How TOKiMONSTA Is Pioneering Electronic Music
TOKiMONSTA has been a vanguard of the electronic genre for years. Heavily textured rhythms, dulcet ambience and a laidback bassline, are all hallmarks of a TOKiMONSTA-produced track. 2016 has been a huge year for the LA local, having played Coachella and released her fourth studio album, Fovere, which includes collaborations with Gavin Turek, Kiya Lacey, Anderson Paak and Jonny Pierce from The Drums.
Chatting with her over the phone feels like an exchange with a friend, with no signs of the ego you might expect from a seasoned industry professional with a social media following of over a quarter of a million. Although she’s been making music for almost ten years now, she lights up with excitement when speaking about her career, buzzing with energy at the mention of her current endeavours – although we could also attribute this to caffeine.
“I’m sorry if I sound frantic! I just finished my third coffee of the day,” she says. “Anyway, fire away!”
Her latest offering is a seven-track mini-album, and it’s apparent that she’s focused meticulously on refining each. “I felt as though this album is able to tell the story that I wanted to tell,” she says. “I think a lot can be gained from an album with more tracks, but I still think of this as a full body of work. I thought it was sufficient without having to be extraneous and have extra tracks that I felt didn’t need to be there.”
“Too much emphasis is placed on the number of tracks in an album. Calling this a mini-album was a way to make sure people didn’t disregard it because I think with an EP, people tend to belittle it a little. It’s as significant as a larger album, but I don’t want a 16-track album with, like, six of the tracks not being something I’m really proud of; it’s quality versus quantity.”
She recently released the surreal, kaleidoscopic video for the standout single off the album Giving Up, featuring Jonny Pierce, which stars her and Pierce alongside actor Turen Robinson. The song is heartfelt, with TOKIMONSTA’s complex production and Peirce’s emotive vocals paired perfectly with the enigmatic video.
TOKiMONSTA emerged as the first female artist to sign to Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label, so she knows a thing or two about pioneering uncharted terrain within the music industry. There’s certainly no stonewalling the topic of equality when I ask about the most significant shifts she’s seen in the industry.
“Women”, she says, “that’s the biggest change. There’s a lot more women.”
“There’s a lot of up-and-coming younger girls that are just amazing. I think that I’m really looking forward to the day when there’s a respectable, amazingly talented female producer who just really rises above the ranks. I think that’s something that is probably going to come up really soon, and I don’t necessarily think it’ll be me, but I think someone else will definitely be the one to take the reins there.”
She also notes that since she first launched her career in 2008, there has been a shift in the acceptance and popularity of different subgenres of electronic music.
“Five years ago, the music I made was considered really weird, and in my opinion, I don’t think it’s changed too much in terms of the general tone of the music that I make. Now it’s like I can look at a commercial on TV and hear music that’s vaguely similar to the stuff I would have made a few years ago. I find that really interesting. I just find there’s a general acceptance of electronic music beyond the ‘EDM’ sort of thing, this idea that people now realise that there’s more to electronic music than just dance music. There’s music you can just listen to at home that isn’t as cr