History
Ramtin Asadolahzadeh and Erik Schaeffer were introduced in Berlin in 1999. They started to work together in the same month. Their first joint project was the composition and co-production of music for the German cinema-releases Ants in the Pants (2000) and Bundle of Joy [ de ] (2000).
Combining their respective music influences, in the summer of 2001 Monossurround moved towards composing electronic music. Their first release in the same year “I warned you baby” was an immediate success, becoming the official festival anthem SonneMondSterne Festival 2002 in Saalburg, Thuringia. The track samples the American jazz singer Spanky Wilson.
Through the success of “I warned you baby” connections arose between Monosurround and their peers. They remixed many artists including Sono, Phil Fuldner, Da Hool, TISM Northern Lite and Glamour to Kill. They were simultaneously remixed by artists, including The Gigler, Shir Khan, The Raccoon Brothers, DJ SPUD and Malente.
At that time, parallel to regular live performances, Monosurround started working on their first studio album, Hello World. In 2004, the duo stopped performing live in order to concentrate their energies on the development and production of the album.
The EP Borschtchick was released in Germany in 2005 through Moonbootique Records owned by Moonbootica. In January 2006, the Cocked, Locked EP was released on techno DJ Vitalic's record label Citizen Records in France. This EP includes the tracks “Borschtchick” and “Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock”.
Having successfully released these EPs into the French market in 2006 and 2007, Monosurround played live again alongside acts such as Vitalic and The Hacker.
The album Hello World was released across different countries at the end of 2008: France in September, Germany in November, and Japan in December.
Style
The Monosurround sound has changed greatly since its formation in 1999. Azadolahzadeh and Schaeffer come from different musical backgrounds: 1960s and 1970s soul funk, and techno and classical music respectively. Their first two years together saw performances including up to nine instrumentalists on stage playing 1960s crossover big beat.
In 2001 a notable change in their sound occurred. Azadolahzadeh and Schaeffer moved towards electronic music in their composition, bringing their sound closer to electronic dance music and techno.
The major stylistic turning point came in 2003 with the creation of their track “We”. The signature sound from this point onwards combined epic vocal/choral textures with hard industrial noises. These features of the music bear comparison to the Justice (French band) sound which arose at the same time.
From this point onwards Azadolahzadeh and Schaeffer worked under the self-imposed description “maximalism”. This theme motivates their music, artwork, and philosophy behind their work.
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