TOKiMONSTA, image: Spectrum Magazine

Kelly: What goes into doing your sets?
TOKiMONSTA: I want to enjoy my time on stage, so essentially what I want to do is play my music as well as play the music that makes me happy – and a lot of that is playing stuff I grew up with. I feel as though maybe some of the people that will listen to my music don’t listen to all the things I have grown up with. Some people listen to me because they like electronic music, but they didn’t grow up with hip-hop or vice versa. I come from this old school hip-hop mentality. I want it to be fun for the crowd but I want it to be fun for me too because I’m the one that has to play it all the time. As selfish as that might sound, I don’t mean it to be selfish.

What kind of a kid were you growing up?
I never really fitted in and I was a little self conscious because I didn’t. I grew up in suburbia where a lot of kids listened to pop/rock like Green Day or Blink 182. When I was really young, they didn’t venture too far from that. But I was into west coast rap, like Westside Connection, N.W.A. and Ice Cube. Smashing Pumpkins too. When I discovered electronic music, I liked listening too Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. In the neighborhood where I grew up, it was predominantly Caucasian or Asian, middle to upper class. Most people were more conventional and I never felt I fitted in until the internet arrived. That always made me feel included.

When it comes to the internet, you always find your niche.

How did you discover more electronic music?
Raving when I was younger. It was kind of a trend so I started raving in the early 2000s. That was my introduction into electronic music. At that time, it was predominantly trance and Detroit techno, like Carl Craig. I liked drum ‘n’ bass and jungle because it had these hip-hop elements as well. From there, it’s about blossoming and searching for all that music on your own.

TOKiMONSTA Test

TOKiMONSTA, image: Nikko Lamere

What inspired you to produce your own music?
I grew up playing the piano so I had a sense of music – but even with the piano,I didn’t enjoy everything I played because although liked classical music but I didn’t enjoy everything. Playing piano felt forced, despite there being some parts I really enjoyed. When I discovered that I could make music on my own by being a bedroom producer, it was a way for me to incorporate some of the things I grew up with melodically and with things I listened to. Going from hip-hop or DJ Shadow and stuff like that.

As a woman in a male-dominated industry, how do you stay classy during all of it?
Keeping my integrity. The biggest thing right now with a lot of the females in electronic music or just DJs, is that although there are many with integrity there are also a lot that plenty of attention which is based more on their physical appearance. Perhaps the only reason I maintain the integrity is that it’s never been about physical appearance. I never wear for example bikini tops. I would never do that regardless, but I appreciate music and I appreciate making music. I always want people to realize that whether I’m a female or not, my music should stand on its own. When someone says ‘I had no idea you were a girl’, I’m like ‘good, it shouldn’t matter’.

TOKiMONSTA ft. MNDR – Go With it from High5Collective on Vimeo.

You just came out with a new album Half Shadows. Talk about it.
It was a good year, a couple years in the making. I guess it had been a while since I released anything official. I had all this music I wanted to put out. That’s essentially what I did. I always continue to make music regardless of whether or not it’s going to come out on a label or if it will be an official release or end up on SoundCloud. With this album, I just had this collection of songs that suited a period of my life, it just had this running theme. In terms of the album itself, it’s meant to flow like a story.

I hope when people listen to Half Shadows, they listen to it from start to end because it’s meant to transition in a very specific way.

How do you feel that you tell a story through your music?
I like this idea of there being a beginning, a middle, and an end. Not all the time, because if you stick to a certain formulae it can be hindering and too traditional. In any story there’s these ups and downs and then it moves towards an ending. With all of my music, I don’t want to get to the best part right at the beginning. I don’t want the drop to be at the beginning. Not that I really do drops, but I want people to listen to the whole thing because it always gets more epic towards the end. That’s the way I’ve always made my music. And that’s kind of like a story.

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“Half Shadows” album artwork, image: Christopher Chan

words: Kelly ‘K-Fresh’ Frazier
images: Spectrum Magazine, Christopher Chan, Nikko Lamere, biggreenbeats.com (Purple banner)

12th Planet, photo: Caesar Sebastian

Kelly Frazier: Let’s talk about the link between dubstep and heavy metal.
12th Planet: Metal and dubstep are like cousins. They are like bastard cousins. Traditionally, there is no link between metal and dubstep. Dubstep comes from England; it comes from garage and dub reggae but I think the tempo, which is around 140 bpm, is reminiscent of a classic straight metal breakdown. I think that’s why the metal people kind of gravitated towards it, then appreciated it and then turned it into new metal. Bands like Asking Alexandria, Hollywood Undead, and Korn, they were doing dubstep years ago and now it’s like you can do your own thing and nobody cares. It’s just about the music. People just want to hear what they listen to.

Even drum ’n bass has similarity to speed metal.
Very true. It’s kind of like the chugging bass line and 8th note triplets. I come from a guitar background, playing in metal bands, punk bands, and reggae bands all over the place. I have a deep appreciation for the art, to be skilled at one’s instrument and to be dedicated to it. The virtuosity.

