Experimental Electronic Music
Each Monolake release is, of course, sui generis with a context and sound never to recur, but Interstate is unique in its way—document of a vital musical and cultural moment capturing paradigm shifts in (pre-)millennial music production; its deep textured electronics and ever-morphing cyber-rhythms a snapshot of two phonauts boundary-surfing with then cutting edge tech, causing ripples that became waves that would break over the ’00s and beyond.
Monolake explores the earth and the heavens as well as man’s place in them, their soundtrack being sculpted with daring simplicity to achieve complexity and intricacy of expression and form.
Robert Henke, founding and sole member of the legendary Berlin experimental techno group Monolake and co-founder with (former Monolake partner Gerhard Behles and Bernd Roggendorf) of Ableton Live, the groundbreaking software company that took aspects of loop-based electronic music from a semi-obscure corner of music production and turned it into a driving force of musical creation as one of the top tier DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) in use today.
There’s a great mixture and balance to the album with Henke’s signature Monolake style plus several ventures into new and different territory for the Berlin resident. In all his years of creating music it’s clear Henke has never swerved from delivering powerful, curated and expertly executed music.
