http://mu42.com/monika News on Monika Enterprise ... Mu42 http://mu42.com/monika/MP358 2010-09-21 12:22:32 A174 Fan No. 2 is a roundup of Barbara Morgenstern’s extensive recorded output to date including previously unreleased versions and never before heard mixes as well as brand new exclusive tracks. As a special treat for fans of the Berlin singer, musician and producer, the double CD set includes a bonus CD of her two early EPs Plastikreport and Enter The Partyzone, which get their first official release here. The collection is a guided tour through Morgenstern’s catalogue starting from her first release on monika, Vermona ET 6-1, named after the cult organ that BM put to such great use on all of her early work. The version of Das Wort contained on Fan No.2 is a rarity that has its first proper release here. Then there’s Thomas Fehlmann’s Mix Expansion version of Der Augenblick; another previously unreleased track originally taken from the Fjorden album. There are 2 tracks from 2003s seminal Nichts Muss album: Aus heiterem Himmel and the title track, Nichts Muss. These are produced by scape label founder Stefan Betke aka Pole, who has also remastered all the tracks on this double CD set. 2006 saw Morgenstern shift slighty away from electronics towards a more organic sound with the use of traditional instrumentation. The piano version of The Operator is dedicated to Scottish pianist and composer Bill Wells (with whom Barbara has released on Leaf and Karaoke Kalk) and was so far only available on the single of this song. Camouflage from her last full length album, BM, represents another major milestone in the career of Barbara Morgenstern. She always wanted to work with Robert Wyatt and the dream came true with this delightfully moving song. The second number from BM to be included on Fan No. 2 is the anthemic Come To Berlin - a harsh criticism of Berlin’s city planning policy disguised in the form of a pop song promoting tourism in the German capital. This powerful hit appears in this collection as an brand new edit of the original 12” single track. Fan No. 2 draws to a close with 3 more previously unreleased tracks. Mountainplace originally appeared on Chicks On Speed’s acclaimed Girl Monster compilation, but the version included on Fan No. 2 is an exclusive version made by Mrs Morgenstern, new for 2010. Wegbereiter and Blackbird on the other hand, are both completely brand new exlusive tracks. The first sees BM typically walking a fine line between kitsch and heart-wrenching while the later, a cover of The Beatles song, is unashamed uplifting pop as only Morgenstern can do and with it’s funky electronic production is surprisingly far removed removed from the original. Fan No. 2 charts the course of Barbara Morgenstern’s catalogue and the development of her style. Not quite a “best of” in the conventional sense of the term, but still packed with “hits hits hits”. In this respect it’s ideal for long-term fans, who will especially appreciate the bonus CD containing the rarities Enter The Partyzone (originally a cassette release in 1997 on Joe Tabu’s living room label, Hausfrau im Schacht) & Plastikreport (which was previously only available as a very ltd. release on Leipzig label Club der guten Hoffnung), as well as for any new listeners wishing to find out whats so special about Barbara Morgenstern’s music. http://mu42.com/monika/MP357 2010-08-10 12:32:14 A173 Georgian musician Natalie Beridze aka tba first came to monika through her contribution to Volume 1 of the popular series 4 Women No Cry. Now her latest solo releases are coming out on the Berlin label too. This 5 track online EP is a taster for the full-length album, ForgetFulness, that is coming out in autumn. And while What about things like bullets stands proud on its own, it’s sure to leave you wanting more. While these are her first solo releases on monika, Tusia Beridze is certainly no newcomer. With output on labels such as Max Ernst, her ongoing collaboration with the Goslab collective and most recently a release on Laboratory Instinct, tba’s sound is both rich in texture and depth of vision. From the industrial beats of opening title track What about things like bullets to the club friendly electro-ambience of The Face We Choose To Miss and the intricate electronica of This isn't right, this isn't even wrong, the cutting edge production gains warmth and a personal touch throughout from the presence of tba’s voice. No more so is this the case as in her remarkable cover of Nine Inch Nails / Trent Reznor’s Hurt. Of course, Beridze is following in big footsteps with her rendition of this song as the late great Johnny Cash also covered it as one of his last recordings. But tba’s version in all its ambient elegance adds a whole new dimension to this brilliantly melancholy ballad and thereby recollects perhaps Pop Artificielle’s cover of Jealous Guy. This fine EP ends with Silently – which is nothing short of breathtaking. tba’s music is captivating