Five Years.

Dear Players,

I started MONO with a vision not only to design exciting and utilitarian products, but to build a diverse community of amazing artists as a source of positive energy and inspiration. With a full sketchbook, the support of my friends and family, and a lot of hard work, this vision has become reality.

Today marks our 5th birthday as a company, and we have reason to celebrate. In five short years, we have amassed enough memories to fill a lifetime. I would like to personally thank you on behalf of the MONO crew for your part in our story.

MONOPLAYERS are a diverse community, yet we share an appreciation for good design, an obsession for our craft, and an irresistible drive to break the mold. We continue to draw inspiration from all of you, and I hope you continue to see that inspiration reflected in our products. You can bet we have some good things in store for 2012. Now go play.

Yours,
Daniel Kushner (Founder / Design Director)

Had to plug this

Thanks to a very special pair of people, we are unboxing a new espresso machine for the office. I thought I'd have to wait for our 10 year anniversary for this, but apparently 5 years will do.

My favorite part so far is the plug. Nicely proportioned with a molded rubber ring (in just the right texture and durometer) to make unplugging easier. I wish more brands cared enough to design even the unplugging experience of their products.



Now for some coffee.

Com Truise remixes Foster the People!

Grab this while it's hot. Com Truise makes sounds to die for.

Foster The People - Helena Beat (Com Truise Remix)

Watch :: Battles :: Africastle

With the City of Music as it's background, Battle's proves it belongs in the spotlight.

Watch it here!

The Black Keys - El Camino

Perhaps album cover of the year, check their website too.  The Black Keys always bring their brand of duo rock old school style.  Garage bands FOREVER!  These guys have grown up though as was proved with their last effort 'Brothers'.  Yup there's still the huge ass fuzzy guitars over those furious drums, but there's something a little more nostalgic about this one.  Love the shout to the Clash!  This one screams of late 70's punk.

Go Play™ Photo Series

We love meeting up with our favorite artists.  We also love to capture these meetings with moments archived by the camera's lens.  You won't see us without a device that is able to document and absorb these gatherings.  Here's a quick glimpse of our encounters. #GoPlay

The Roots - Undun

I'm going to say it. Undun is my favorite Roots album thus far. I am finding new things about this album through each listen, there is so much substance throughout this album. One thing that boggles my mind is how they even had time to do an album. Amazing.

Here's a little snippet from the Roots website about Undun:

"undun is an existential re-telling of the short life of one Redford Stephens (1974-1999). Through the use of emotives and Redford’s internal dialogues the album seeks to illustrate the intersection of free will and prescribed destiny as it plays out ‘on the corner’. Utilizing a reverse narrative arc, the album begins as the listener finds Redford disoriented–postmortem–and attempting to make sense of his former life. As he moves through its pivotal moments he begins to deconstruct all that has led to his (and our own) coming undun"

“At this point in our career we’d like for our work to have a unifying theme, and an experiential quality,” says Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, 40. “We’ve been intentionally making our albums shorter in length so that they can be experienced as a continuous work. The music is band-oriented with an eye on the moody cinematic. As a DJ, I am the King of playlists, but I don’t want our albums to feel like a playlist or a mixtape for that matter. We want to tell stories that work within the album format and we want the stories to be nuanced and useful to people. undun is the story of this kid who becomes criminal, but he wasn’t born criminal. He’s not the nouveau exotic primitive bug-eyed gunrunner like Tupac’s character Bishop in “Juice”… he’s actually thoughtful and is neither victim nor hero. Just some kid who begins to order his world in a way that makes the most sense to him at a given moment… At the end of the day… isn’t that what we all do?”



?uestlove and Black Thought sit down with Power 105.1′s The Breakfast Club morning show here in NYC to break down the concept of undun (out now, purchase on iTunes or with extra goodies at the OKP store. But then Thought says of the idea of having a 78-minute LP with a posse cut and tons of features: “That’s so Blackberry” and ?uesto being who he is, the convo launches into an informative tech discussion in which he declares “No black man should really have an iPhone.” Then DJ Envy tells Thought how he cost him a job at Hot 97 and by then the ice is broken. I am still watching msyelf but it’s safe to say at this point that this is a pretty entertaining interview.

Prand®

We've dug this brand ever since meeting with them at WMC more than 3 years ago.  This French based clothing line has got that look.  And come on, who wouldn't enjoy having a Kelly Kapowski tee.  Move over Zack, there's a new Slater in town.

Prand®, check them out!

Hometapes - The Never Ending Beginning

"This year, we asked Hometapes' family and friends to make a song for the holidays -- whatever that meant to them. This is our third year doing this, and, undoubtedly, the most remarkable one yet."

One of our favorites Slaraffenland brings it on track 12 with their rendition of "Feliz Navidad"

This album is free, and we all know free is awesome.

Introducing the MONO Kontroller bag

We have just launched the MONO EFX Kontroller bag for the Traktor S4 controller by Native Instruments.  This adjustable length messenger style bag fits the controller, up to 17" laptop, headphones, hard drives, cables, documents and more.  Limited supply available through DJ Tech Tools.

Adapt Advancers: A closer look

Adapt Advancers based out of San Francisco CA. Evan Lessler the brainchild behind this brand speaks with us, candidly. I met up with Evan who we've known for a long time now. We've watched both our brands take a similar path, start-ups with product that's scary good. What we love best about Evan is his keen attention to detail. Simplicity at it's best, and he creates iconic streetwear. This area in particular has seen a huge jump on his designs and creativity. He's had the opportunity to pair up with some legends as well, Blackalicious and Hieroglyphics to name a couple.

I asked Evan what's next for the brand, and simply put there is a progression towards a storefront. The space is here, construction is underway, and all will be good come 2012. Obviously an Adapt/MONO collaboration is on the rise as well, that is inevitable.

Stay tuned.  Good things to come...

AIAIAI interviews Com Truise

"Sometimes you forget that great musicians, however talented or famous, are usually unassuming individuals who don’t really go for pretension. For the most part, the gifted artists we’ve come across avoid self-mythologizing and let their music do the talking. On the other hand, popular culture tends to have a different view on this. The myth of the self-important, arrogant creative permeates so much of contemporary, popular discourse that remembering the inescapable fact that artists are just people is easy to forget."


"Maybe that was part of the reason why I couldn’t help preparing myself for interviewing an ego the size of an American football field before I met Com Truise AKA Seth Haley one November evening prior to his show at Dunkel Bar in Copenhagen. His epic, retro-futuristic-yet-modern, melancholy-yet-uplifting synthesizer-funk did also nudge my expectation towards an encounter with a sci-fi fetishist of a megalomaniac persuasion. The reasoning behind the latter, I suppose, was that anyone who makes otherworldly tracks that sound like a stoned Rick Ross leaving Earth to soar through the outer rings of Saturn in a supermodified DeLorean had to be at least a little pompously inclined."

You'll find the rest HERE

Check out some AIAIAI stuffs we like:

TMA-1 Fool's Gold Edition
304.00 USD

Teenage Engineering OP-1
1100.00 USD