Isolée
Encyclopedia
Isolée is microhouse
artist Rajko Müller. Isolée is a minimalist house producer whose music is reminisent of indie electronic pop music
of the early eighties and ambient techno from a decade on. Isolée is credited with creating the very first microhouse record to reach the club charts. Isolée's 2000 album, Rest, containing the hit "Beau Mot Plage", was arguably the first microhouse full-length.
from the age of 7 to 12 and went to a French
primary school. Around this time his parents bought an organ for Christmas and he and a school friend attempted to make some synth-pop. These experiments led them to buy a synthesizer and a drum machine
. By the end of the eighties Rajko grew tired of synth-pop and EBM
and listened more to rock music
and independent music. In the early nineties, Müller's friends led him to discover house music
, hip-hop and techno
and he embarked upon a fresh attempt to record electronic music. Müller gave a tape to his friend and DJ Andreas Baumecker, owner of Freundinnen records, who worked in a record-store where the members of Playhouse Records used to work.
Müller's first Isolée material appeared on the music label Playhouse in 1997. Rest, Isolée's full-length album, followed in 2000, also on Playhouse. Müller has received wide acclaim, including being listed as the third best reviewed album of the year on Metacritic
for his 2005 album We Are Monster
. His work is highly regarded in underground cultures of electronic music connoiseurs and aficionados.
Compilations / Non-album EPs
Microhouse
Microhouse, buftech or sometimes just minimal, is a subgenre of house and glitch music.-History:Microhouse has its roots in the minimal techno, glitch , and house genres of music. Its first echoes appeared in a glitch album by German experimental artist Oval, in 1993...
artist Rajko Müller. Isolée is a minimalist house producer whose music is reminisent of indie electronic pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
of the early eighties and ambient techno from a decade on. Isolée is credited with creating the very first microhouse record to reach the club charts. Isolée's 2000 album, Rest, containing the hit "Beau Mot Plage", was arguably the first microhouse full-length.
History
Rajko Müller was born in Frankfurt, Germany but lived with his family in AlgeriaAlgeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
from the age of 7 to 12 and went to a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
primary school. Around this time his parents bought an organ for Christmas and he and a school friend attempted to make some synth-pop. These experiments led them to buy a synthesizer and a drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
. By the end of the eighties Rajko grew tired of synth-pop and EBM
Electronic body music
Electronic body music or industrial dance is a music genre that combines elements of industrial music and electronic dance music...
and listened more to rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and independent music. In the early nineties, Müller's friends led him to discover house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, hip-hop and techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and he embarked upon a fresh attempt to record electronic music. Müller gave a tape to his friend and DJ Andreas Baumecker, owner of Freundinnen records, who worked in a record-store where the members of Playhouse Records used to work.
Müller's first Isolée material appeared on the music label Playhouse in 1997. Rest, Isolée's full-length album, followed in 2000, also on Playhouse. Müller has received wide acclaim, including being listed as the third best reviewed album of the year on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
for his 2005 album We Are Monster
We Are Monster
We Are Monster is an album by German Microhouse artist Rajko Müller under his alias of Isolée. It was Isolée's second LP in five years.It was named the 53rd best album of the decade by Resident Advisor...
. His work is highly regarded in underground cultures of electronic music connoiseurs and aficionados.
Discography
Original Albums- Rest (2000)
- We Are MonsterWe Are MonsterWe Are Monster is an album by German Microhouse artist Rajko Müller under his alias of Isolée. It was Isolée's second LP in five years.It was named the 53rd best album of the decade by Resident Advisor...
(2005) - Well Spent Youth (2011)
Compilations / Non-album EPs
- Western Store (2006, early singles compilation)
- System (1996)
- Initiate (1998)
- WesternStore (1998)
- I Owe You (1999)
- It's About (2002)
- Can't Sleep All Night (2003)
- Brazil.com (2003)
- Hermelin (2006)
- October Nightingale (2009)
- Albacares/Les Andalouses (2009)
- The Fantastic Researches of Yushin Maru (2010)
External links
- Official website
- Discogs: Isolée
- [ Isolée] at Allmusic
- Isolée bio
- Review of Western Store at Grooves Magazine