Afro Monk

It hasn’t been a secret on here that I’ve relocated back to my hometown Miami. Truth is I haven’t really made it a point to tell anyone except my close friends. The music community is so vastly different here and knew I was giving up a lot moving back to this market. It’s not meant to be taken in a negative sense. Unfortunately the music I’ve been playing/pushing doesn’t really have much presence here. We all know the meccas are Colorado & California.

I was lucky enough to discover a market in Texas that allowed me to do what I’ve always wanted to do… Play glitch-hop. I became extremely involved in Texas and turned my life focus on music for the most part. I’d go out every night and actually network/talk to people. I’ve always been shy and moved to Texas only knowing my roommate. Texas was a scary move but once I got there it took me for one of the best rides of my life. I was only in Texas for a year but it feels like I was there for over five years. The amount of talented artist is overwhelming! The festival crowd is full force and plenty of homegrown events.

Now that I’m back in Miami I’ve started an entirely new lifestyle. I know that bass music popularity has reached a new height but it has also left me much to be desired. I don’t want to become that bitter old man complaining non-stop. I’ve decided to put this mix out there to target the Miami audience and nightlife but at the same time tip my hat goodbye to this sort of style. It’s fun, party, dance, and rave out music but truth is I’m burnt out and have been for some time now I’m sure. If you follow me on FB and Twitter you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’m a mid range bass hater. Yes, I admit it.

It’s time to focus on a positive new attitude and something different that will brighten my spirits. 2012 will be the start of many new things. As I said my lifestyle is quite different now. I don’t go out anymore and I’m going back to my anti-social recluse ways. My nights consist of me laying around my dream apartment on the beach listening to chill out lounge music and playing video games. My roots are in trip-hop/downtempo/lounge. I’ve decided to focus on that for 2012 and create a sister site that will built around that vibe. Expect a soft beta launch around Feb 2012.

This doesn’t mean this site will be executed!!! Ed and Tara have been doing an incredible job and I’ll still be writing post but come to understand I won’t be as active. It’s time to expand the market. I’ll still be around at all the events but keep in mind Miami doesn’t offer acts that I’ve been spoiled with while living in Texas. The bass scene is very alive here but it’s very brostep/moombah oriented which truthfully I can’t vibe with. Along with the sister site launch there will be a new weekly event that will be created to support the new movement here. I’m super excited to see how this pans out.

Now about this mix. It was designed on the fly to get you moving and sing along. There are times where I need to get motivated to go out to the club or bar and these tunes get me all hyped. They are mostly top 40 remixes with me giving them an extra umphhh to them and adding my glitches live. It’s been over a month since I’ve played or even mixed since I’ve been so busy with the move. Not to mention like I said I’ve kept myself isolated in Miami so not looking actively to play out. It was fun to rock out in my new studio to this. Anxious to see what the reception of this mix will be.

I hope you enjoy and have a happy new year!!!

-Afro

Sounduo, is the greatest act I know in the Florida region. I can say that with tremendous confidence. I was lucky enough to interview them a few months ago when I lived in Dallas and thrilled to hear of such an act had finally appeared in the Miami area.

Now that I’ve moved back to Miami everyone has been asking me how things are out here. The truth is I knew I was signing my death note for my music career moving out here. The Miami bass scene targets more of the mainstream dubstep fans and not so much of the glitch-hop west coast scene. Don’t get me wrong Miami Dubstep is alive and thriving but it’s quite different from what I’d consider myself part of. The first week-end I was in town I heard about Archnemesis playing a show, which totally blew me away because I had never heard of anyone like Archnemesis coming into town since I left the city. Turns out that Sounduo was opening for them for a few dates in FL. I was thrilled to finally hear and see these guys play live.

WOW. These guys are incredible performers and have their own unique sound which mixes their dub, reggae, and bass roots together into a great package. Zach absolutely crushes it on drums live and Will is behind many controllers playing live keys during many of their songs. They play all originals and can expect them to glitch it up just how we all love and even some massive bass drops. Needless to say I was impressed and consider them one of the best live acts with a drummer in the game.

I’ve had the pleasure of being able to become friends with these guys and man they’re totally legit. They’ve got a lot ahead of them and have a great outlook on everything all around. I’m honored anytime they come over to jam out or play live on my Glitch.fm show. They truly give me hope for the Miami local scene in regards to what I’d consider myself part of. The Archnemesis show showed me some light for this city. There was a super chill crowd and even could pick out about 5-6 Grassroots California hats in the crowd which usually is a good sign.

