Monolake Interstate Field Recordings

There are many names that have shaped electronic music in the way we know it today, but Robert Henke is definitely among the most important ones. Besides his “side-project” Ableton, which he started alongside Gerhard Behles and Bernd Roggendorf in 1999, his musical output still influences artists around the globe after thirty years. Since his debut release “Piercing Music” as Robert Henke in 1994 on Imbalance Recordings – back then founded by Moritz von Oswald and run by Henke under Imbalance Computer Music since 1997 – he has released thirteen albums under the Monolake moniker, for several years alongside Ableton buddy Behles and Torsten Pröfrock, better known as T++, Dynamo, or Traktor. Given the fact that he was not only part of the early days of Hardwax and Berlin’s underground scene but decisively influenced it, many of his works are blueprints in the field of experimental and minimal electronic music. So, it’s no surprise that many of his early works get reissued from time to time; today, his (and Behles’) album “Interstate” from 1999 is out again on the Dutch Field Records.

Henke’s work embodies the idea of electronic music to create analogue feelings using only “cold” machines and digital sounds. Abundance is not only a great example of this but also a wonderful piece to begin this album. Well-crafted drums and occasional digital percussion elements meet spherical soundscapes, moving like waves. What starts as a quirky dialogue between several chattering machines on Gecko suddenly turns into a fine, IDM-leaning brain melter around 160bpm. A digital sparkle that sounds like a water feature is the common thread in Tangent I and Tangent II—while I is a warm, almost Tech House-leaning groover, II provides the unmistakable, dub-infused deepness of minimalistic early-days Berlin Techno. True to its name, Perpetuum is a constantly ongoing jam full of seemingly random but flawlessly arranged sounds of a ghost in Monolake’s machines.
Over almost eleven minutes, Amazon patiently grows from field recordings of birds and water into delayed dub chops and single bassline elements that multiply and increasingly interlock, preparing the rhythm. After about 75% of the piece, the halftime kickdrum rounds off the beat and is joined by digital, bird-imitating sounds, which explains the track's title. Ginza, with its light, playful drum work, well-timed bassline, and dub chops, makes this piece a wonderfully nerdy halftime jam instead of a 160bpm banger. The same applies to the closing tune Terminal which—to extend the imagery of the terminal—features actual terminal samples, releasing you from this journey through Interstate into a new one.