Indeed, the Melbourne-based, glitch-hop producers are all about pushing the boundaries of funk and eletronica to create a minimal, kitsch kind of sound that, for-want-of-a-better-word, is called ‘glitch’. But that’s not what happened first.
“To start with, we met through friends, then Mosha moved to Melbourne and just started hanging out with me, and it was pretty much love at first sight! In our circle, there are a few of us that write electronic music so we were all writing tracks together and as a result, Mosha and I started a crew called Crustaceous. The plan was to make something similar to Mollusk but it kind of took at different turn. We thought it was a pretty cool and a different style and it flowed really nicely so we thought we would form something and make some more tunes. Initially we called ourselves Hot Chicks Farting but fortunately or unfortunately we decided on Monkey Bars!”
So with the pleasantries out of the way, let’s get down to specifics: “we’ve been writing in the studio for almost a year together now, working with Ableton; we are still very much experimenting with sound design and learning a lot, so trying to write as much as possible. The Missing Link is our first EP, which came out about a month ago – and that has been really exciting. We’re pretty amazed at how much attention it’s received already and big ups to Adapted Records for it!”
No less, their focus and direction – “the underlying theme of the music” as Michael suggests – is funk. “It has been a fun and cheeky way of doing things, but it isn’t just funk,” he adds. “You could say it’s also a little bit gangster! We aim to create a really smooth and clean glitch-hop sound, which isn’t too over the top, but is still fat and chunky. We try to bring lots of live instrumental sounds into our music, building on jazz, funk, swing and many more so that we can arrange different types of melodies and rhythms. Also, different types of music influence us but our main electronic inspirations are Tipper, Mollusk, Opiuo, Circuit Bent and Goosebumpz.”
Their sets too, feature a lot of their own productions. “At the moment we are playing mostly our own music with a couple of other songs in live Ableton sets,” claim the duo. “Our songs are all glitch orientated but a lot of them have very different vibes so lots of different styles come out through our sets. We use an Ableton Launch Pad to launch clips, which we’ve set up for very smooth transitions as well as throwing in some live effects. We’d like to have live instruments jamming with us in the future too.”
The glitch-hop scene is Melbourne is growing and while the lads argue that it has frequently appeared as a poor second cousin at parties and festivals to genres such as techno or dubstep, the demand is there. And with that, the Bag O Tricks parties are one of the first regular glitch nights to get up and running which is really positive for the local scene. “It’s fair to say that things are definitely on the way up!” says Michael. “All I can tell you is that the Melbourne scene is pumping and very much alive.”
Finally, the boys drop a few words on the forthcoming gig, where they plan to showcase some of their latest wares. “Solar Empire have always put on a good party; we played at the last Bag O Tricks and have been developing a relationship with the guys there – so we decided to organise the EP launch for the Mercury opening. Playing with established artists like Mollusk and Electrocado is really exciting especially because we are so new to the scene. The Aussie glitch-hop scene has heaps of up and coming artists so even the names you don’t recognise bring a fresh, unique flavor to the night and are worth checking out.
“At the gig, expect a warped electronic journey to the centre of your funk gland. Your childish nature will be exposed and you might even acquire a greater taste for bananas. You may even lose complete control of your limbs. And there are lots more gigs to come, so hopefully we’ll see you soon.”
BY RK
