Monolake

Monolake were among the most acclaimed and enduring artists to arise from the Berlin-based <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Basic+Channel%22">Basic Channel</a>/<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chain+Reaction%22">Chain Reaction</a> label group, run by <a href="spotify:artist:33GGoMV3iYpV5tlsh32N7q">Moritz "Maurizio" von Oswald</a> and home to such champions of minimalist dub-techno austerity as <a href="spotify:artist:3X6ixxUtf9bJr1aZbhFuia">Vainqueur</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2OhRlg8iJc0v8XeRiXRr4H">Substance</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:47yoe54A38qmHti0GlTPXR">Porter Ricks</a>. Monolake initially consisted of <a href="spotify:artist:5cSssfrNDzZdX1c5qVe30y">Robert Henke</a> and Gerhard Behles, but Behles departed during the early 2000s to run Ableton, the music software company that both producers established in 1999. For a stretch, <a href="spotify:artist:5cSssfrNDzZdX1c5qVe30y">Henke</a> was Monolake's lone member, but in 2004 he was joined by Torsten Pröfrock, who had previously recorded for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chain+Reaction%22">Chain Reaction</a> as Various Artists and Resilent. No matter the membership, Monolake's output always sat at the intersection between abstract computer music and the more dance-derived techno redux of their early <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chain+Reaction%22">Chain Reaction</a> 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 <a href="spotify:artist:3qiDj7i2mPLTppN6wX7d0I">Gottfried Michael Koenig</a>). Behles and <a href="spotify:artist:5cSssfrNDzZdX1c5qVe30y">Henke</a> met at Berlin's Technical University, where Behles taught and <a href="spotify:artist:5cSssfrNDzZdX1c5qVe30y">Henke</a> 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 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chain+Reaction%22">Chain Reaction</a> (it's widely considered the label's finest) and Monolake (whose previously vinyl-only 12" releases reached a somewhat small, specialist audience).

Beginning with 1999's "Fragile" 12", almost every Monolake release was issued through <a href="spotify:artist:5cSssfrNDzZdX1c5qVe30y">Henke</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Imbalance+Computer+Music%22">Imbalance Computer Music</a> label. If not as groundbreaking as the earlier releases, the albums Interstate (1999), Cinemascope (2001), Gravity (2001), Momentum (2003), Polygon Cities (2005), and Silence (2009) were uniformly excellent -- brisk, vibrant, and steely home-listening techno at its best, rich with details. Behles' output remained consistent well into the 2010s with full-lengths such as Ghosts (2012) and VLSI (2016), as well as a considerably higher quantity of 12" releases. In addition to his prolific release schedule throughout these years (he also issued several solo-in-name titles), <a href="spotify:artist:5cSssfrNDzZdX1c5qVe30y">Henke</a> remained a software developer at Ableton and was also a mastering engineer at Berlin's revered Dubplates & Mastering facility. ~ Sean Cooper & Andy Kellman, Rovi