henke.
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12"
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ML 028EP
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Produced by Robert Henke. Mastered by Rashad Becker.
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12"
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ML 027EP
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Produced by Robert Henke. Mastering by Rashad Becker.
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CD
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ML 026CD
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Restocked. Robert Henke is back with a new Monolake album entitled Ghosts. Dark and colorful, with haunting and deep excursions into magic worlds of sound and grooves, held together by a fragmentary story as part of the artwork that indicates a continuation of themes present on Silence (ML 025CD): precisely-crafted, earth-shaking beats, rough, dirty noises, wide, lush soundscapes and little sonic creatures inhabiting a fascinating planet in which a lot of things go badly wrong and nothing is taken for granted. Music that augments reality when listening to while commuting, music to get lost in when experienced loud in a club. There is nothing minimal in this music, it is bass-heavy and full of detail. Ghosts is released on Robert Henke's own label Imbalance Computer Music on CD in a luxury digipack.
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CD
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ML 025CD
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2012 repress. This is the first Monolake album since the highly-acclaimed Polygon_Cities album from 2006. Monolake is an open project dedicated to computer-generated music, founded in 1995 by Berlin-based Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles. Production notes: Sound sources include field recordings of airport announcements, hammering on metal plates at the former Kabelwerk Oberspree, Berlin, several sounds captured inside the large radio antenna dome at Teufelsberg, Berlin, dripping water at the Botanical Garden Florence, air condition systems and turbines in Las Vegas, Frankfurt and Tokyo, walking on rocks in Joshua Tree National Park, wind from the Grand Canyon, a friend's answering machine, a printer, conversations via mobile phones, typing on an old Macintosh keyboard and recordings from tunnel works in Switzerland. Synthetic sounds exclusively created with the software instruments Operator, Tension, Analog and the build-in effects inside Ableton Live.
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12"
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ML 022EP
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This is a modified re-release of the Helical Scan single Index, released in 1997 on Chain Reaction and out-of-print for many years. Helical Scan is an alias of Robert Henke/Monolake. The re-release is a carefully remastered edition of the original A-side of the record plus a previously-unreleased and rougher version of "Index II" on the B-side.
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12"
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ML 016EP
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Monolake is an open project dedicated to computer-generated music, founded in 1995 by Berlin-based Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles. Mined from their stellar release Polygon_Cities, "Digitalis" and "Plumbicon" are two discrete techno entities: "Plumbicon" is more obvious; the straight bass drum, a slightly acid-inspired theme and hypnotic hi-hats build up the most rave-like Monolake track so far, including massive chords constituting the monumental finale. "Digitalis" in its raw digital beauty has been completely realized using one single electronic instrument, a Synclavier II, built in 1983. Creating sounds with this machine is a time-consuming non-real time process, and the result is a deep and multi-layered track, where long sonic movements evolve over a deep and massive beat.
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