Monika Enterprise, founded in 1997 by Gudrun Gut, is an innovative and intelligent label that carries a colorful variation of the new German electronic-pop sound of today. A fantastic range of artists, a great showcase of all the most interesting and pioneering bands, Monika Enterprise is at the forefront of most electronic trends and is paving the way for more and more unique sounds.
Music for living rooms, songs for wall-paper, warm couches, TV-light. At home, alone or with friends: Monika means custom-made music for you and furthermore, you'll see a brand new world opening up with their artists' live performances -- highly entertaining and truly exciting!
Enjoy the sounds of Barbara Morgenstern, Contriva, Masha Qrella, Chica and the Folder, Komeit, Cobra Killer, James Figurine, Milenasong and Michaela Melián.
"German musicians who have turned away both from the glossy world of corporate clubbing and the tired formulae of indie guitar- rock". Hari Kunzru/Wallpaper 2003
"Once upon a time I had two goldfishes. The suicide of one of them inspired me to call my label 'Monika Enterprise'-in memoriam to my beloved goldfish Monika..." Gudrun Gut
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10"
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MONIKA 099EP
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$20.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 4/26/2024
Monika Enterprise welcomes a new act to her roster with Berlin based experimental pop duo Post Neo releasing their new EP. Individually known as Nicole Luján and Pauline Weh, both musicians pursued their own solo projects before forming the duo Post Neo. On Alles Immer Wieder they combine as more than the sum of their parts to produce five songs of dark and powerful experimental avant- pop which is released as an exclusive 10" vinyl. The EP's opening and title track "Alles Immer Wieder" (trans. Everything again and again) is a reflection on repetition and monotony as transcendence in the form of sleep, dreams, work and other daily cycles. The rhythmic juxtapositions and tempo shifts make for a captivating opening track. "Ganz Schön Was Los" (trans. A lot happening) has a proper synthwave electro pop vibe while the vocals lend a little light hearted humanity to the otherwise calculated computer music aesthetic. With its fusion of synthesizers and drum machines track B1 "Die Verwirrung" (trans. The confusion) brings a sense of melancholic doom. The flow of B2 "Wenn Wir Wüssten" (trans. If we knew what would happen) is a future-focused reflection on the unidirectional movement of time's arrow. Sampled harmonies and instrumental breakdowns make it possibly the most emotive track on the EP. And the record comes to a close with "Dreh dich" (trans. Turn around) which lures us in with delicate vocals before menacing synthesizer sounds blast listeners into oblivion. It is an invitation to turn the record over and start listening from the beginning again.
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LP
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MONIKA 093LP
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LP version; includes printed inner and download. Moment is German electronic originator Gudrun Gut's latest solo collection. Her first solo album since 2012's Wildlife (MONIKA 077CD/LP) and 2007's I Put A Record On (MONIKA 055CD/LP) Moment distills a lifetime of persuasions and obsessions into a compelling 14-track statement. Stark, somber, sultry, and clever, the sides slide between ballad and lament, synth-pop and spoken word, anthemic and abstract. Gudrun Gut's story spans many years, scenes, and sounds, from the "ingenious dilettantes" subculture of early 1980's Berlin as part of Mania D, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Malaria! to her twilit industrial pop trio Matador into an expansive solo catalog of later work scoring films, videos, and radio plays. Her talents extend beyond musician, however, to include founding record labels (the influential imprints Moabit Musik and Monika Enterprise), club nights (progressive electronic pop collective Oceanclub), and experimental feminist collaborations (Monika Werkstatt). Gut also works extensively in the technical sector of the recording industry, as a producer. Recent projects have included collaborations with Antye Greie (AGF) and Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust, participating on the advisory committee for Musicboard Berlin, and performing at The Royal Albert Hall with Âme as part of an Innervisions label night.
"Gut's background as a key figure in Berlin's first-wave industrial uprising still casts an aura in the music's mechanized rhythms and frozen emotional palette but decades of improvisation and collaboration have deepened her sense of composition and melody beyond any easy genre categorization. If anything Moment finds Gut's muse at its most enigmatic, threading shades of motorik hypnosis, technoid laboratory, coldwave pop, glitchy gauze, and even a gender-bent Bowie cover ("Boys Keep Swinging") into its eclectic web. It also showcases the depth and detail of her voice, reserved but suggestive, intoning blunt truths and opaque poetry in both German and English. This is music of history and heartache, modernity and desire, alienation and expression, by a singular creative committed to the complexities of sound." --Britt Brown
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CD
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MONIKA 093CD
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Moment is German electronic originator Gudrun Gut's latest solo collection. Her first solo album since 2012's Wildlife (MONIKA 077CD/LP) and 2007's I Put A Record On (MONIKA 055CD/LP) Moment distills a lifetime of persuasions and obsessions into a compelling 14-track statement. Stark, somber, sultry, and clever, the sides slide between ballad and lament, synth-pop and spoken word, anthemic and abstract. Gudrun Gut's story spans many years, scenes, and sounds, from the "ingenious dilettantes" subculture of early 1980's Berlin as part of Mania D, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Malaria! to her twilit industrial pop trio Matador into an expansive solo catalog of later work scoring films, videos, and radio plays. Her talents extend beyond musician, however, to include founding record labels (the influential imprints Moabit Musik and Monika Enterprise), club nights (progressive electronic pop collective Oceanclub), and experimental feminist collaborations (Monika Werkstatt). Gut also works extensively in the technical sector of the recording industry, as a producer. Recent projects have included collaborations with Antye Greie (AGF) and Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust, participating on the advisory committee for Musicboard Berlin, and performing at The Royal Albert Hall with Âme as part of an Innervisions label night.