Overall these are guys you want to keep your eye out for. Their debut release is due out on Made in Glitch which makes me really happy to hear. I assure you everyone who fancies most of the music we post on here will love their upcoming release. Now for the real treat. They contacted me recently that they were working on a tune specifically for the site. It has been awesome getting to know them and playing beside them in my studio and we’ve gotten to discuss what sort of sound I enjoy and am trying to accomplish. The track they send over totally took me by surprise. It’s EPIC. A 7min long tune that sends chills down my body just because after hanging out with them they’ve created something so perfect that fits exactly what I would want to represent Afromonk.com.

I’ll also be working on some new stuff with them in near future, which makes me scream with excitement.

Much love to Will and Zach!
Expect that Made in Glitch release soon!

Decided that last nights live mix should be online. There are some issues here and there since was hijacking my audio stream and sending it out to glitch.fm server but ohh well it’s all about sharing music with you. I had a real good time recording this mix. It showcases more of what I’ve been doing in live sets. There is more of a chill feel to this one but that’s sorta the mood I was in last night. Lately my live sets at clubs have been way more hype but this is the sorta stuff I’ve been listening to on my free time when just hanging out.

Expect anything when I’m playing out live though. The middle of the mix I just wasn’t feeling to progressive build I had started and brought it back down to how I was feeling. All I play really depends on how I’m feeling in the moment. I have no problem forcing drastic bpm changes. It’s always going to be about where I want to go.

Hope you enjoy!

I had the honor of being interviewed for a blog filled with some extremely talented people who are making things happen in the music community. I figure some of you might want to know little bit about one of the people behind this site. I’m beyond blessed to have such a following. The past couple of months of my life have been unreal. Texas has been one of the best things that has happened to me. Have to thank all the people I’ve met here and all the people who support me online. It’s a pleasure to share all this music with you all. I just hope you all remember to stay true to yourself. Do everything because you Love it.

Thank you again to Elena for the interview. Glad to see how much coverage everyone is getting. Believe and go out there and things will make its way around. I wish I could respond to everyone but I never imagined for this to become what it was. Thank you to all the artist out there expressing themselves. It’s truly a honor to have people share so much with me.

Be sure to check out my recent mix to get a small idea of what comes about all the music my friends send me. Going to be posting a new mix once I hit 1,000 followers for Winter! Hope you all enjoyed the amazing show in the sky for the Winter Solstice! Thank you again to everyone who has come to visit this site.

Happy Holidays! Will be seeing my top 5 for 2010 soon!

INTERVIEW: Afro Monk Interview

Live recording of my return to Glitch.fm radioshow! Tons of hiccups since it’s been awhile since streamed LIVE. Hope you enjoy! If you do enjoy please share with others! Also I’ll be looking for booking coming 2011 so be sure to let me know if you’d be interested in having me out. We can negotiate something real reasonable =)

Keep it fresh!

Special Thanks to:
Ooah, ill-esha, Samples, Elfkowitz, Stephan Jacobs, ionik, Mongoose, white noise, MartyParty, Mimosa, Omega, Wolfeus, Gladkill, Turnsteak, Protohype, Eskmo, Minnesota, NastyNasty, Nit Grit, Bil Bless, Mochipet, Chris B, Frequent-C, Chase Marz, Bil Bless, Modified Noise, Bassmectar, Graintable, S.P.E.C.T.R.E, Kastle, Lorn, Billy Blacklight, & to any person I forgot to mention.

Lando Kal (Antaeus Roy) and Low Limit (Bryant Rutledge) are Lazer Sword! We’ve heard so much about their new upcoming album and here’s more. The album is a self titled release and due out November 2nd, 2010. The first single off the album is Batman and currently being distributed freely! Batman will be pressed to vinyl with a handful of remixes including one from Rustie! There’s no official release date on the Batman 12″ but should be on look out for it real soon.

If you haven’t heard of Lazer Sword you must be sleeping because they just did a big US tour together to show off some of their new material and man is it bumping. I had the pleasure of opening up for them here in Miami at the monthly dubstep event, Get Low! It was a honor to see them rock out live on their MPDs. They put on one hell of a show, no CDs there. Both of them work extremely well together and the sets flow seamlessly. There’s a special art when playing with someone else. They are pushing the bar and experimenting with many sounds blended together to make their own unique sound. I’m looking forward to rocking out crowds with their new material and spread the music to you all very soon! Big ups to you both and keep pushing the music out! It was a real honor to have played along side them.

