Album Review - Monolake: Ghosts

Monolake
Ghosts
Rating: Grrrr

Over the course of 7 albums, Robert Henke, one of the fathers of pioneering music software Ableton Live, has painstakingly assembled a catalog of some of the most detailed and challenging techno music. Slowly, his sound has been tinkering more with the collusion between minimal techno and bass music, creating cavernous soundscapes that are so dense to almost be tactile. Ghosts, the follow up to Silence (and middle album in a proposed trilogy), strikes a nice balance between beat heavy techno tracks and evocatively creepy instrumental experiments. Indeed, Ghosts could easily soundtrack some very high-tech Japanese horror movie. The more beatless tracks are filled with lots of found sounds, echoing clatter, and vast silences that draw you into the dark world within. The more beat heavy tracks are calming in comparison, however, the tricky time signatures and clattering percussion also tend to keep one on edge.

The album begins on a creepy note, the stark beats, guttural bass, and hissing keyboards of title track "Ghosts" would be unnerving enough without the scary voice sample intoning "You do not exist." It is not a track to be listened to at night in the dark.



Which immediately seeps into the claustrophobic emptiness of "Toku" which approximates the feeling of being in a strange place, in the dark, with unexplained sounds and noises all around you.



Henke obviously enjoys concentrating on all the details of a track; where each element is strategically placed for effect, and where the use of silence can create tension. The world of Ghosts is not inviting, and not meant to be; the songs challenge and bewilder as often as they intrigue. Even the more "normal" tracks have a subtle not of unease lurking beneath the surface. The almost tribal beats of "Discontinuity" become glitchier as the track unfolds, with eerie, almost silent earworms of synths burrow underneath.



The arrhythmic percussive elements fracture and upend the drum and bass of "Lilith," with low bass rumbles churning along the mix.



Old school horror movie organ drones and creaking floorboard sounds punctuate the subtle throb of "Aligning The Daemon."



"Foreign Object," which was apparently composed and recorded on the fly hours before the album was sent off for mastering, is another echo laden foray into fun house horror territory. Haunting voice samples linger in a hazy fog as the beats whip around the track, made even more off kilter by wobbly bass.



Much like its album cover of a clear yet stark treeline and the haunting fog soaked forest behind it, Ghosts seems like it is all harsh, yet visible surfaces, while behind it lurks increasing levels of danger and darkness. It will seep effortlessly into your mind and body, and will refuse to give up its hold. Ghosts' challenging nature is at once intoxicating and horrifying.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.