Monstre mash

>> Mouth-music experimentalist Monstre has his say

by LATEEF MARTIN

Throwing his body around like a rag doll on wake-ups, Montreal's own Monstre (who also goes by the moniker of (o), because it's shaped like a mouth) is a highly unusual beatboxer--a person who studies the art of creating sounds and beats with the mouth. He spits percussive squeaks, bleeps and rhythmic screams, lobbing the odd beat into the stew every once in a while. On his Alien8 debut disc Sucre 3, he pastes it all together with toy sounds and distorted samples, fucked to perfection. The Mirror cornered Monstre in his lair and got him to use his mouth the old-fashioned way--answering questions.



Mirror: So you performed at a Parc LaFontaine show and things got a bit outta hand?

(o): Supposedly there were people fighting in the audience. Some people were like, "Aw, what is that?" And some others go, "Shut up, we wanna listen to it!" But when you play in front of people that only know Linda Lemay or whatever, they have no clue, they listen to what they've been told to listen to their whole life. It's easier when you're singing, though, because they can relate to the fact that it's a voice.

M: Well, there's no one out there, from Rahzel to various beatboxers around Montreal, who does what you do. They're all in completely different worlds.

(o): That's the good thing about doing vocal stuff--there isn't much out there, you can count the artists on one hand. But people think I use effects. They think I'm cheating them.

M: Unfortunately, beatboxing is perceived as mainly a hip hop thing, when in fact many cultures have their own form of it. Have you been working on new techniques?

(o): I've been mixing and producing more, but my beatboxing is becoming faster and tighter. I'd like to see myself as the Squarepusher of beatboxing.

M: So now you're expanding your distorted vocal explorations with a band called Goa Gajah?

(o): It's my dream band, I started it last year. It's multi-drummer, and psychedelic, but not the typical rock way. I'm beatboxing, there's a drummer and two synths. It's like Stereolab but taken to grindcore extremes. It's really noisy and really fast, intense trance with rhythmic vocals. But once you get multiple drums, it's hard to stop. It's like, "Let's get one, oh, four would be nice, and then five--"

M: How do you see your function in the band--like a guitarist, frontman, drummer?

(o): With Goa Gajah, I found myself as the leader, which is really weird because you have people looking to you asking, "What do we do?" But I see myself as the third drummer. I also do melodic singing.

M: So what can we expect on the next Monstre solo album?

(o): This winter I'm going to focus on it, it's going to be more dubby with a layer of beatboxing and stuff over it. I look forward to finding new tricks and things to do, so it's quite fun.

With Anti Pop Consortium and Suzuki Kid at la Sala Rossa on Friday, Nov. 30, 9pm, $15