Tracklist:
1. Batman
2. Batman (Lando Kal Remix)
3. Batman (Nguzunguzu Remix)
4. I’m Gone (Low Limit Remix)
5. I’m Gone (Rustie Remix)
6. I’m Gone ft. Turf Talk

Download FREE version of new single off Debut album, Lazer Sword – BATMAN

Tracklist:
1.Tar
2. Agrokrag
3. Surf News
4. I’m Gone ft. Turf Talk
5. Batman
6. Topflights ft. M Sayyid
7. 4Loko
8. Machine ft. Zackey Force Funk
9. Web Swag
10. Skybox
11. Def Work
12. FUBU
13. Owl Tats
14. Cosmic Ride ft. Myka Nyne
15. Beast’s Reprise

I’ve never done an event review and always said I most likely would never write one but this time I’ll make an exception. I had been planning on writing a review of The Glitch Mob’s latest album and their new live setup but never got around to it because I felt it would cause up only more of a stir. The reason why I always said I wouldn’t write a review of anything is because I’m one of the most critical humans I’ve come across. While this may seem like a great thing it can actually get me in a lot of trouble especially on a blog that has a decent following.

I’ve seen The Glitch Mob three times with two of those events being a few hours apart from each other (Lolla & Smart Bar in Chicago). This was after Kraddy departed and the boys were using the Lemur as their main setup. The occasionally used a drum pad with drum sticks but usually only to close their set. The sets at this time were very similar to their infamous Crush Mode mix. They were high energy and in complete slay mode the entire show. I’ll never forget seeing them rock out like that!

The third time I saw them was when I flew all the way to California for Lightning in a Bottle 2010. Their album Drink the Sea had recently come out and they were tweeting and announcing they had an entirely new setup. Many people had harsh feelings and were skeptical of all this because I feel that many thought that the Drink the Sea album was quite radical from their earlier works. I personally felt that the album was extremely well put together but yes lacking on slay juice. Drink the Sea is an album I cherish tremendously and play it on vinyl on certain nights where I have a smoke and just sit back and enjoy the music in quite environment.

This is the reason I felt a bit offish about their new set when I heard them at Lightning in a Bottle. However I had been warned that they played an extremely laid back set at Coachella and had truly changed their live show dynamics. I personally didn’t mind their set at Lightning in a Bottle but I felt like I was ready for what they were doing and had been given the heads up. I just felt like it was a whole new experience where they skidded away from the slay stuff. Let me not paint a picture that it was all new chill material because it wasn’t. They played some of the old favorite and created a mix of both new and old. The problem I had was that it was a bit too extreme when going to chill laid back beats to the heavy high energy bass.  I appreciated what was going on but couldn’t help but thing man what are they thinking?! How can you not notice that you use to have crowd going wild the whole set and now just sit back and watch crowd barely bounce on some of these tunes. I feel like theirs a time and place for those tunes and big environments like that are extremely risky. They pulled it off and feel like they impressed many yet of course disappointed others who might of heard how they were before.

One thing that is worth mentioned about the LIB set was how they incorporated so much more into the live set compared to when I saw them in Chicago. They had edIT rocking his SG guitar, Ooah having two synth keyboards, and Boreta with some more drum pads. They incorporated more instruments without using the Lemur as much as they are known too.  They almost felt like a live band but yet didn’t. I have to tip my hat off though because that must take tons of practice and tons of extra work to re-work their whole set to include additional gear on top of their lemurs.

This past Monday I saw The Glitch Mob for the fourth time. I had no idea what to expect. Their new Mixtape had just come out which added a bit more to the Drink the Sea album. It flowed more like a mash up album and totally added more energy to the overall feel of the new tracks. It seemed as if the mixtape could of stand more on its own as an album as well compared to just a mix. After hearing the mixtape and posting it on the blog I wrote how who know what they will do with this. I even suggested that they could even be working these versions of the songs into their live set. They opened up with epic lightning system that they seem to be traveling with. Their setup seemed to be stripped down a bit and they all have an electric drum kit. Drums is definitely a new concentration in this new over-haul again. At the LIB show I felt like they were doing a little less but presenting in a way they were doing more since they using instruments people are familiar with. This time they clearly are going back to the Lemur. edIT is on the top of his games running complex patterns on the Lemur. Boreta is running most of the synth lines and hold down a good amount of affects on board. Ooah is just keeping a clean layer over edIT and doing some fresh work in all aspects of their sound. The three of them are live the whole time and it’s amazing to see it all over again. Every drum pattern, synth line, and sample is being controlled by them. It brought a huge smile to my face when I realized that they really were re-working the new tracks with the mash up version. It’s as if they had completely revamped things to bring more energy using the vocals of familiar hip hop/crunk vocals. One of the highlights of the night which gave me goosebumps was hearing the La Roux mash up from the Mixtape.

