Search - Monolake :: Gobi the Desert

Nighttime ambience, maybe desert-like...

DAC Crowell | 08/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is only sort of an 'EP'. Actually, it's one single 36+ minute work, which really makes it fit more into the realm of a full-length classical or New Music disc. And soundwise, it also fits that New Music classification. Although the duo that is Monolake is part of that whole Chain Reaction/Basic Channel 'crew' that's best known for its dubby/trancy efforts, this work is almost pure ambience, in the sort of vein that actually reminds me a bit of Brian Eno's "Thursday Afternoon". The time of day is different, however; this is very much a nighttime work, with the sounds of crickets, perhaps frogs, and other nocturnal creatures making noise over a very slow-changing background drone/pattern. It didn't strike me as very 'desert-like' though...reminding me more of sounds I've heard on autumn evenings in the mountain forests of Tennessee. But I'm not going to fault Monolake for that, as this is a beautiful, quiet, contemplative work that will appeal to a number of different listeners. Best listening volume: nearly off, with the CD player set to infinite repeat. In fact, when I listened to it that way, the sounds of the piece merged so perfectly with the nighttime sounds outside that it got difficult to tell where Monolake began and the crickets and katydids stopped. FYI: play this back in Dolby Surround, as it's mixed for it."

A barren dune

Matthew D. Mercer | Chicago, IL United States | 01/13/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This release from Monolake consists of one 36-min track. This is about as far removed from the Chain Reaction/Basic Channel dubby techno as possible, and when you hear this EP be sure to remember its title as you sit and listen. This is the sound of a desert, not necessarily literally, but it's appropriate nonetheless. Crickets chirp and electronics purr and click, but a beat never comes in, and nothing really happens. It's stubbornly ambient, and I think that's highly respectable in a time that our attention spans have grown so short."