and yet at the same time leaves enough room to let the listeners’ imagination run off in its own direction. And this download EP is just the beginning. If you like this, stand by for the immanent release of her brand new album, ForgetFulness, which contains collaborations with Japanese pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto as well as a host more original Natalie Beridze compositions. In the meantime, enjoy this EP! http://mu42.com/monika/MP356 2010-06-22 18:19:34 A172 With their new project "Baustelle" Antye Greie and Gudrun Gut are entering the world of chainsaws and pneumatic hammers: a world of murmurs and hissing, hammering and sawing. The Greie Gut Fraktion have captured hours of field recordings from contruction sites and used the most exciting sounds as the building blocks for their collaboration. And it’s this omni-present construction site noise, with all ist scraping, scratching, drilling and chiseling, that povides the red thread throughout this album. But however great the temptation might be to make purely industrial music with these building site sounds, the two ladies haven’t fallen for it. On the contrary, the beats on "Baustelle" are of course gripping and the sounds direct, but there's nothing too pushy so that you feel overpowered. Instead the Fraktion takes us by the hand for a guided tour of the construction site. Produced with great tact and attention to detail, intimate tunes and raw beats take turns and become intertwined. Despite the huge diversity in the songs, one still has the impression that it all belongs together. And Baustelle is nothing if not diverse. Guitar-noise becomes entangled in downtempo beats. Then there's laid back dub like on "Drilling An Ocean", a track that peters out, frayed, after a couple minutes, only to take a breath and return to its calm flow. And there's a super-cool grooving version of the Palais Schaumburg hit "Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt". This Baustelle opens up many rooms. One of the reasons for this is certainly the detail of production and liveliness of the field recordings used. On the other hand, its down to the depth with which this music looks back on a sense of timing as we know it from new crossover music, conceptual beat and even post-kraut-dub-industrial- techno. You can lose yourself in this music - it draws you in to its endlessness. The fragments of text that are included are repeated with variations, circling associatively around the topic at hand. The words are whispered, spoken, shouted and sung, although cool and somewhat distant, in this way every track holds a surprise in store. The two-tone-melodie ("break it down, build it up") in "Make It Work" quite unexpectedly turns tribal drumming into a soul number. Or there's the Baustelle-eroticism of "Betongiessen" ("a man in full bloom, his legs wide open..."), a purely spoken word piece set against the backround of swelling layers of sound which clearly have their origin in looped machines and work-sounds. It all started in winter 2008 when Antye Greie first invited Gudrun Gut to collaborate on a commision for the BBC's Late Junction. From then on the two artists have combined their creative forces to come up with Baustelle. The initial timbers were laid at Greie's home in Finnland. The tracks then gradually took shape throughout 2009 via an online exchange. And the working partnership was solidified through live performances of the Baustelle material e.g. in Copenhagen, so that the project became concrete reality for both women. The album was produced by Gudrun Gut and Antje Greie in their respective studios in Berlin and Finnland and result has been masterfully mixed by Antye Greie. Especially in the case of Gudrun Gut one might think that with a subject like "Baustelle" (trans. construction site) she would be recalling industrial. Einstürzenden Neubauten were after all an important milestone in her musical career. But the boss of label monika enterprise has swam in many musical waters and in her role as radio presenter (oceanclub on RBB Radio Eins, Berlin) has constantly got her ears on the currents of fresh music. 2009 saw her play as a solo artist, with her album "I put a record on”, in such countries as New Zealand, Australia, China, USA, Russia, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, France and many more. Digital songwriter and electronic-poet, Antye Greie, has also amassed countless concerts and sound-installations throughout Europa, North-America and Asia. She has played at Festivals such as Ars Electronica Linz, Sonar Barcelona, CTM Berlin, GRM Festival Paris, Roskilde, Sync Festival Athen, AudioVisiva Milano, Intern. Open Book Festival Moskau or Sonic Acts Amsterdam. As a soloist she has been guest at such places as the Centre Pompidou Paris, ICC Tokyo, Akademie der Kuenste Berlin, ICA London and many more. While Craig Armstrong, Vladislav Delay, Ellen Allien, Eliane Radigue and Kaffe Matthews count amongst her