"Gut's background as a key figure in Berlin's first-wave industrial uprising still casts an aura in the music's mechanized rhythms and frozen emotional palette but decades of improvisation and collaboration have deepened her sense of composition and melody beyond any easy genre categorization. If anything Moment finds Gut's muse at its most enigmatic, threading shades of motorik hypnosis, technoid laboratory, coldwave pop, glitchy gauze, and even a gender-bent Bowie cover ("Boys Keep Swinging") into its eclectic web. It also showcases the depth and detail of her voice, reserved but suggestive, intoning blunt truths and opaque poetry in both German and English. This is music of history and heartache, modernity and desire, alienation and expression, by a singular creative committed to the complexities of sound." --Britt Brown
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LP
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MONIKA 091LP
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"Haunting, spooks, ghosts and apparitions are an almost constant presence on I Started Wearing Black, the second album by the Cologne-based artist Sonae (pronounced "so-nah"). . . . I would like to rehabilitate hauntology and use it properly to characterize I Started Wearing Black, because the term is rarely as compelling to describe music as is the case here. The most recent other example could be Asiatisch by Fatma Al Qadiri (2014), but with a completely different frame of reference. [This music] rustles, crackles, ruffles, crunches, rattles, scrapes, sometimes a beat emerges from the constant noise, sometimes an obscure voice mumbles incomprehensibly, sometimes a melancholy piano figure is prevented by this noise from coming too much to the foreground. It definitely is eerie . . . In British pop-jargon, eerie first occurred to me more often when referring to particularly leftfield, spooky and... well... ghostly dub, a bass-heavy, echoing noise, from Augustus Pablo to Creation Rebel to Burial. . . . Sonae is not a kind of neo-romantic veiling with a tendency for escapist nebula. It is more a noise of latency. The noise signals a latent -- not necessarily acute -- threat, a latent uneasiness about... yes... about what? About a 'System Immanent Value Defect'? That's the name of a track on I Started Wearing Black where something that sounds like a French Horn (or a foghorn?) battles for attention through or against the background noise. . . . In the title track, after 184 seconds of rattling and hissing, a beat is unleashed, like an arrow released from a spanned bow, a beatific relief, if there is such a thing. 'White Trash Rouge Noir' first meanders along spookily, then after 144 seconds it transforms itself into a distant cousin of Einstürzende Neubauten 's 'Yü-Gung', but there is no Big Male Ego to be fed here . . . Furthermore, I Started Wearing Black was finished long before the black dresses were worn at the Golden Globes as a sign of protest against sexual violence. . . . The political dimension of gaining weight, feeling ugly and therefore dressing in black in I Started Wearing Black lurks within the noise and never becomes explicit and only rarely manifest -- or a manifesto." --Klaus Walter "Dream Sequence" features Gregor Schwellenbach. Black-on-black cover print; Includes download code.
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12"
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MONIKA 089EP
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A collection of remixes taken from the Monika Werkstatt album (MONIKA 090CD/LP). A truly Nordic co-production, Charlotte Bendiks from Tromsø, Norway, remixes Finnish artist based in Berlin Islaja's "Sappho's Gifts", accentuating the surreal essence of the piece. Romanian Borusiade turns Columbian-artist-in-Berlin Lucrecia Dalt's "Blindholes" into a hypnotic industrial stomper. LA producer Nite Jewel provides an utterly funky take on Barbara Morgenstern's song "Grow". London-born, Berlin-based artist Perera Elsewhere, aka Sasha Perera develops Danielle De Picciotto's "Desert Fruit" into a doom-drenched piece of beat poetry. Los Angeles producer Daedelus turns Sonae's "Between Two Worlds" into a luscious retro-futurist synth escapade.
