If you’ve ever heard a MonkeyRascal beat, first: you were probably lurking SoundCloud for a bit too long, but second: you’ll know his tunes are deliciously disorienting and chopped and screwed to the heavens. We’re talking about the type of underground beats that use only the most tastefully weird sample bites and are wired with impossibly swung drums.
Behind the chaos is Joel, an underground legend whose love of absurdist animation, left-field hip-hop, bass music, and internet beat culture has culminated in one of the most distinctive sounds to bubble up from the depths of the cloud. We caught up with him to talk about his musical roots, finding inspiration in “wonky, mildly psychotic” grooves, and why his ideal audience is probably a room full of producers trying to sonically flex on each other.
Absurdities Per Minute
Emma Greenberg, The Electric Hawk: Could you give me a short rundown of your musical origin story?
Joel, MonkeyRascal: My parents got me going with the piano pretty early on. I would sometimes watch my older brother (of 10 years) make beats on like, Reason 2.5? I thought it was very cool and listened to his beats over and over on a CD and yearned. Then, when I was in high school, he showed me Hudson Mohawke, and that kind of opened all the gates. It really propelled me into a love for electronic hip-hop. I owe it all to him. Thanks brother, and Hudmo.
EG: What inspires your creativity (inside and outside of music)?
Joel: I really love absurdist, nightmare-fuel animation stuff. Rhythmically, I’m addicted to wonky 170 bpm grooves that sound like they are mildly psychotic and toppling over themselves. Melodically, I get a lot of inspiration from people like Robert Glasper and Radiohead. More broadly, I just love finding sonic contrasts that make me excited and have me doing little dances in my chair. I’m always curious to find interesting stylistic combos. Like, if Dibiase, Chee, Autechre, and Dorian Concept made a beat together, what would that sound like?
EG: Are there any influences of yours that might surprise people?
Joel: Although my music is not particularly of the bass-music vein, my tastes have been heavily molded by producers like Tsuruda, Ivy Lab, Alix Perez, Hapa, etc. The ideal of this project is sort of taking really dry and raw quirky sounds, playing them loosely on the piano with chords and melodies I love, and making them work with heavier sonics of that world. All with swing at like 287%.
EG: If your sound was a world, what does that world look like to you?
Joel: It’s sort of a gelatinous muck. Lots of goop and gunk forsure. Plenty of drugs. There’s a couple critters running around, huffing glue and having a nice time. Everything is green and orange, and doesn’t smell all that great.
EG: Do you remember the first beat you made that felt like ‘MonkeyRascal’?
Joel: I remember there was a day when I opened up Ableton, and just decided to indulge all of the intrusive thoughts that came from me doing these wonky, unhinged beat-box sessions in my room. I found it very funny and exciting, and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.
EG: What significance has Soundcloud and its beat culture had in your musical journey?
Joel: It’s been everything to me. All of my favorite artists, homies and creatives I look up to have come from that world. I feel like I was raised on Team Supreme and Courteous Family. There’s an incredible, playful competitiveness that lives there – the sort of, “Oh, yeah? Watch this,” effect. Like, sonically flexing for the homies.
EG: A lot of music discovery happens through algorithms now. Do you think the Soundcloud underground still has genuine scenes or is everything just one big feed these days?
Joel: There are definitely genuine communities of people who are in love with similar grooves and share production techniques. I think it’s always been the place to find the raw cuts too. The repost chains can be filthy, but if you are able to dig, it can be very rewarding. I love that it can function as a musical diary for people (including myself). It’s just particularly great when you know the kind of stuff you love, and can find a community of people there doing similar things — it’s so much more valuable than any algorithm.
EG: What makes a sound/sample/vocal worth chopping for you?
Joel: I think if it’s really funny, dumb, and loud, that’s where the good stuff is. It’s a great recipe for injecting character and swag into your song, like using a sample of a guy taking a bath and finding a way to make it sound ILL.
Irreverent and Noisy
EG: What’s something you’re still trying to learn as a producer?
Joel: An unbelievable amount. My workflow is garbage. My Ableton sessions look filthy. There’s so much unnecessary MIDI because I play almost every sound by hand (lol). I’ve never really been a sound-designy guy per say, but I’m always searching for unconventional ways to make strange noises. I’m always trying to push myself with the writing portion, and come up with new call-and-response phrasings.
EG: Where would you like to see your project a year from now?
Joel: Sonically, I think I’d like to see it get noisier and more irreverent. I want it to become more avant-garde, but stay with the grooves and melodies I love. I’d also like to just do more shows with producers I admire, and be able to have nice, grounded chats before and after the show. I want to continue to grow my audience, and be able to do more weird shit with expendable resources. I hope one day I can open for John Summit, because it would make absolutely no sense, and perhaps cause problems.
Electric Hawk’s consensus: that would absolutely cause problems, and we’ll be there at the barricade when it does. In the meantime, we will be keeping an eye on MR anytime we want to tune into the innovation of the underground, and anytime we just want to indulge in the weirdest, most swag-heavy parts of ourselves. Join us and thank us later.
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