other many collaborators with whom she has worked together. http://mu42.com/monika/MP33 2010-06-22 18:05:19 A119 Monika label fonder Gudrun Gut allows her new album to radiate with beautiful melancholy like a strong perfume. „I put a record on“ is an invitation to let oneself fall backwards into her warm pulse. http://mu42.com/monika/MP355 2010-06-03 13:53:00 A171 With their new project "Baustelle" Antye Greie and Gudrun Gut are entering the man's world of chainsaws and pneumatic hammers: a world of murmurs and hissing, hammering and sawing. The Greie Gut Fraktion have captured hours of field recordings from contruction sites and used the most exciting sounds as the building blocks for their collaboration. And it's this omni-present construction site noise, with all that scraping, scratching, drilling and chiseling, that povides the red thread throughout this album. But however great the temptation might be to make purely industrial music with these building site sounds, the two ladies haven't fallen for it. On the contrary, the beats on "Baustelle" are of course gripping and the sounds direct, but there's nothing too pushy so that you feel overpowered. Instead the Fraktion takes us by the hand for a guided tour of the construction site. Produced with great tact and attention to detail, intimate tunes and raw beats take turns and become intertwined. Despite the huge diversity in the songs, one still has the impression that it all belongs together. And Baustelle is nothing if not diverse. Guitarnoise becomes entangled in downtempo beats. Then there's laid back dub like on "Drilling An Ocean", a track that peters out, frayed, after a couple minutes, only to take a breath and return to its calm flow. And there's a super-cool grooving version of the Palais Schaumburg hit "Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt". This Baustelle opens up many rooms. One of the reasons for this is certainly the detail of production and liveliness of the field recordings used. On the other hand, its down to the depth with which this music looks back on a sense of timing as we know it from new crossover music, conceptual beat and even post-kraut-dub-industrial-techno. You can lose yourself in this music - it draws you in to its endlessness. The fragments of text that are included are repeated with variations, circling associatively around the topic at hand. The words are whispered, spoken, shouted and sung, although cool and somewhat distant, in this way every track holds a surprise in store. The two-tone-melodie ("break it down, build it up") in "Make It Work" quite unexpectedly turns tribal drumming into a soul number. Or there's the Baustelle-eroticism of "Betongiessen" ("a man in full bloom, his legs wide open…"), a purely spoken word piece set against the backround of swelling layers of sound which clearly have their origin in looped machines and work-sounds. It all started in winter 2008 when Antye Greie first invited Gudrun Gut to collaborate on a commision for the BBC's Late Junction. From then on the two artists have combined their creative forces to come up with Baustelle. The initial timbers were laid at Greie's home in Finnland. The tracks then gradually took shape throughout 2009 via an online exchange. And the working partnership was solidified through live performances of the Baustelle material e.g. in Copenhagen, so that the project became concrete reality for both women. The album was produced by Gudrun Gut and Antje Greie in their respective studios in Berlin and Finnland and result has been masterfully mixed by Antye Greie. Especially in the case of Gudrun Gut one might think that with a subject like "Baustelle" (trans. construction site) she would be recalling industrial. Einstu.rzenden Neubauten were after all an important milestone in her musical career. But the boss of label monika enterprise has swam in many musical waters and in her role as radio presenter (oceanclub on RBB Radio Eins, Berlin) has constantly got her ears on the currents of fresh music. 2009 saw her play as a solo artist, with her album "I put a record on", in such countries as New Zealand, Australia, China, USA, Russia, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, France and many more. Digital songwriter and electronic-poet, Antye Greie, has also amassed countless concerts and sound-installations throughout Europa, North-America and Asia. She has played at Festivals such as Ars Electronica Linz, Sonar Barcelona, CTM Berlin, GRM Festival Paris, Roskilde, Sync Festival Athen, AudioVisiva Milano, Intern. Open Book Festival Moskau or Sonic Acts Amsterdam. As a soloist she has been guest at such places as the Centre Pompidou Paris, ICC Tokyo, Akademie der Kuenste Berlin, ICA London and many more. While Craig Armstrong, Vladislav Delay, Ellen Allien, Eliane Radigue and Kaffe Matthews count amongst her other many collaborators with whom she has worked together. http://mu42.com/monika/MP354 2010-04-01 13:19:48 A170 City