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2LP
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MONIKA 090LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve. Includes eight vinyl only tracks. Includes download code. "... Gudrun Gut has a proven track record of successfully connecting with like-minded artists on unusual paths of creativity. She's an outstanding example of someone who refuses to compromise their artistic vision. And now she is ready to present one of her most ambitious projects ever: Monika Werkstatt -- a loose collective of female artists set up to enable each of them to achieve new goals through collaboration. Monika Werkstatt will ensure that their artistic output gains visibility in an art context still too dominated by men. Monika Werkstatt has its origins in collective workshops and in shared interactions. By sharing their own challenges and achievements later on with an audience, this opened a gateway to a further feedback and creative dialogue. . . . History has a weakness for coincidences, and the release of Monika Werkstatt happily falls on the 20th anniversary of Monika Enterprises. A fantastic landmark and a means of celebrating such a tremendously talented collective that Gudrun Gut has orchestrated. So what is this release really about? Gudrun's fellow Monika members -- AGF, Beate Bartel, Lucrecia Dalt, Danielle De Picciotto, Islaja, Barbara Morgenstern, Sonae, Pilocka Krach, Natalie Beridze -- travelled from Berlin and assembled in the creative oasis of Uckermark. The goal was to create and record without any of the usual pressures and distractions that you'd anticipate in a group context. To keep the focus, Mo Loscheider cooked, Manon Pepita assisted with the day-to-day and Lupe was filming. . . . Between recording and jamming, their days were filled with music, eating, short walks in the fields and forests resounding with inspiring talks and discussions. Without any restraint or rules, they opened up new forms of interaction and creative dialogue which found themselves falling into a process without any clear beginnings or ends. . . . Once the recordings were completed, representatives of the group were delegated roles for a finished production -- some sequenced and mixed the recordings into their own tracks, while others built their own from the material recorded. The results succeed in showcasing the community as a group, as well as portraying singular pieces of art derived from a collective process."
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CD
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MONIKA 090CD
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"... Gudrun Gut has a proven track record of successfully connecting with like-minded artists on unusual paths of creativity. She's an outstanding example of someone who refuses to compromise their artistic vision. And now she is ready to present one of her most ambitious projects ever: Monika Werkstatt -- a loose collective of female artists set up to enable each of them to achieve new goals through collaboration. Monika Werkstatt will ensure that their artistic output gains visibility in an art context still too dominated by men. Monika Werkstatt has its origins in collective workshops and in shared interactions. By sharing their own challenges and achievements later on with an audience, this opened a gateway to a further feedback and creative dialogue. . . . History has a weakness for coincidences, and the release of Monika Werkstatt happily falls on the 20th anniversary of Monika Enterprises. A fantastic landmark and a means of celebrating such a tremendously talented collective that Gudrun Gut has orchestrated. So what is this release really about? Gudrun's fellow Monika members -- AGF, Beate Bartel, Lucrecia Dalt, Danielle De Picciotto, Islaja, Barbara Morgenstern, Sonae, Pilocka Krach, Natalie Beridze -- travelled from Berlin and assembled in the creative oasis of Uckermark. The goal was to create and record without any of the usual pressures and distractions that you'd anticipate in a group context. To keep the focus, Mo Loscheider cooked, Manon Pepita assisted with the day-to-day and Lupe was filming. . . . Between recording and jamming, their days were filled with music, eating, short walks in the fields and forests resounding with inspiring talks and discussions. Without any restraint or rules, they opened up new forms of interaction and creative dialogue which found themselves falling into a process without any clear beginnings or ends. . . . Once the recordings were completed, representatives of the group were delegated roles for a finished production -- some sequenced and mixed the recordings into their own tracks, while others built their own from the material recorded. The results succeed in showcasing the community as a group, as well as portraying singular pieces of art derived from a collective process."
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LP
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MONIKA 087LP
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LP version. Edition of 300. Includes download code. "Guliagava, by Natalie Beridze, TBA, Tusia Beridze is like her previous albums, it was recorded in Tbilisi, south-easternmost Europe. The Georgian metropolis is far from pop-cultural arteries, nevertheless its youth observes precisely what is happening outside, and installs that otherness in their own world with a delicate hand. Yet they never run the risk of piddly writing a diary, on the contrary, they again make this now expanded own, this enriched own available for the outside world. Natalie Beridze's cooperation with Monika Enterprise began in 2005 - she was one of four artists on the compilation 4 Women No Cry Vol.1. Her album Forgetfulness followed in 2010. Over the last two years Beridze produced Guliagava. Three pieces - "Museum On Your Back", "Those Things", "Opening Night" - were created with Gacha Bakradze. "Opening Night" is also part of the soundtrack to the award-winning film When the Earth Seems to Be Light by Salome Machaidze ,David Meskhi and Tamuna Karumidze. The song "Hello" Beridze wrote with Gio Koridze, a student at Tbilisi's media university CES, where she teaches composition. The words to "Fishermen 2015" come from the farewell letter of a Syrian refugee who drowned in the Mediterranean. Guliagava is a fantasy word that Natalie Beridze's little daughter Lea once seemed to hear in a Russian lullaby. She speaks the word Guliagava when she needs