Monolith - Volume 1 mp3 album

Dave Monolith... Ah... What a man! Yes... WHAT A MAN... !!! If you're one of those people who are suffering from withdrawal - as I am - having listened to The Tuss' legendary Hi-Techno-tronic excursions into the ACID-ic realms of breakbeat-mastery, and can't seem to find anything similar around to even remotely come close to their amazingly amazing rhythmic textures and off kilter melodies... Then - seriously - LOOK no further... Dave is your MAN... !Monolith (a.k.a. David Paul Barnard) - who lives in the Wiltshire countryside somewhere - is one of the newest jewels in the Rephlex illustrious crown... One who'll be making some serious waves with releases to come... Yes... Mark my words... ! You've only got to listen to his new "Welcome" release (coming out on Rephlex soon) to hear the creative quality oozing out of this country bumpkin's pulsing, TB-303 addled mind. But we're not reviewing "Welcome" here... We're looking at Volume 1.Offered up on a well pressed 12"... Or as a set of four 320 MP3 files from the Rephlex website... These 'slightly' POPtastic compositions remind me of The Tuss's own style of razor-edged, breakbeat electro techno infused with a bit of Lone's Lemurian pastel electronica down tempo beats and some of Daft Punk's ariose sensibilities... As such, all the tracks have many a heart-felt groomed groove rippling throughout their momentous phrases and melodic runs... Easily laced with more than enough SYNTH-etic sounds for all those ACID freaks and TECHNO-crats among you, AND littered with their fair share of motifs and frills that'll cause the groove to stop, start and spill colourfully up your spin and splash over into your imagination (much like some The Tuss' compositions might), you could - in fact - be totally forgiven for thinking that (perhaps) these tracks were actually created by Tusky him (or her) self... !? Such is the pure quality of each one of these compositions: every track has way more than enough tonal and rhythmic goings on in for each of them to keep even the most extreme ADS heads focused single pointedly throughout their entire playback. Despite this amazing similarity... When you listen really closely to the 909, 808, 606 patterns programmed by Monolith here, you won't find any of the cutting edge streamlined elegance of The Tuss' own majestic creations. But this is not to say that it's any less worthy of a huge round of applause... ! *While I've become positively certain that Monolith is not another guise for Rephlex's erect and elusive ninja master craftsman, these formulations still manage to take ACID onwards and upwards to that next level. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that if Mozart and/or Beethoven were around today, tinkling away with computers and multifarious modes of music making, they'd probably be making tracks like this... Or maybe not even as good as this!? Either way, you can see why Mr Monolith is supposedly THE most downloaded artist on the Rephlex website... !It obvious these nuggets were carefully crafted with untold amounts of TLC and, thus, they should be served up with a pair of good hi-fidelity speakers and a healthy set keen, clean ears that has (between them) a mind ready to do some serious brain dancing... But be careful... 'Cause when listening to beats like these, you have to make sure your mind doesn't get so twisted that it accidentally becomes sprained!These are without a doubt mental grooves and, as such, you should be aware that they can blow your mind.So easily a 5/5!* I mean who really gives a shit... Good music is good music, regardless of who it was created by.

RDJ you Foos!

lol yAt least 10 words must be entered lol lol

A welcome addition to the Rephlex camp. Ready to fill the void with this style of music. Many Fans of 'The Tuss' crave a similar sound and this is where 'Monolith' comes in to play. Fans can't rely on the great AFX to bring a regular burst of Braindance personified so this stuff is a good compromise.

It would be a real treat if Rephlex would release this on a proper format. What a bunch of tasty dancey treats! Definitely reminiscent of that RD James analogue music, but by no means necessarily the man himself. In any case, four solid tracks begging to be pressed to wax. Do it Rephlex!!