Splits is a new series presented by monika enterprise. Whereas monika’s 4 Women No Cry series, currently on its 3rd acclaimed volume, is designed to unite artists divided geographically, City Splits will instead focus on one city and present two of the most exciting new musicians from that scene. Having recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of reunification and the fall of the Wall, Berlin was a logical choice for the 1st installment of City Splits: #1 presents two interesting female musician-producers who live and work in the German capital. What Golden Diskó Ship and Jasmina Maschina have in common, other than the fact that they tour as a double-bill each not only supporting but playing on stage with the other, is their standing in the berlin scene. Despite their very different musical styles they both have strong followings certainly in their home towns and, looking at their relentless tour-schedule, presumably from further a field too. Golden Diskó Ship aka Theresa Stroetges started playing songs live on her laptop since the moment she first arrived in berlin in 2007 and at the same time commenced 3 years of touring, hand made CDs, and music video production to accompany the live shows. The 27 year old sound sculptress has quickly become renowned for her imaginative blend of fragile balladry, novel use of found objects, crunchy distortion, quirky visuals and squealing bits that suggest horrific drum machine abuse. Firmly rooted in the DIY tradition, Golden Diskó Ship has to date had a number of self-releases, the Bumblebee Behind A Tree EP (2007) & Lonesome Cowboy/Christmas Tree EP (2008). She has already gained considerable attention from the press with comparisons to d_rradio and FOURTET. The “organically cluttered singer-songwriter” lists her influences as including restlessness, chocolate, first takes, peaceful hangovers, lakes, trees, streets, bad weather, swimming pools, mistuned guitars and iceland - where she lived for 1 year. Indeed the name Golden Disko Ship comes from a rotting former party ship in the harbour of Rekyavik. Her uniquely chaotic and original music with its fragile layers of magnificently swirling sounds has fast made Golden Diskó Ship a favourite of the Berlin underground-indie scene. Jasmine Guffond aka Jasmina Maschina is a celebrated Australian electronic musician who relocated to Berlin from Sydney in 2003 with her band MINIT (sigma editions). Over the last 10 years Jasmine has been recording and performing with Minit, exhibiting sound installations, developing works of varied scope based on the use of processed acoustic, electronic, and found sound sources. Equally interested in song, composition and free, improvised music, as Jasmina Maschina she began recording songs in her myriad of Berlin homes producing her debut solo album, 'The Demolitions Series' which was released on Staubgold in 2008. Since then she has been playing throughout Europe, further developing her studio recordings with musicians Theresa Stroetges (guitar, viola, glockenspiel, high hat, zither) and Steve Heather (drums on ‘City Fever’) and all the time recording new music at home, and working with Theresa Stroetges who plays Viola by on ‘Holding Onto Day’ & ‘You Come And Go As You Please’. The most recent recording, Ausland originates form a live solo electronic performance at Ausland Club in Berlin, then developed into a variation of Slow Walker, a song from the Demolition Series. For City Splits #1 Gudrun Gut has hand picked 5 of these recordings (plus a bonus track on the download). With a trip to LA already planned for #2, City Splits offers a fresh take on the urban musical landscape and the Golden Diskó Ship / Jasmina Maschina record is a beautiful first leap into uncharted waters. In this difficult day and age where music is often taken for granted, monika for one is still not afraid to delve into the unknown and support new talents. http://mu42.com/monika/MP36 2010-02-04 17:16:16 A122 Milenasong is Berlin-based Sabrina Milena, a Norwegian/ Slovenian/ Croatian, living in her chosen home of Berlin. Milena has been making music for 5 years with her Fostex 4-track and has a general fixation on organic sound. http://mu42.com/monika/MP32 2010-02-04 17:10:32 A118 To accompany the fantastic new Chica and the Folder album Under The Balcony (monika 57), monika also brings you a brilliant remix 12inch. While the album takes in everything from electro to ambient and beyond, Mixes from the Balcony is geared much more towards clubs and DJs with three hot mixes by Pikaya, Sonja Moonear and Ricardo Villabos. http://mu42.com/monika/MP316 2010-02-04 16:32:15 A132 Music is an art. Music may well be the oldest form of human socialization and interaction. http://mu42.com/monika/MP315 2010-02-04 16:32:08 A131 Barbara Morgenstern and Robert Lippoks 2001 commission for Dominos Series 500 imprint, where they soundtracked the moods of each of the seasons across twenty-one near perfect minutes. On Tesri, which is an Arab-rooted Turkish word meaning to accelerate, the music feels partly coloured by their separate visits to Istanbul. But this music is exotic and rich rather than kitschly eastern-sounding and is full of seasonal detail which runs from remote sunsets, insect hum and dust, to a crisp, wintery stillness by the end of the album. http://mu42.com/monika/MP312 2010-02-04 16:32:01 A128 Don’t say no to Hanns Eisler and Bert Kaempfert - say yes to Cobra Killer!!! http://mu42.com/monika/MP35 2010-02-04 16:31:52 A121 Following the success of last years 4 Women No Cry compilation, monika enterprise now presents the second in this eclectic series. 