What are you working on these days?
Right now it’s the first time in my career where I have no goal, no end game. I’m just writing. I wake up and write some music. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it.

I just want to get back to when I was young, like 18, 19 or 20 years old, when I wasn’t making music to become famous or to keep my credibility. I was just making music because I wanted to make music. So, I’m going to take that approach for the next year or two and figure it out from there.

How do you feel you can get back to that emotive part of it?
I’ve been a professional producer and DJ for the last 12 years of my life. I’ve gone through multiple genres and became jaded being on the road and doing the grind. It wasn’t until the last two or three years where the scene got appreciated and developed. The shows got better, hard ticket venues started bringing in DJs. It wasn’t at some shitty rave in a fucking abandon warehouse with no security and no bathrooms. It’s proper now. All that stuff re-inspired me to keep going.

How do you keep a love for your art when the music that you are doing is pumping in so much money now?
It comes with integrity and your personality type. Some people’s goals are monetary and for some it’s just to be appreciated and respected. I think I’m kind of one of those people; I just want respect. I’ve been making music just so people are like ‘Yo, dude! That tune is sick’. Hell yeah it’s sick, I spent like a week on that shit learning techniques that are in ‘2027’. That’s my mentality. I think that’s where I keep my integrity – I’m proud of what I make and what I’ve accomplished. I’m going to keep going because I don’t want it to stop and I don’t want it to end, ever.

What’s your feelings about current dubstep in America?
It depends on the market. Without getting too political, I think it’s really just based on the artists. It’s not about the dubstep ‘brand’ anymore, because none of the real dubstep dudes play a full set of dubstep. It’s just about their music. Right now, I think it’s about whatever is on the listener’s iPhone or iPad. They identify with those artists. It’s more about the individual fan and whether or not they are willing to buy a ticket to go to that show. Whereas, when I started, the movement was about supporting the dubstep movement, or the drum ’n bass movement. It didn’t matter who was DJing and, because there was so few numbers of fans, if there’s a show everyone supported. But now that it’s so broad, it’s more about the artist as opposed to the genre. It doesn’t matter. I don’t think dubstep has gone away or trap has become so huge. I think it’s all the same and just depends on how good the artist is.

12th Planet, photo: Thesupermaniak | www.facebook.com/THESUPERMANIAK

Do you think there are any artists that are trying to get away from the dubstep pigeonhole?
Yeah, I’ll give you the best example for that – Skream. He wrote an article in the Guardian about how dubstep is dead, and this is coming from the guy who guy who created dubstep. Its not like he’s saying dubstep is dead, he’s just saying that he’s tired of making it. He’s tired of hearing it when he goes out to the club because he’s been doing it for 10 years.

Someone like Benga who said he just wanted to be an artist… no specific genre.
Benga’s new album is kind of a collection of everything but the majority of the tracks are at 140 bpm so they are at dubstep tempo but they illustrate different approaches to the tempo. He’s always done that on his albums I think. It’s about trying new things and getting the crowd and y our fans to respond.

Where do think a lot of these artists will go next?
To put out tracks that aren’t dubstep and to have acclaim for putting those tracks out. People such as Kill The Noise and Skrillex put out an EP, and even myself, where you have one dubstep song, one drum ’n bass song, one 4/4 128 bpm song, maybe a moombahton track, or a hip-hop thing. Try to show the spectrum. Even Destroid, which is like the new fucking hybrid metal dubstep combination. When you listen to their album, there’s like 128 bpm songs, there’s drum ’n bass, there’s drumstep songs, there’s straight metal songs. It’s all across the board.

There’s no real pigeonhole other than due to the ignorance from people who don’t know the artists.

In Rolling Stone, deadmau5 caught some flack about what he was talking about. What’s your thoughts about artists that pre-program sets vs. live DJs?
To me, I really don’t care. I guess I’m half and half. Without trying to be hypocritical, I have a respect for the artistry and for the artists who are trying to present their music the best way they can. They can have the crowd engaged with them and their unique style. Not everyone’s a DJ. People come from bands and they never touched turntables. I come from a DJ background so I’m more excited to see DJs and way they do it, but hats off to anyone who has the balls to get up on a stage and perform their shit and make the shit and get dissed for it or get praised for it. I respect that beyond everything.

You do have people that have big light shows and everything’s pre-programmed but how else are they going to present their music? They have to earn a living.
You can’t freestyle when you have giant robots in the back of your set.

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Kelly Frazier Twitter
 

 
Interview by Kelly Frazier
Images: Thesupermaniak, Caesar Sebastian, ‘Crispy as Fuck’ image by The Supermaniak Maria

GRiZ – ‘Smash The Funk’

GRiZ- ‘Smash the Funk’

With a sound that touches so many genres it’s hard not to find a part you’ll love from this Detroit native. GRiZ continues to show his love of saxophones while still giving his audience what they want. Starting off tranquil before hitting its high; ‘Smash The Funk’ is a beautifully combined collection of sounds that get bodies moving. His album Mad Liberation is out now.

