Robert Henke returns after what seems a long lie-down with a bumper bundle of tech steppers and IDM flexers in his ninth Monolake album, Archaeopteryx.
Deploying a hefty percussive armory and a slew of signature synth textures
Robert Henke returns after what seems a long lie-down with a bumper bundle of tech steppers and IDM flexers in his ninth Monolake album, Archaeopteryx.
The longest and most linear narrative-based of Monolake albums, it’s kitted out like a gear-head’s wet dream: Ableton Live, Wavetable, Operator, MaxMSP, Granulator II, Celemony Melodyne, Sequential Circuits Prophet VS, Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12, Yamaha SY77, Yamaha DX-7, PPG Wave 2.3, New England Digital Synclavier II, Ensoniq ASR-10, Oberheim Xpander, a few modular things, Alesis Quadraverb, Lexicon PCM 80, Publison DHM-89 B2, Quantec QRS, Eventide H3000, Eventide Eclipse, Dynacord DRP 20, AMS RMX 16, modified Linn Drum, Sequentix Cirklon.
Henke’s sound design prowess ensures a sound stage suitably configured for optimal fidelity, deploying a hefty percussive armory and a slew of signature synth textures wound out across 19 tracks and nearly 100 minutes of granular action. For tasters, check the darkside funk of “Dirac Onyx,” the coil-spring skitter of “Specimen Fractal,” the dark ambient/film score strains of “Transient Noire” and “Delta Overload,” the Alva Noto-esque ambient-drone of “Phaenon Ono” or dystopian electro-epic, “Alu Minimum”—all fit to soundtrack your next night in with a Ballard short, one of which seemingly inspired the album, judging by the accompanying website narrative.
Archaeopteryx is available on Imbalance Computer Music. [Bandcamp]