4 Women No Cry Vol. 2 again brings four new female artists from all corners of the globe together on one concept album compiled and selected by Gudrun Gut. The stars of the latest installment of 4 Women are Dorit Chrysler (New York), Iris (Barcelona), Mico (London) and Monotekktoni (Berlin), each of whom brings something different and special to the album. http://mu42.com/monika/MP353 2009-10-08 13:37:40 A169 Cobra Killer are Gina V. DOrio and Annika Line Trost. Both have played in bands in the former West Berlin since the age of 12/13. They formed Cobra Killer in January 1998, touring through Europe and revolutionising the then boring electronic music scene with their raucous show. In 2002 they took Australia and New Zealand by storm supporting PEACHES on various shows including the Big Day Out Festival. Shortly afterwards, they were also support act for SONIC YOUTH who were very impressed by the Cobra movement. Recently they have wowed capacity crowds supporting big names such as MARILYN MANSON and JON SPENCER, who also guests on two tracks on the new album. Uppers & Downers, their 5th full length studio album, sees Cobra Killer on form and sounding as defiant and unpredicatable as ever. Recorded in part at EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN’s “Andere Baustelle” studio in Berlin, and featuring appearances by such very special guests as J. MASCIS and THURSTON MOORE, the record is a roller coaster ride that sees the band pushing the limits and again going way beyond expectations to deliver an album thats sure to please their many fans, especially when they take to the road to present the songs in their unmistakeably energetic live show. http://mu42.com/monika/MP342 2009-10-08 13:37:34 A158 An album as good as James Figurine’s Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake (monika49) deserves to be celebrated with not just one but two remix 12”s. A Kompakt triple-bill of DJ KOZE and SUPERPITCHER/ Tobias Thomas complete the James Figurine techno pop club-sandwich. http://mu42.com/monika/MP343 2009-10-08 13:37:31 A159 Forgive Your Friends is the first remix 12”s taken from the JAMES FIGURINE album Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake (monika 49). This single features remixes by THE FIELD, JOHN TEJADA and DAVID FIGURINE. http://mu42.com/monika/MP346 2009-10-08 13:37:25 A162 THE GIRL SUITE EP by spoken word artist Myra Davies, with music by Gudrun Gut, is four tracks pertaining to the shared culture of girls and women. No frothy pop clichés of Girls made to love who just wanna have fun. These beats are for girls struggling to find their way in a dangerous world. The EP is a taster for the forthcoming Myra Davies album “Cities & Girls” (moabit17) and is available as an online release at all quality download portals in August 2008. MY FRIEND SHERRY Looks back to the early 60s. Pigtails and pop, and no legal abortion; a true story about how it was then and just might be again, this track is a playful and powerful response to the campaign to limit womens' right to legal abortions. The DRILL REMIX puts an industrial spin on the notion that every girl should own an electric drill. This remix is exclusively available on THE GIRL SUITE EP. LOVE (DEMO) is an up-tempo sequenced track about love and that way it has of morphing into its opposite. This “demo” track is also exclusive to the EP. The VALKYRIE are loud and horsey girls. The VALKYRIE are living the dream with their own horses and rebellion too. Davies' poem on the bond between girls and horses is embedded in Gut 's lively remix of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyrie. (Credit: Original orchestral score by Richard Wagner, performed by The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ewe Mund, Conductor. Rights through AB Classical, Göteborg, Sweden.) Myra Davies (Canada) and Gudrun Gut (Berlin) have been weaving words and music since 1991 when they began MIASMA . THE GIRL SUITE EP is the first collaboration release since MIASMA 3 (2002) and it mixes beats with attitude. http://mu42.com/monika/MP347 2009-10-08 13:37:21 A163 Ever dedicated to club culture, monika enterprise never fails to supply the finest remixes around. From Turner’s classic techno pop re(h)mix of Quarks or those early Contriva EPs all the way to the last years In Pieces with Pole