Heliotropes – ‘Quatro/Joy Unfolds’

Heliotropes – ‘Quatro/Joy Unfolds’

These Brooklyn belles should be applauded for keeping their heads on while making music that’s this rock ‘n’ roll. The sound stays neat, and never feels like four angry girls banging their instruments in an enclosed garage. ‘Quatro/Joy Unfolds’ delivers enough kick to satisfy any rocker without scaring off his double-vodka girlfriend.

Zo! – ‘Count To Five’ featuring Gwen Bunn

Zo! – ‘Count to Five’ feat. Gwen Bunn

The second single from Zo!’s ManMade album, delivers a sound that the radio loves. Whether sipping cocktails at some fancy-ass restaurant or smoking it up in your stylish new open plan apartment, it’s a sound that suits most situations without disappearing into the DJs set-list. When it comes to music, Zo! knows what sounds right and exactly how to deliver it.

Fort Romeau – ‘Jetée’

Fort Romeau – ‘Jetée’

In his latest release this Londoner delivers a single that reminds one of the ever-growing electronic sound right here on our own shores. Starting off slow, before adding the timeless element of a soft piano, he takes the song to a new level and ultimately turns it into something that will be remembered in an over-crowded electronic playlist. Day-drinking song: check!

Mayer Hawthorne – ‘Her Favorite Song’

Mayer Hawthorne – ‘Her Favorite Song’

Some songs are just sexier than others, and this track from Los Angeles artist, Mayor Hawthrone, falls right into that category. ‘Her Favourite Song’ contains all the elements needed to go from being a club hit to on the playlist for a ‘drinks-at-my-place’ kind of night. Definitely an artist to keep an eye out for, or to send to Pharrell Williams for his next mix.

 
 
album artwork: GRiZ, Heliotropes, Zo!, Fort Romeau, Mayer Hawthorne

Previous interviews by Kelly on one small seed:

12th Planet
Matthew Dear
Jeff Mills (printed in Issue 25 of one small seed, the “Bigger Picture” edition)

Kelly’s Links:

Huffingtonpost
Twitter
Website

12th Planet

Whether headlining his own tours or playing alongside heavyweights such as Skrillex, Skream, or Datsik, 12th Planet is constantly in motion and loving every minute of it. Recently, one small seed was able to catch up with 12th Planet, who was backstage set up with his mini studio working on a remix for Porter Robinson, during the Detroit stop of his The End is Near North American tour to talk about what else, dubstep.

It seems like, when it comes down to it, a lot of the dubstep artists that are enjoying success right now have a bit of communal respect for one another. Speak more about the importance of that.

Imagine being a part of workforce or going to work everyday and hating everyone at your job and especially your boss. Except, it’s like going to work, and there are no bosses, but it’s like everyone’s homies. Like some people have different salaries than other people, but at the end of the day, it’s all love and it’s a good time. When you are on the road all the time, you run into similar people constantly so you might as well be good with them because you damn sure know you are going to see them again.
 

You are one of the original ambassadors of American dubstep. How did you get into making this sort of music?

I started out producing and DJing drum-n-bass. I heard the music out in England and I was like ‘Yo, what is this? It’s like slow drum-n-bass’. I came back and was put onto this dubstep stuff. I heard this BBC show, Mary Anne Hobbs. She did the Dubstep Warz radio set with like Burial, Skream, Benga, and DMZ. All these guys I got to put a face to the name and a name to the music. I went to the DMZ three-year anniversary over in England and that shit was nuts. It changed my life. I had never seen so many nationalities in one place reppin’ this underground music.

Do you think the mass growth of dubstep in the states will give a jolt to the other forms of electronic dance music?

I’m not sure, because dubstep was always the third or fourth option room at a party. Before that, it was drum-n-bass, and before that, it was hardcore. That’s where it gets most of it’s appeal is that the majority of the people that listen to it are kind of like ‘us against the world’ mentality and ‘strength in numbers’.

That’s why dubstep is come as you are. Just come to party. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, black, white, Mexican, Asian. It’s just all about good vibes and good times no matter how you dress.

I’ve read that Skream is one of your main influences and he remixed Control for you. How was it to connect with such a talented artist?
 
It was one of my first releases and we signed it to the Juan BassHead’s label down in Miami and he was really good friends with Skream. At the time, Skream was like my idol. Skream was like ‘I like the track and I want to remix it’.

I was like FUCK, are you kidding me? It made my fuckin’ 2-3 years!

It made my career really because from there, a lot more UK people started paying attention to my stuff.

words: Kelly “K-Fresh” Frazier
images: 12th Planet