comfort, when she needs a hand to cling to. Natalie Beridze's music is of a rare, bewitching beauty - even when her beats are shredded or when she rocks with an abrasive four-to-the-floor. She moves within her own characteristic tonality of diminished chords that frequently extends into the minor harmony - a tonality within which an unsettling, questioning undertone often resonates alongside the sense of melancholic longing. In her older releases lines could be drawn to IDM and Broken Beats or Detroit Techno, and an admiration for musicians such as Autechre, Aphex Twin or the Cocteau Twins could be detected, here there is a suggestion of R&B over dubstep. But it's a kind R&B over Dubstep based on the bold assumption that both styles clearly trace their lineage to Kate Bush. Her vocals have never been so animated, her songwriting has never sounded so complete, and her arrangements, for all their complexity, have never been so round. Guliagava is Beridze's tenth album and it is nothing less than her masterpiece." - Andreas Reihse (2016)
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CD
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MONIKA 087CD
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"Guliagava, by Natalie Beridze, TBA, Tusia Beridze is like her previous albums, it was recorded in Tbilisi, south-easternmost Europe. The Georgian metropolis is far from pop-cultural arteries, nevertheless its youth observes precisely what is happening outside, and installs that otherness in their own world with a delicate hand. Yet they never run the risk of piddly writing a diary, on the contrary, they again make this now expanded own, this enriched own available for the outside world. Natalie Beridze's cooperation with Monika Enterprise began in 2005 - she was one of four artists on the compilation 4 Women No Cry Vol.1. Her album Forgetfulness followed in 2010. Over the last two years Beridze produced Guliagava. Three pieces - "Museum On Your Back", "Those Things", "Opening Night" - were created with Gacha Bakradze. "Opening Night" is also part of the soundtrack to the award-winning film When the Earth Seems to Be Light by Salome Machaidze ,David Meskhi and Tamuna Karumidze. The song "Hello" Beridze wrote with Gio Koridze, a student at Tbilisi's media university CES, where she teaches composition. The words to "Fishermen 2015" come from the farewell letter of a Syrian refugee who drowned in the Mediterranean. Guliagava is a fantasy word that Natalie Beridze's little daughter Lea once seemed to hear in a Russian lullaby. She speaks the word Guliagava when she needs comfort, when she needs a hand to cling to. Natalie Beridze's music is of a rare, bewitching beauty - even when her beats are shredded or when she rocks with an abrasive four-to-the-floor. She moves within her own characteristic tonality of diminished chords that frequently extends into the minor harmony - a tonality within which an unsettling, questioning undertone often resonates alongside the sense of melancholic longing. In her older releases lines could be drawn to IDM and Broken Beats or Detroit Techno, and an admiration for musicians such as Autechre, Aphex Twin or the Cocteau Twins could be detected, here there is a suggestion of R&B over dubstep. But it's a kind R&B over Dubstep based on the bold assumption that both styles clearly trace their lineage to Kate Bush. Her vocals have never been so animated, her songwriting has never sounded so complete, and her arrangements, for all their complexity, have never been so round. Guliagava is Beridze's tenth album and it is nothing less than her masterpiece." - Andreas Reihse (2016)
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CD
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MONIKA 085CD
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"Yes, double stars do exist. They are a reality. They appear in the firmament -- sometimes as an optical and sometimes as a physical phenomenon. Two celestial bodies, working in relation to each other, circling around each other, responding to each other. Both in a delicate balance. In the German language this rare astronomical occurrence is called a 'Doppelstern.' Yet the double stars at issue here have not fallen from the sky, even if it sometimes sounds like it. Barbara Morgenstern -- the great Berlin composer, lyricist, musician, and choir director -- has conceived them, formed them, and lets them rain down upon us like a meteor shower. Three years after her previous English-language album Sweet Silence (MONIKA 074CD, 2012), Barbara Morgenstern is in possession of a marvelous new metaphor for a shining new creative principle. The name was actually a hint from Justus Köhncke, with whom she also forms a double star... In various studios and different constellations, across continents and neighborhoods, a veritable solar system has come into existence. Let's listen into it! It shimmers. Unbelievable. So many facets. Each piece is unique due to its double star constellation. Let's call them by name: T.Raumschmiere, Hauschka, Gudrun Gut, Justus Köhncke, Corey Dargel, Lucrecia Dalt, Julia Kent, Coppé, Tonia Reeh, Richard Davis, Jacaszek. And each piece is connected to the other through Barbara Morgenstern and her songs... And as complete lyrics in collaboration with the aforementioned partner stars they shine sometimes brighter than a supernova, and other times as delicately as a firefly. Between song-craft and krautrock, electronic listening and dance-pop, an entire glittering galaxy of sounds and songs unfolds in front of us. That's Barbara Morgenstern's Doppelstern. Do not miss this celestial phenomenon." --Hans Nieswandt
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LP
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MONIKA 085LP
