So, it would appear to have come to ‘End Of An Era - Pt.II’ for my electronic music net.label Monotonik, which I’ve been running since 1996 in .MOD and .MP3 form. In that time, we’ve put out over 350 free-to-download releases, initially spanning all forms of electronic music, but settling down into what you might call idm.

http://www.simoncarless.com/?p=124

It's fitting that the final release on Monotonik, perhaps for ever, will be from someone new, because we've always tried to promote new and interesting artists. Mike Kidd brought the 'Impermanence EP' to us and we thought it right, and good, because it combines the melodies we crave with the deep happiness of a well-crafted tune.

Take 'Haunted Raves', for example. We're not really sure which raves have been haunted by it, but the abstract power shown here may well enchant a few party-goers in the future, and as for 'The Grind', with its powerful, almost dubstep backing notes - oh my.

Then we have 'Bilocation', all triple-triggered strangeness, before we end up with 'Over Crowds', an evocation of what could be in the future with strong drums and good hopes and happy cycling. And we're out.

http://www.archive.org/details/mtk219

Another stalwart Monotonik releaser over the past few years, Dead Eros returns one last time with the noisy, triumphant 'Bone Mountain', climbing that pile of dead things with little regard to safety, snare fills, or life and limb.

Really, when you start with 'Breadbox', you can go on with happiness, given the amount of almost Aphex-ish convulsions the drums bring to the table, and things continue from there with marvel, given the sheer depth of 'Inside Sunshine'.

It continues, up and down, and by the time we get to the final track, we feel like we're really at the top of 'Bone Mountain', looking down on the poor souls who didn't make it, and now comprise the whole of the thing that - well - you just climbed up. Snare rush.

http://www.archive.org/details/mtk218

Everyone who likes Monotonik at least a little should know Kuu, aka Joonas Vähämäki, from his Substance releases that date back at least ten years on the site. But he's also released under his more uptempo Kuu alias at times, and it's fitting that one of the last releases (for now?) should be under that alias.

'Pixel EP' is surprisingly large, and mixes some of the things that Monotonik holds dear - melodies, cut-up drums, and swishing noises - in carefully contained cylinders of sound. From the upcoming 'Xib I', which is almost cheeky in its straight ahead happiness, through tracks like 'Voxel', which cut the heck out of beats, it all makes sense.

Things end up good, too, in 'Horizontal Pitch', a blissed out finale to a story that's lasted for a long time. Just look at the pixels on that thing, won't you?

http://www.archive.org/details/mtk217

Finnish musician Olavi Inha has previously released on Monotonik with two memorable releases under his Flutterspot alias. But he returns here with another pseudonym, Clark Vent, and with it brings a charming full album of bleepy, semi-abstract uptempo electronic deliciousness in the form of 'Scene Sexshun'.

Sure, 'Pardon Me, Clark Kent' is a sensible start, all up and down and around the houses, but the amusingly named 'Hello A Lot And Yes Disco' is a much better statement of intent, crazy spiralling sine waves and almost random-sounding bleep goodness stamped all over the place.

Other highlights include 'Mimosa', with an almost Beak-like guitar deconstruction at play, and 'Fake Marriage Interlude', which almost sounds like a lost Mario level end theme. It's that all of the place, and it's that gorgeous, folks. Enjoy.

http://www.archive.org/details/mtk216

UK artist Chris Wigman is Casimir's Blake, and this intriguing Monotonik release, 'The Silence In Fragile Space', plays out like a planetarium soundtrack to end all soundtracks, echoing all kinds of gorgeous sustained chords through history.

Following up a release on Kahvi, this full-length album starts as it means to go on with 'Achird Supernovae', flittering strings and depths of space to the fore. It certainly gets darker elsewhere, with 'Rich's Feyd' one of the more edge-wise, skuttering tracks in the gaps between the planets.

