Founded in 1995 by Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles, Monolake quickly stood out from their peers, drawing influence not only from minimal techno and drum ‘n bass but also the “sonic richness and sophistication of academic computer music”. Their first releases were on the Basic Channel-affiliated Chain Reaction label, and since then they’ve become a hugely respected and influential fixture in the electronic music firmament, releasing several classic albums including Hongkong (1997) and Polygon Cities (2005) and becoming renowned for their distinctive installation and live performance work.

Behles is no longer a part of Monolake. Since 2004 Henke has been collaborating with Torsten ‘T++’  Profrock, most recently on the single ‘Atlas’. However, the new album is effectively a Henke solo work.

Silence was composed, mixed and produced by Robert Henke over the period November 2008 – September 2009. It develops Monolake’s long-running interest in the interplay of intricate rhythms and deep textural elements, and the results range from the chiming, hip-hop-paced ‘Infinite Snow’ to the more frenetic swung techno of ‘Shutdown’, via dubstep-esque ‘Far Red’ and the ravishing ambient of ‘Observatory’.

The music contains a number of field recordings, including airport announcements, dripping water, wind from the Grand Canyon, air conditioning systems in Las Vegas and various mobile phone conversations.

“The music on this album has not been compressed, limited or maximized at any production stage. Why not?

Once upon a time, music had dynamics. There were loud parts, and there were more quiet parts. Then came radio. In radio there is a technical limit for the transmittable maximum volume. As a consequence the average level of music with a high dynamic range is lower than the average level of music with a low dynamic range. The loudest possible music in radio is music where every element is constantly hitting the limit, music with no dynamics at all. Radio, and more recently mp3 players and laptop speakers influenced the way popular music is composed, produced and mastered: Every single event has to be at maximum level all the time. This works best with music that is sonically simple, and music in which only a few elements are interacting. A symphony does not sound convincing thru a mobile phone speaker, and a maximized symphony does not sound convincing at all.
Monolake is about complexity, about details, about the elastic tension between beats in the foreground and textural elements in the background. We want to preserve that balance as much as possible in the final product and this is why the music on this album is produced without applying any compression.” – Robert Henke

Tracklisting:

Side A.
1. Watching Clouds
2. Infinite Snow
3. Null Pointer

Side B.
1. Far Red
2. Avalanche
3. Void

Side C.
1. Internal Clock
2. Shutdown

Side D.
1. Reconnect
2. Observatory

References: http://www.monolake.de/