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LP version. Includes download code. "Yes, double stars do exist. They are a reality. They appear in the firmament -- sometimes as an optical and sometimes as a physical phenomenon. Two celestial bodies, working in relation to each other, circling around each other, responding to each other. Both in a delicate balance. In the German language this rare astronomical occurrence is called a 'Doppelstern.' Yet the double stars at issue here have not fallen from the sky, even if it sometimes sounds like it. Barbara Morgenstern -- the great Berlin composer, lyricist, musician, and choir director -- has conceived them, formed them, and lets them rain down upon us like a meteor shower. Three years after her previous English-language album Sweet Silence (MONIKA 074CD, 2012), Barbara Morgenstern is in possession of a marvelous new metaphor for a shining new creative principle. The name was actually a hint from Justus Köhncke, with whom she also forms a double star... In various studios and different constellations, across continents and neighborhoods, a veritable solar system has come into existence. Let's listen into it! It shimmers. Unbelievable. So many facets. Each piece is unique due to its double star constellation. Let's call them by name: T.Raumschmiere, Hauschka, Gudrun Gut, Justus Köhncke, Corey Dargel, Lucrecia Dalt, Julia Kent, Coppé, Tonia Reeh, Richard Davis, Jacaszek. And each piece is connected to the other through Barbara Morgenstern and her songs... And as complete lyrics in collaboration with the aforementioned partner stars they shine sometimes brighter than a supernova, and other times as delicately as a firefly. Between song-craft and krautrock, electronic listening and dance-pop, an entire glittering galaxy of sounds and songs unfolds in front of us. That's Barbara Morgenstern's Doppelstern. Do not miss this celestial phenomenon." --Hans Nieswandt
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10"
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MONIKA 084EP
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Barbara Morgenstern follows her 2012 English-language album Sweet Silence (MONIKA 074CD) with Doppelstern (Double Star), featuring 13 collaborations, each created in a different studio. This pre-album EP includes "Übermorgen (Extended)," which features a vocal duet with Justus Köhncke, who first suggested the double star concept to Morgenstern; Robert Lippok, with whom Morgenstern has crossed paths on numerous occasions, appears on the electronic instrumental "Scrambler (Extended)"; "Gleich ist gleicher als gleich" took shape in the studio of Lucrecia Dalt; and the intense, kraut-oriented "Kein Weg" was created in the studio of Schneider TM. Mixed by T.Raumschmiere.
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CD
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MONIKA 083CD
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"Under the modest title Best Of, the Berlin native Pilocka Krach has assembled 11 hits from her current treasure trove in a debut album that holds a pedigree of 'homegrown premium extra plus.' Although she has been releasing tracks continuously since 2007 (including on Katermukke and her own label Greatest Hits International), up until now she could not have cared less about the album format. What's the point? Generation Download prefers things bit by bit. And her oeuvre consists entirely of hits, anyway. For Pilocka, even B-sides were seen as a mere waste of time, something best avoided. It's better to get it done and bring it out, with each track as it comes, song by song. Extroverted to the brink, extravagant, but approachable, this woman unleashes a kind of techno from a different angle: funky, demanding, dirty, funny, live, and direct. She initially emerged from the noise/avant-garde scene in Vienna, then the techno-hippy post-rave scene of a good-humored Berlin that gladly considers Monday afternoon to be peak time. From there, Pilocka won over hearts and rode on to victory with boundless passion and enthusiasm. Her music is meant to rock -- more Freddy Mercury than Robert Hood. Pure belladonna! So Best Of begins accordingly with 'Oh Yeah Voll Krass' -- which in the context of this album is more a mid-tempo number of rock stage proportions, boasting a massive bass line -- a wave that immediately goes pop when raving. Anyone who has been at one of her live appearances knows that this lady rocks, simultaneously loving and brash as she tears up the stage. It's like that at every one of her numerous performances, and now she has finally conveyed that spirit over the full length of an album. Best Of is like an application for a dream job that she -- unhesitatingly, without batting an eyelid, yet with an extra dash of mascara -- clearly defines: rock star! This is once again author-techno, but by an author who takes herself anything but seriously, and who gladly and immediately sacrifices any authorly gesture for the sake of a great moment -- a moment that is best shared with her! Pilocka Krach prefers to make a splash." --Daniel Meteo
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LP
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MONIKA 083LP
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LP
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MONIKA 082LP
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Monika Enterprise presents Far Away Is Right Around the Corner, the debut album by Cologne artist Sonae. Containing ten tracks written between 2012 and 2014, the record deals with reflections about friendship, growing up, and everyday life full of hope. Sonae's music is wide, flowery, and raw, from the very quiet ambient pieces to tiny club electronica moments, always embedded in an electronic soundscape. Sonae put out her first release in August 2012: the two-track EP Cologne on ambient and electronica label A Strangely Isolated Place. Her remix of "Saint" by Markus Guentner appeared in 2013, with two compilation appearances following later that year: "Entmutigt" on Sillage Intemporel's Elles and "Song of Hate and Anger" on Guentner's For Substrata, the latter appearance alongside such artists as Ismael Pinkler, Gustavo Lamas, and Rafael Anton Irisarri. 2013 was also the year of Sonae's live debut at the Perspectives Festival in Berlin, where she performed as part of an immense lineup alongside the likes of Ada, Electric Indigo, Mimicof, Islaja, and many more. In 2014 Sonae appeared at Art's Birthday Party at Södra Teatern in Stockholm, t.a.t. Cologne, and the Ambientmusikzimmer at Weltkunstzimmer Düsseldorf. In August of 2014 she released a remix for ambient artist 36 and in December the Shirley M. EP, a split release on comfortzone with Austrian musician Chra. In addition to her work as a musician, Sonae is an active member of female:pressure, an international network of female artists in electronic music, organizers of the female:pressure electronic concert series in Cologne and regular events in Berlin. Sonae's ambient creations inhabit a subtle space within the musical cosmos; one where the listener can go to experience a kind of sonic weightlessness -- just float off and let the sound waves wash over you.