and Burger/Voigt mixes of Gudrun Gut and lets not forget Ricardo Villalobos’ remix of Chica & The Folder; monika’s remix 12”s are a treat for any DJ and music lover. Now as a prelude to the new Barbara Morgenstern album, BM (monika64), monika brings you 3 remixes of her politically charged hit Come To Berlin including mixes by Telefon Tel Aviv, The Rice Twins and Chloé as well as an exclusive single edit. Swedish duo The Rice Twins aka Jesper Engström & Valdemar Gezelius are, along with The Field, part of the new generation of Skandinavian artists on the Kompakt label. There mix lifts off slowly with Barbara Morgenstern’s vocoder distorted voice and swooping melodious synth strings, gradually building up to a hypnotic crescendo. This remix continues the Cologne - Berlin connection and the musical friendship between Kompakt and monika. After all Superpitcher’s remix of Contriva is still an all time favorite. Telefon Tel Aviv are Charles Cooper and Joshua Eustis. They are on Chicago’s Hefty Records and have previously had remixes on Ghostly International, Peacefrog Records and Shitkatapult. Of all the Come To Berlin mixes Telefon Tel Aviv retain most of the original song structure, yet they still manipulate the song into a highly danceable track making it fully club compatible. French DJ Chloé has previously remixed the likes of Booka Shade and Junior Boys, and her treatment of Morgenstern’s single is a minimal cut perfect for the dancefloor. She samples the piano and vocals to great effect giving the song a fresh edge. And this terrific 12” ends with an exclusive single mix of the original song Come To Berlin just to remind you what an excellent song this is. Come To Berlin is without question the poppiest song on Barbara Morgesntern’s 5th album BM. This powerful ballad is a tounge-in-cheek tribute to capital city Berlin and an anthem for tourists at the same time. Morgenstern’s music which has previously been remixed by the likes of Ellen Alien, Lawrence, Tarwater and DNTEL, lends itself impeccably to being remixed, rich and deep in complexity as it is. These 3 fabulous new remixes by The Rice Twins, Telefon Tel Aviv and Chloé make this an exceptional 12” fully in keeping with monika’s tradition for high quality remixes. http://mu42.com/monika/MP348 2009-10-08 13:37:17 A164 Canadian spoken word artist Myra Davies is back with her new album CITIES & GIRLS, a fresh collection of witty stories. As with their MIASMA trilogy, Davies’ stories have been set to music by Gudrun Gut, whose own solo album I Put A Records On came out last year, as well as Beate Bartel and the team of Danielle de Picciotto / Alexander Hacke - who provide the musical accompaniment on two tracks. Berlin Electronica is the warp in which Davies weaves reportage on global life in the early 21st century. Cities and Girls are prevalent themes. "The city is our social heart and creative core" Davies says. That sounds odd coming from an artist who lives in The Rocky Mountains. "I see cities with fresh eyes," she says. "Look around. This is a great time for cities." And Girls? "I was a girl once myself. It's fun but not easy. Wherever I am, I tend to notice how girls are handling the challenge. My friend Sherry is a dead girl. She began haunting me in San Diego when I was first exposed to the new anti-abortion campaign." There are several dead people walking in this album. "It's good karma to give some air time to the past and gone." The stories in the GIRLS & CITIES cd range widely in time and space. For the composers, the challenge was to find musical ideas that support specific story settings and also ground the track in the album as a whole. http://mu42.com/monika/MP349 2009-10-08 13:37:12 A165 The latest chapter in the 4 Women No Cry story is as musically varied as you could hope for. Volume 3 again proves that there can be unity in diversity and where music is concerned, this is perhaps the utmost virtue. Lucrecia, Manekinekod, Julia Holter and Liz Christine combine symbiotically to make 4 Women No Cry Vol. 3 a remarkable quartet of international artists, each with their own personal take on electronic music and point of view in the fast changing modern musical landscape. http://mu42.com/monika/MP350 2009-10-08 13:37:07 A166 The info to Barbara Morgenstern’s previous album, The Grass Is Always Greener (monika48), still refered to her as an „electro-pop icon“. This tag, with which she has been associated since the early days of the Berlin living room scene, no longer really fits. The lightness that was so characteristic of her last album has given way to new depths. What was minimal before is now far more complex, even weighty. The many counterpoints to the, in the main, friendly piano arpeggios; the lovely string arrangements by Julia Kent, cellist for Anthony and the Johnsons; the unexpected changes and turns; the new versatility – all this makes BM the most unusual and perhaps most important album that Barbara Morgenstern has presented yet.