Published
Tue, Aug 23, 2016, 04:05
- The first Monolake full-length in four years comes out this October.
Robert Henke's next Monolake album, VLSI, will be released this fall.
Scheduled to arrive in October through Henke's label Imbalance Computer Music, the first Monolake LP in more than four years was initially hinted at in late 2014, when the German producer started a series of vinyl EPs with the ultimate goal of working the material into a proper full-length. There have since been five of those records, with one more to come following the release of VLSI.
The album features "re-arranged and augmented" tracks from those EPs alongside previously unreleased cuts. "Pio" was co-produced with occasional collaborator Electric Indigo. Mixing was handled by Henke and Mark Ernestus, continuing a shared history that dates back more than two decades. The first Monolake records came through Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald's Basic Channel offshoot Chain Reaction—and Henke has suggested this one will be a "more lush and warm album... similar to the early Monolake releases."
VLSI's title refers to Very Large Scale Integration, the creation of integrated circuits with thousands of functions on a single chip. Its development in the late '70s marked a significant advance in computer technology. The project arose out of Henke's 2013 artist residency at Stanford University's Center for Research in Music and Acoustics, which helped him not only to hone his craft but to understand what he calls "the social and cultural peculiarities of Silicon Valley." Henke adds "the dystopian undercurrent in the music is deliberate," as the album "is also a reflection of very present social, economic and political topics driven by high tech companies more powerful than governments."
Read more about VLSI and check out previews at Henke's website.
Tracklist
01. Arit
02. Inwards
03. Crash
04. LogC
05. Geometry Engine
06. Dystopia
07. Pio
08. Error
09. Unit
10. Nmos
11. Glypnir
Imbalance Computer Music will release VLSI on October 7th, 2016.