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CD
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MONIKA 081CD
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Monika welcomes a new artist to her roster: the Finnish producer and composer Islaja aka Merja Kokkonen. The new Islaja album marks a radical transition for the former folk musician into a solo artist who skillfully arranges lyrics, melodies and imagery into a much more electronic style than she has been known for in the past. The album is called S U U, which is Finnish for "mouth," and Islaja's bold vocal style and lyrical content will make you want to tune in to what's coming from her S U U. Islaja has been part of the contemporary music scene for several years, already producing wonderfully-arranged surreal pop tracks in her solo work, as on 2010's Keraaminen Pää (FR 072CD/LP) as well as in collaboration with other musicians as on the Hertta Lussu Ässä project in 2011, or recently as a contributor to AGF's Kuuntele compilation in 2013. In total, she has previously had four full-length albums on Finnish label Fonal plus one on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! Records. Still, so far it has mainly been insiders of the underground music scene that have been familiar with her work. Her music is strongly associated with the D.I.Y. scene, and so represents a prime example of a female musician who has developed a singular musical and aesthetic expression. Somehow Islaja fits in with these new modern female acts such as Anika, Nite Jewel and Yula -- even if their styles are all quite distinct. Now with her fifth album appearing on Gudrun Gut's Monika Enterprise, the latest activities of Berlin-based Finnish pop musician Islaja have shown a surprising change in style and sound. S U U was coproduced and mixed by fellow Berlin resident Heidi Mortenson. The record's development is firmly rooted in the city. The songs on S U U are so full of surprises, one doesn't really know what to expect next, so her current metamorphosis falls right in line with Islaja's nature. While mystical aspects were mainly expressed in older work through lyrics with strong links to Finnish mythology, they now appear on the compositional level and in vocals driving the beats into forward-moving tracks ever permeated with a sensation of the unreal. The low-pitched voice is somewhat reminiscent of Nico, and the presence of synthesized sounds also evokes references to '80s new wave and pop. Nevertheless Islaja's work is by no means retro; rather, it creates a unique and unusual atmosphere. Her sound is as intriguing and humorous as it is original.
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MONIKA 081LP
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7"
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MONIKA 078EP
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Monika label founder and long-term ambassador of the Berlin scene Gudrun Gut now presents a brand-new 7" single with two exclusive tracks to make you leave the city and go wild. Side A explodes open with GG's very own cover version of Canned Heat's classic "Goin' Up the Country." Gut has taken the blues-rock hit and given it her very own punk twist. With her roots in '80s bands such as Malaria! and Einstürzende Neubauten, needless to say, Gudrun knows how to give the song that extra edge. Turn the record over for an equally astonishing B-side in the form of the Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble remix of the track "Tiger," taken from the Wildlife (MONIKA 077CD/LP) album.
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CD
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MONIKA 079CD
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Following her previous albums, Baden-Baden (MONIKA 039CD/LP) and Los Angeles (MONIKA 059CD) on Monika, F.S.K. bassist Michaela Melián now continues the theme of geographically-titled albums with Monaco. Again, the record is rich in hypnotically-woven sounds with a resolute mood reminiscent of film music. In keeping with the previous two albums, the instrumentation is made up of largely classical acoustic instruments which are layered in loops to create mesmerizing soundscapes. In addition to the traditional instruments such as violoncello, Spanish and electric guitar, and banjo all played by Melián herself, the album also features synthesizer and even a mellophonium played by guest instrumentalist Ching Ying Hsieh. Once again, Michaela has been assisted on the production by fellow Freiwillige Selbskontrolle band member (namely the drummer) Carl Oesterhelt. And as with her former albums on Monika, Melián plays tribute to a musical hero -- this time David Bowie, in the form of a cover song with her rendition of "Scary Monsters." This rendition at the end of side one is the only lyrical relief on an otherwise instrumental album. Otherwise, the compositions explore the realm of sound art and ambience, drifting pieces with a dark and melancholy beauty. The music is atmospheric, brooding, and contemplative -- such are the conceptual similarities between this and Melián's work. In any case, Monaco now takes its place with the earlier LPs to form a powerful trilogy.