As the album continues, the bliss builds, and it's only with the final track, 'Eavesdropping On Eternity', that you get the full picture of the place that Wigman and his project has created through careful musical manipulation. It's out there, somewhere...

http://www.archive.org/details/mtk215

Malty Media is, of course, previous Monotonik releaser Aquaboogie and long-time veteran idm artist Jet Jaguar, creators of the 'Bracken Bed' EP on the label a while back, and they kick off the final set of MTK releases with this fine piece of frippery.

The New Zealand-based group's style is best described as 'whimsical Orb-like soundscapes with an Antipodean twist', perhaps, and these four-track pulses through gently chicken-clucking debut track 'Chook Nocturne', before settling on gently glowing tracks like 'See To Her'.

It all ends up with the practically funky 'My Little Aircraft', and all goes to show that sampling, while a little silly, is never bad for your health. Good health to you, Malty Media!

http://www.archive.org/details/mtk214

After his first release in Monotonik on 2007, the 'Grating Rainbows' EP, we are absolutely delighted to present a long in-development full album -- 'Sprinkling Rainbows' from the UK resident Bitbasic, whose super-funky drill and bass attitude to jazzy electronica makes it one of our favorite label releases of the last few years.

In a similar fashion to earlier Monotonik releases like Aleksi Virta's album, 'Grating Rainbows' cuts up the jazzy breaks with the electronic in entirely alluring ways, with 'Flannel' a great initial example of the headnodding, sometimes brain-scrambling stylings. There's even tremendously evocative Bent-style spaced-out melodies of tracks like 'Blueish'.

With a full album to choose from, you can yoyo easily between the super fast, funky breaks of 'Realization' and the sinewave bleeps of 'Monos', before it all ends up with an entirely unexpected, glorious funk attack, as a super-chilled cover of 'Ain't No Sunshine' starts going terribly, terribly wrong half-way through. And it's awesome.

Once again, thanks to Bitbasic for letting us put out this album under a Creative Commons license, and we hope you dig it and check out his website for his latest gigs, EPs, single tracks, and other goodness.

http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp213.html
http://www.archive.org/details/mtk213

As we edge into summer, we're proud to give further exposure to a gorgeous album submitted to Monotonik late last year from James Kirsch, aka General Fuzz, and the truly spectacular chill-out electronic that is 'Soulful Filling'.

Having grown up in Newton, MA, General Fuzz is happy to make his home in the San Francisco Bay Area, and he recruited a number of talented local live musicians to fill out the electronic sounds on this charming full-length album. (In fact, his website has a detailed 'making-of' page with info on all the collaborators.)

Highlights? Well, pedal steel has been a key part of the best chillout for many years now, and 'Warm Steel' is a great example of that in action, while lead-off track 'Eye Heart Knot' has a tremendously evocative, interlocking set of melodies around it.

We're proud that the General has let us put this album out on Monotonik - donate to him to help support his art if you dig it, won't you?

http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp212.html
http://www.archive.org/details/mtk212

A long time coming, the third Monotonik release from Chromatic Flights, aka Florida's Kyle Wyss, debuts after some heavy buzz for his main project, the two-man band Blind Man's Colour, online.

In fact, with none other than Kanye West linking his Blind Man's Colour material and the band signed to Kanine Records (Grizzly Bear, Mommy And Daddy), we're delighted to be continuing to put out his solo material for Monotonik fans.

Continuing from his first and second free releases on Monotonik, 'Memories From The Audible Color Wheel' and 'Heavy Stars Will Fall', respectively, this new EP continues to layer in gorgeous mixes of shoegazing melodies and electronic goodness. We very much appreciate Kyle's support and patience.

(And on that front, note to Monotonik listeners - sorry we've been slowing down our output of late. Real life -- and the overwhelming amount of music available on the Internet -- has been intervening. We'll try to keep it going at a reasonable pace.)

http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp211.html
http://www.archive.org/details/mtk211