The Late Monoliths (2011-) are an ongoing series of compositions utilizing strict “hands-off” rule-sets to yield slowly changing outcomes. While many were recorded during daylight hours in the home-studios I’ve kept in multiple hemispheres over the past decade, a few have been the results of late-night hotel-room & recording-studio sessions; all incorporate contemporary Eurorack hardware to achieve the desired result. 

I released a “Private” sextuple-disc set on my birthday in 2017 (which is now streaming on all of the platforms & apps; YouTube™ embed to your right/below) with a second set coming in late 2023.

Since moving to Australia in late 2015, every year, on my birthday, I tend to realize an edition of some sort on Broken-Music's in-house label Industrial Abbotsford; last year was the run of 25 hand-cut copies of the "Halle (Salle)" LP, and this it's a six-disc set of "Automatic" synthesizer works entitled "Late Monoliths, 2011-2013."

The pieces on this set all use the same methodology; a particular combination of elements specific to the Hybrid Digital-Analogue setup I've been slowly refining over the past 15 years was dialed in, set in play, then captured over the course of roughly an hour, with little to no intervention. All of the sounds originate from within the system itself, and were subjected only to subtle augmentation in the mixing & mastering stages.

Of the scores of recordings made during this stretch, these six were chosen as they show a clear progression from rather ecclesiastic, melodic forms - the first three discs - into more challenging material. As a general guide, I recommend listening to one disc, once a week, during an hour that you put aside for listening. In the traditional of Indian Carnatic music, the first three discs are more "morning" appropriate, and can be heard at a moderate level - the last three are more "evening" and are best given a little more volume. In no way is there an emphasis on chronology, other than that the pieces are presented in the order they were recorded; feel free to mix & match, and in fact disregard pieces that you favor less.

If you see a pattern emerging here it's because you're familiar with Douglas Leedy's seminal "Entropical Paradise" set, on which this enterprise is loosely based; I have been scheming for decades to riff on this exact modus, this is the eventual result. I'm normally not one for dedications, but I feel compelled to invoke the memory of Richard Lainhart, who ushered words of kindness and encouragement on several occasions when I was absolutely ready to throw in the towel right around the time these were being laid to tape; that and the fact that his 1974 piece "White Night" was- and is a clear influence on how these pieces took shape. RIP Richard.