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LP
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MONIKA 079LP
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LP version. Following her previous albums, Baden-Baden (MONIKA 039CD/LP) and Los Angeles (MONIKA 059CD) on Monika, F.S.K. bassist Michaela Melián now continues the theme of geographically-titled albums with Monaco. Again, the record is rich in hypnotically-woven sounds with a resolute mood reminiscent of film music. In keeping with the previous two albums, the instrumentation is made up of largely classical acoustic instruments which are layered in loops to create mesmerizing soundscapes. In addition to the traditional instruments such as violoncello, Spanish and electric guitar, and banjo all played by Melián herself, the album also features synthesizer and even a mellophonium played by guest instrumentalist Ching Ying Hsieh. Once again, Michaela has been assisted on the production by fellow Freiwillige Selbskontrolle band member (namely the drummer) Carl Oesterhelt. And as with her former albums on Monika, Melián plays tribute to a musical hero -- this time David Bowie, in the form of a cover song with her rendition of "Scary Monsters." This rendition at the end of side one is the only lyrical relief on an otherwise instrumental album. Otherwise, the compositions explore the realm of sound art and ambience, drifting pieces with a dark and melancholy beauty. The music is atmospheric, brooding, and contemplative -- such are the conceptual similarities between this and Melián's work. In any case, Monaco now takes its place with the earlier LPs to form a powerful trilogy.
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MONIKA 077LP
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Gatefold LP version. Gudrun Gut goes "back to nature" on her first album release since her outings with the Greie Gut Fraktion in 2009. However, Wildlife does not portray nature as a cosy ur-idyll, but rather as a realm filled with rough tenderness and its very own dangers. Gudrun Gut -- in her guise as Berlin post-punk activist, label owner, radio presenter or party promoter -- has always been interested in gaps, niches and risky locations. Now, nature itself provides such a small and utopian niche; a place where "it" might happen in a very existential sense. All of the album's tracks took shape in Gudrun Gut's Uckermark hideaway, an hour or two away from Berlin. During production, in autumn and winter, this landscape exudes an almost eerie calm, suggesting that the outside world's hectic universe of data and projects is no more than a figment of our collective imagination. Far removed from hippie-esque humanism, Gut's natural states are much closer in spirit to the cool knowledge of punk and its successors. With the sangfroid and serenity of three decades of active music experience, between completely ingenious and utter dilettante, Gut now ventures into a lavishly proliferating world of sounds and references. While the opener "Protecting My Wildlife" confronts us with jarring post-techno minimalism, "Garten" soothes the ear with its shuffling, electric romance. Soon enough, however, well-trodden paths are left behind: Gut's reworking of "Simply the Best" turns this hackneyed mega-hit into a staggering love ballad; a streaky guitar adds further distortion. "How Can I Move" seems to hide a trace of Armand van Helden in the underbrush; "Mond" flirts with subtle Detroit techno allusions. The distinctly dark "Tiger," on the other hand, truly does sound like a veritable tiger leap into the past. Similarly free of nostalgia, "Erinnerung" looks back to the past with a string of words created in a lyrical back-and-forth ping-pong match between Gut and author Annika Reich. All tracks were mixed together with Jörg Burger at two studios in the East and West. Time and again, the album exudes a lascivious and demanding intimacy that comes into its own on the fantastic "Frei Sein." Here, the track turns a nursery rhyme's playful naivety into an idiosyncratic anthem with African-inspired rhythms and a clicking, animist, ambient sound. "Frei Sein," i.e. being free, is what Gudrun Gut is all about.
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CD
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MONIKA 077CD
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Gudrun Gut goes "back to nature" on her first album release since her outings with the Greie Gut Fraktion in 2009. However, Wildlife does not portray nature as a cosy ur-idyll, but rather as a realm filled with rough tenderness and its very own dangers. Gudrun Gut -- in her guise as Berlin post-punk activist, label owner, radio presenter or party promoter -- has always been interested in gaps, niches and risky locations. Now, nature itself provides such a small and utopian niche; a place where "it" might happen in a very existential sense. All of the album's tracks took shape in Gudrun Gut's Uckermark hideaway, an hour or two away from Berlin. During production, in autumn and winter, this landscape exudes an almost eerie calm, suggesting that the outside world's hectic universe of data and projects is no more than a figment of our collective imagination. Far removed from hippie-esque humanism, Gut's natural states are much closer in spirit to the cool knowledge of punk and its successors. With the sangfroid and serenity of three decades of active music experience, between completely ingenious and utter dilettante, Gut now ventures into a lavishly proliferating world of sounds and references. While the opener "Protecting My Wildlife" confronts us with jarring post-techno minimalism, "Garten" soothes the ear with its shuffling, electric romance. Soon enough, however, well-trodden paths are left behind: Gut's reworking of "Simply the Best" turns this hackneyed mega-hit into a staggering love ballad; a streaky guitar adds further distortion. "How Can I Move" seems to hide a trace of Armand van Helden in the underbrush; "Mond" flirts with subtle Detroit techno allusions. The distinctly dark "Tiger," on the other hand, truly does sound like a veritable tiger leap into the past. Similarly free of nostalgia, "Erinnerung" looks back to the past with a string of words created in a lyrical back-and-forth ping-pong match between Gut and author Annika Reich. All tracks were mixed together with Jörg Burger at two studios in the East and West. Time and again, the album exudes a lascivious and demanding intimacy that comes into its own on the fantastic "Frei Sein." Here, the track turns a nursery rhyme's playful naivety into an idiosyncratic anthem with African-inspired rhythms and a clicking, animist, ambient sound. "Frei Sein," i.e. being free, is what Gudrun Gut is all about.
