Rising Doom Mondkopf

• 1Intrus02:10
• 2Deadwood04:11
• 3Day of Anger05:03
• 4The Song of Shadows04:57
• 5Moon's Throat04:11
• 6Beyond the Golden Valleys03:34
• 7Sweet Memories03:36
• 8Girls Don't Cry part II03:15
• 9Where The Gods Fall03:49
• 10My Heart Is Yours04:27
• 11Fossil Lights09:00
• Total Runtime48:13

Info for Rising Doom

Mondkopf’s second album 'Rising Doom'. Inspired by post-punk, black metal, and with the music of Aphex Twin and Autechre always in his head, the album displays an energy du force like no other. Merging sound and vision, he has also collaborated with multimedia design agency, Trafik, to conceive a Live show experience for both the ears and eyes; black and white tension immerses, igniting the sensation of rave parties, exorcism and a mystical experience…

Mondkopf’s 'Rising Doom' is a prime example of an album which doesn’t care if you like it or not. Not that it's particularly obnoxious, more that it is interested in what it ‘is’ than the sensibilities of who’s listening to it. And that’s hardly surprising when you hear the album’s back story; boy moves to Paris, becomes obsessed with black metal and Aphex Twin, boy records new album under the influence of all this dark musical magic. At the tender (boyish) age of 24 years old Paul ‘Mondkopf’ Régimbeau has produced an album that unsettlingly transcends his years; it’s a black swirling mass of warped sonics and disturbed electronica that makes for a melancholic and at some points even disturbing, listening experience.

Second track ‘Deadwood’ establishes the big and snarling grinding baseline that stays constant throughout most of the album. It also introduces the shades of grey that make for the palette of sound that the album limits itself to throughout. And whilst things might not change a great deal sonically throughout, there is a playful approach to composition and arrangement which allows differentiation within the album’s heavily set parameters. One aspect Mondkopf experiments with is the concept of melody within chaos, in standout track ‘Day Of Anger’ we begin with unaccompanied classic piano, that after 40 seconds Mondkopf slowly and startlingly rips to shreds with a barbed baseline, kicking the fragile keys to shit. The track builds and builds, as huge electro beats, rigid drums and mournful synths storm the musical horizon, then as quickly as all the elements appeared, everything fizzles out and the piano keys re-emerge as if nothing had ever happened. Mondkopf explores this juxtaposition of classical and industrial again on later track ‘The Song Of Shadows’, taking a mirror approach to that within ‘Day Of Anger’ the track sees melodic strings emerge in the middle of the track, asserting themselves and dominating the harsh beats that had sustained the cut thus far. It makes for a hard slice of electronica with a core of melodic fragility and beauty, heightened by the coldness that surrounds. Thing’s aren’t always so easy going though, ‘Girls Don’t Cry Part II’ makes use of what sounds like samples of animals being slaughtered and ‘Moon’s Throat’ employs a swirling mixture of disturbing demonic-sound vocals repeating the same letters over and over. Throughout all this the unrelenting bass continues to pound abrasively; the result is both a challenging and demanding experience. Put simply, this isn’t an album to put on in the car when you’re on a date.

That’s not to say it’s impossible to listen to in a purely aesthetical sense. There’s plenty of melody beneath the hard-rock exterior to fully engage with and the second half of the album sees Paul stretch timings out, slow the pace down even further and turn the bass down by a just a few degrees. Penultimate track ‘My Heart Is Yours’ has beautiful synths that sound like they’ve been lifted from a dystopian sci-fi flick, whilst the epic finale ‘Fossil Lights’ employs a gravel-like bass and achingly melancholic keys against jets of warm brass percussion and light synths; a sweeping finale that melts both your ears and heart.

Comparisons have been made between Mondkopf and Aphex Twin, and I can see why. Whilst their musical output itself might only share slight similarities, it’s Mondkopf’s approach to making music that makes them comparable. You can tell on hearing this album that the listener was not regarded in the slightest during the recording of this album, and as such the music sounds unforced and as if it has been allowed to grow of itself and into itself. As I stated earlier, it’s not always an easy album to listen to, in-fact the listening experience is in some senses quite draining and purposefully monotonous. Yet this is an album without any agenda or urgency to it, it doesn’t look to be ‘understood’ or even approved of. This is, quite simply, the morbid, wandering manifesto of a musically talented mind in a very dark place. (Pete Adkins, datatransmission)

Mondkopf aka Paul Régimbeau
Thomas Kpade, cello (track 2)
Olivier Sabatier, piano (track 3)
Jean-Elie Eftekhari, flute (track 4)
Xavier Thiry, guitar (track 5)
Agnès Gayraud, vocals (track 5)
Olivier Sabatier, trombone (track 11)
Nicolas Gardel, trumpet (track 11)

French producer Mondkopf (aka Paul Régimbeau) has always seemingly stood apart from the musical trends that surround him since his arrival in 2008 with The (Declaration of) Principles EP on the Fool House label run by members of key “first wave” mp3 blog Fluokids. On that release there were moments of thumping electro that sounded very much of that time, but he also revealed a talent for glitchier fare that lead people to draw comparisons with Modeselektor.

Across two albums Mondkopf’s music has developed markedly from this early release, with 2009’s Galaxy Of Nowhere a sprawling collection of downtrodden electronica and widescreen orchestral moments melded with crunched and processed beats that read like an undervalued homage to his childhood heroes such as Aphex Twin and Chris Clark. Intriguingly, his pertinently titled second album Rising Doom was an altogether darker experience linked wholly to the emphasis of his live set, embracing with real intensity the influence of abrasive forms of metal music. It made for an overwhelming and at times uneasy listen, but you have to give Régimbeau credit for such a heart wrenching approach to electronic music.

Around the time Rising Doom was released, the producer established a new club night at Parisian venue The Rex Club named In Paradisum, with the obvious aim of inviting producers and DJs with a similarly all encompassing approach to music. To date luminaries such as Oneohtrix Point Never, Perc, Inigo Kennedy, Sandwell District and Demdike Stare have all played. Playing alongside such names has clearly proved influential in the producer’s decision to start a label of the same name, with this first release including some suitably uncompromising material. (Juno Plus)

This album contains no booklet.