Monolake – Polygon_Cities

In my opinion easily his best release.Precision focus, incorporating the best techniques of his earlier releases distilled into a sublime output of a minimalist sound wall that I've not heard replicated. Stands alone.

I would love this on vinyl. it's a very warm sounding release.

Their best work to date! My favorite at least. It just all works. Minimal synth sounds with aural soundscapes and underlying melodies. All tracks are great with Axis being my fave. Monolake comes at you again and again with amazing releases. Their sound compares very much to that of the popular duo Autechre, only not as publicly adorned as them.
With Polygon Cities, they once again show they are on that same level. This a CD for many occasions, but I like to listen to it when I want to drift my mind from all the stress and bother that comes with everyday life. Enjoy!

Monolake still continues to impress, years after the "Cologne sound" have faded into a pleasant memory. With POLYGON CITIES, they continue their warm tech-dub, keeping two feet firmly planted on the dancefloor. Not prone to showy florishes, the tracks stay resolutely on the level, from the dark (but not overly so) "Pipeline" to the lower growls and static of "CCTV." The long tones and vocoder directionals of "North" lead directly into the deep and wobbly "Axis." "Invisible" goes a chillier route (with more vocodered vocals), and "Carbon" stretches into more abstract territory. Finally, "Wasteland" takes the an ambient interlude before "Plumbicon" arrives to thump and blip us out of the album. Another impressive entry in Monolake's already powerful output.

The sixth Monolake album is a surprisingly fresh take on the Monolake sound. I was worried that like "Momentum", the new album would sound too much like "Gravity" did. While "Polygon_Cities" shares the same focus on dark, dubby Electro as the previous albums, this time the sound is more stripped back, and brighter in mood. Tracks like "Pipeline" have those spooky synths that you normally associate with a Bitstream production. Older tracks like "Bicom" and "Ice" had effected vocal samples that almost didn't sound like vocal samples. This time, the vocals are recognizable, with the female voices in tracks like "Pipeline", "Invisible", and the beautiful "North" adding a human touch to the album. "Wasteland" provides a brief ambient interlude, before the 4/4 beats of "Plumbicon" finish the CD on a high note. It's also worth mentioning that T++ (aka Various Artists, Dynamo, Resilent, Erosion, Traktor) was involved with the production on this CD. Typically brilliant stuff from Robert Henke and co.

This release has made me a monolake fan. Reminiscent of early Autechre in ways, but maybe just a bit more modern. It just feels like futuristic music. :) There's a theme throughout the entire album that's a bit hard to describe, but a synthized woman's voice keeps you reminded of it all the way through. I can't stop listing to the epic song 'axis'. I've been pushing this on all of my friends since I got it. Very cool!