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12"
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MONIKA 075EP
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Gudrun Gut presents her Best Garden EP on Monika. The Jörg Burger (aka Modernist) mix of "Garten" is an absolute hit in the Cologne tradition. The "trimmed" edition of the track is a shorter version taken from Gudrun's upcoming album Wildlife. "The Best" is a cover version which at first glance doesn't really fit Gudrun Gut, but its recontextualization gets a whole new power. Thomas Fehlmann has got all sides covered with two cool mixes.
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CD
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MONIKA 074CD
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This is the sixth album by Berlin-based musician Barbara Morgenstern. Following 2010's Fan No. 2 (MONIKA 070CD), a greatest hits compilation of a different kind, Sweet Silence contains a fresh collection of all new songs sung for the first time only in English. As with all of Morgenstern's music, Sweet Silence exudes a glorious honesty which is just what makes her electronic pop sound so appealing. The record was mixed by Shitkatapult founder Marco Haas aka T.Raumschmiere, giving the whole thing that unmistakable Berlin sound. BM breaks the ice on the album with the title song "Sweet Silence," an anthemic intro enriched with vocal delays which sets the mood nicely. Morgenstern soon picks up the pace on "Need To Hang Around" -- this spirited song is a friendly reminder of how important it is to step back every once in a while. It's lighthearted while still carrying an important message; indeed, it remains a large part of the singer's charm that she never takes her music seriously. German fans already know Morgenstern's lyrics have always contained a great depth of meaning and imagery as well as humor. Now, with Sweet Silence, everyone can join in understanding the ideas and experiences at the heart of Morgenstern's songs, rather than just enjoying the sound of her voice on a purely instrumental level. That said, "Kookoo" works on both levels with profound lyrics and extensive creative use of vocal sampling. "Jump Into The Life-Pool" relates the age-old story that is the cycle of life, spiraling ever onwards just like the arpeggiated synth loops that are to be heard in the song. The short interlude "Bela" is one of only three instrumental tracks on an album so reliant on Morgenstern's tremendous vocal presence. "Highway" is probably the most orchestral tune, with a swelling string arrangement setting the mood. "The Minimum Says" is one of the few songs to feature guitar on a predominantly electronic album. "Auditorium" switches instrumentation again -- this time to a Rhodes and some seriously jazzy riffs. "Hip Hop Mice" is the second instrumental number on Sweet Silence and is somewhat reminiscent of Morgenstern's collaboration with Robert Lippok on Tesri, with the focus being purely on electronica and less weight being given to any pop aspect in the music. At just over five and a half minutes, "Status Symbol" seems to have almost epic proportions on an album that otherwise pretty much sticks to the three-minute golden rule of pop -- a long, drawn-out hypnotic jam that has something of a Nichts Muss feel to it. Sweet Silence is in many ways a milestone in Morgenstern's career and the next leg in her ongoing musical journey.
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CD
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MONIKA 073CD
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Following the release of their debut album Baustelle (MONIKA 069CD) in 2010, Greie Gut Fraktion, also known individually as AGF and Gudrun Gut, now present you with reKonstruKtion; a full-length album of remixes based on material taken from Baustelle and featuring remixes by Soulphiction, Jennifer Cardini, Mika Vainio, Wolfgang Voigt, Alva Noto, GGF themselves and many more. Any construction opens up the possibility of reconstruction, or in most cases even implies a need for reconstruction. The constructivist movement of the '30s wanted to openly remove the copy-cat character from art. With the remixes of GGF's Baustelle it's similar; it's about finding a different approach to good material. Through progress in technology and networking, the boundaries between producer and DJ continue to blur more and more. Remixes are an integral part of this process and the results are often pleasantly surprising, as is the case on reKonstruKtion. Both exceptional solo producers in their own right, AGF and Gudrun Gut have naturally each done individual remixes. And so the album kicks off with Antye Greie's remix of "Drilling An Ocean," followed closely by Gudrun Gut's new "Rubberboots" take on "Betongiessen" (trans. "Pouring Concrete"). Kompakt boss Wolfgang Voigt presents a superb minimal rendition of the Palais Schaumburg classic which you might know if you got the Stadt Mixe 12" that came out to accompany the original album. Mika Vainio chose to mix "Drilling An Ocean" and his industrial-noise style lends itself perfectly to the subject matter, resulting in a dark, atmospheric piece of sound-art. Natalie Beridze aka TBA delivers a fine version of "We Matter" in a cut-up electronica style. Jennifer Cardini brings a relaxed minimal-dubby twist to "Make It Work," while Soulphiction aka Jackmate supplies a prime cut with his "Late Dub" remix of "Mischmaschine." Barbara Morgenstern also contributes, presenting a delightful pop-mix of "Cutting Trees." Ever supportive of new talent, Monika introduces three new female stars Donna Neda, Chra and Villinette. ReKontstruKtion presents 15 high-quality remixes spanning a multitude of styles -- an exciting development and step forward from the Baustelle album.
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