Overall their performance was flawless. My only concern was the lack of power on the speaker system. The sound was extremely low. There was someone who literally told me at the start of the set how low it sounds in the back of the venue. I said really?! He replied with I’m using my regular voice and you understand what I’m saying (we were in the front area of the pit). I feel like there could of been a lot more energy put out if the sound was bumping. Another thing I felt like was a bit weak was the crowd. Granted it was a Monday night but I felt a bit ashamed for S.FL. The crowd seemed like they had never heard these tracks before. Honestly I felt like most people weren’t moving or dancing as much because the beats were different style than what they were use too. It’s me over thinking everything probably but felt like if we took photos of every event on the tour and compared them to the S.FL show it’d be a whole different picture. I’m glad that they did make a stop in FL and that I was here to see it.

I want to say thank you to edIT, Boreta, and Ooah for putting on such a show. It takes a lot of work and energy to do a live show like that. I appreciated it beyond belief. I’m totally loving what they are doing now and hands down much respect for evolving so much.

I didn’t get into MartyParty’s set but let me tell you this guy doesn’t disappoint. It was amazing to see him bouncing around and jamming out. He was straight killing it. My only complaint is that his setup was at an angle and not facing the crowd. This might of been the case because The Glitch Mob’s gear was all setup behind him. Hearing some of his unreleased stuff on a big system was fantastic to relive. His set at Lightning in a Bottle had a lot going for it compared to the FTL show but he still rocked out. There’s a ton of new stuff he’s playing out and can’t wait to hear on the new EP due out soon. MartyParty continues to be one of the performers that I look too as a role model. I’ll even admit that half of the tracks he played were tunes that I played at Get Low w/ Lazer Sword. His track selection to me was absolutely perfect. He even dropped the Roxanne remix he did with Love & Light and the Beatles remix by L&L as well. I’m not going to lie I was disappointed when he dropped a Borgore tune but ohh well people eat that stuff up.

Thank you good sir Marty! Thank you for tweeting my post about you as well.
Much love out to you guys! It was great meeting you guys and seeing you in my home state.
Best of luck on the rest of your tour!

Also a big thank you to Def Owl and Chad for everything. It’s risky business to bring acts like these into the South Florida market. Thank you!

-Afro Monk

I’m back! Recently celebrated my 25th birthday in Vegas! I got to play at Defcon 18 and rage! The blog was upgraded to WordPress 3 and has big issues in the process. It’s not that there wasn’t news or new post for past two weeks, it’s that the site was broken. Just for the record if you use 1and1 and upgrade to 3.0 you need to increase the memory allocated to 20mb or else it crashes with 500 error.

Now that it’s back the redesign will be possible. I’m doing a mini tour over summer but hope to get it all sorted out to a new look.

Tonight I open up for Lazer Sword in Miami for monthly event, Get Low!

I’m looking for gigs in October! email me to arrange something!
Just recently recorded a summer promo mix!

Expect some new post and info to start back up on regular basis as before! Much love to all the fans and readers!

Glitch-Hop | Crunk | Bass

I’ve decided to start my first Soundcloud group. I spend many countless hours searching the internet for tunes that will make me dance around, cruise while driving, and dance floor bangers. I’m all about sharing with everyone the latest tunes when I play out. Take serious pride in supporting my producer friends. Time to create something for them to unite and share in on location along with all the other groups.

I will be moderating the tracks that get posted in this group. I love all the groups on Soundcloud that I’m part of but sometimes all the tracks don’t have that crunk glitch hop feel to them. This is what I’ve created where you can unleash the maddness and rage. I’ll most likely be putting together another group if this goes well where it’ll be surrounding more of the downtempo chill glitch feel.

Glitch Hop | Crunk | Bass
Please join and contribute!

Miami Glitch host a weekly radio show on Glitch.fm. Every Monday from 11pm-1am EST we meet up and play a two hour show. Munkz, Claro, and I play Dubstep, Glitch, Glitch Hop, Crunk, Bass, etc… We also host special guest Miami Djs or who ever is in-town. We generally record our mixes every week. These mixes are done completely live and NOT edited in any way. Keep in mind we usually are kicking it drinking beers and hanging out so don’t be so harsh on our mixing =P

I plan on building a separate category that will provide you with a set of download links to our previous shows. Right now things are a bit unorganized but I’ll eventually get to this. I hope you enjoy the music!

Munkz & Afro Monk – June 14th 2010- E3 Mix – Glitch.fm

Claro, Munkz, & Afro Monk – June 21st 2010 – Summer Solstice – Glitch.fm