M. Steinebach:
Monoid is a term from the area of mathematics: A monoid is a closed half group with a neutral element . I found this word fitting for my project because it is an abstract term and it is quite rhythmic when you pronounce it like we do in Germany. Most people will have no idea what a monoid is, but it sounds familiar in a certain way. So Monoid can create its own mental image in the listener.
Monoid started as an alternative to my ritual project „Conscientia Peccati": For CP I used natural sounds, ethnic and classical samples and so on. But I wanted to do something different with my synthesizers, I wanted harder rhythms and distortions and this did not fit in the sound of CP. I always look for a certain consistency in the sound of a project. So I made some industrial-like songs, some friends liked it, gave me the address of A&T records and they released two tapes in 1996, "Open Closure" (spring 1996) and "Chaos Constrain" (fall 1996). The next step were two CD-ROM-Releases on White Head Records, an A&T sublabel: "ManKind" (1997) was a set of new songs with a bit less distortions any some mid-tempo tracks. "Live Environment" (1998) was a document of the live activities during the first years of Monoid. We played at a few locations during the first years. The live sound of Monoid is much harder and more organic than on the tape and CDR releases. In 1999 (the date in the booklet is wrong, as the release was delayed) the first „true" CD was released: „Totalausfall" has more different styles then before and the sound is better thanks to new instruments and recording tools.
After A&T records went out of business, the next release "Schnittstellen" was released by Fuison Audio Recordings in 2000.