mono, the original .MOD label was founded by h0l, an English-born, California-based videogame designer, as an outlet for talented electronic musicians who weren't getting the attention they deserved. To begin with all genres of electronic music were released, but over time a few distinct styles emerged. In 1997, h0l decided to specialise in breakbeat and renamed the label mono211. He also spun off a sublabel, monotonik, which would concentrate on techno.

With the vastly expanded use of .MP3 over the Internet, h0l eventually decided to drop the .MOD format altogether and only release .MP3s. This was a controversial decision at the time, mono211+tonik being one of the first demo scene related groups to abandon the archetypal demo scene music format. However, it proved to be a trendsetter, with many of the other music crews following suit.

monotonik came to the fore, with the rise of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) and mono211 was, for a time, all but sidelined. Subi, one of h0l's old friends from their Amiga demo scene days and one of the founding members of mono, had already been opposed to the abandonment of .MODs, and had very different ideas about what constituted "dance music".

In the end, mono was h0l's baby, not Subi's, so they came to a compromise. By popular request, mono211 was revamped, keeping the breakbeats but going more nu-skool. However, once again h0l's vision for the label's style didn't match up with Subi's, and a third sublabel, monoRAVEik was created solely for Subi's (in h0l's words) "unique" output. Despite feeling marginalised, Subi took up the offer, and after a year, at the end of 2001, h0l gave monoRAVEik to Subi to manage as he saw fit.

If it sounds like h0l and Subi had a falling out, they didn't. They just entertain different opinions. Subi's is that the very idea of "intelligent" dance music is wrong. Dance music is for dancing to, not for listening. It should connect straight to the hind-brain and make you move. Why should the concept of "maturing musically", or "progressing" mean music for the mind instead of the body?

So, monoRAVEik exists to be monotonik's antithesis. monotonik to be listened to, monoRAVEik to be moved to. Different through they are, we like to think that both have the same high standards applied to them, and that the mono label is still a mark of quality.

Anyway, if you like the music we release, please support the real-world (CD/vinyl) releases of our artists, or if you're a label owner, sign them up to a deal. If you're interested in releasing music on monoRAVEik, then mail us at monoraveik@monoraveik.com with details of how we can get hold of your music (don't actually post binaries to this address please!) and we'll check your material out and at least give you constructive feedback. We do this for fun. Music is great, and giving great music away for free is even better. Hope you dig it.