Mono/Poly: Astral Beats

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  14 Sep 2012 in Interview

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Does it have a concept to it like your first full length, Paramatma?
That one was really conceptual. This one? Probably later on I’d find out whether it means something because there’s a lot of stuff in there. But it wasn’t really something that I was thinking about while making it, I just kinda put it together. Yet it’s actually one of the most cohesive [records] I ever made even though it’s not really conceptual. It’s coming out on Omar Rodríguez-López’s label.

Speaking of whom, you have quite a fanbase. The Mars Volta, Thom Yorke…
Yeah, it’s crazy cause I don’t be thinking about that sh!t! Someone has to tell me about it and I’m like, “sh!t, they like my music?!” I’m just a person who’s always in the moment of me working, so everything outside of me I don’t really pay much attention to. A reason why I do that is because I grew up with a lot of haters so I kinda black out sh!t. I know what I can do and I’m gonna make good music that I like. There are always these haters who are going to say sh!t because they’re not hearing something familiar.

I realised that a lot of people don’t even listen to music. And that’s what music is for, to be listened to. They just wanna see what it’s associated with, if it’s the popular trendy sh!t. “Oooh, is this the cool thing to do now?” Me? I just focus on music. So when I see these acclaimed artists like Thom Yorke and The Mars Volta giving me praise, I’m like, f*ck man, I’m excited but I still need to get back to work. But yeah, it’s been a trip seeing all these artists I really admire saying they like my music. That’s the confirmation for what I do. I guess I’m doing the right thing, I’m doing something good.

Gotta ask you this, who were the haters, man?
Honestly I don’t really run into too many haters, but when you do, it’s just so crushing. It’s really just simpleminded people who just block out anything that’s a little different from what they usually hear. Some of my stuff is really out there, but some are really not. It’s familiar in a way, it’s got the hard drums and sh!t, it’s not too hard to get into. Some maybe, just odd drum signatures and stuff certain people can’t get into because they have this mind set of “I have to dance, I have to know a dance routine”. They don’t really matter, it just bothers me because I know how they are thinking. I, too, thought like that when I was younger, for a second, then I realised it was f*cking lame. And that was why I just do whatever I want to do.

So does it bother your creative process at all? Listening to these haters?
It did a lot in the past, now it doesn’t. I really don’t care. I already got to a point when I know what I’m doing, and I work hard to continue make music as best as I can. I’m doing what I love now, what else matters at this point, you know?

You seem pretty annoyed by club fads. Recently I read that you were irked that trap is really trending now…
I like so much different music. I like trap, dubstep, rock, whatever, you know. I can listen to a lot of stuff, but the whole trap thing is just people trying to find something new and disregard everything else. Dude, just embrace it all. That’s why I like Los Angeles, I guess. The Low End Theory DJs are really opened to stuff. They were playing all the trendy genres all this while, they’ve been doing that…

Like them, you’re not restricted to a specific genre…
Exactly. That’s where Mono/Poly comes to play. I wanna just experience stuff that I like, regardless of the genre. I like to explore, and that’s going to keep giving me inspiration – being open-minded.

Once a certain genre gets uber-popular (like dubstep and now trap), does that turn you off to them or do you continue to not give a sh*t?
I don’t give a sh*t, man. I knew that people were going that route, especially with dubstep, cause I saw friends who didn’t even get into electronic music were getting into [dubstep] easily. Obviously it was going to get really popular. I was thinking in my head, wow, some of these DJs that played dubstep are going to try to stop playing it now because of the popularity. I still play dubstep though. I don’t play it as much but I still like it. And trap? A lot of people try to do that because they want to stop playing dubstep but then they’re just gonna end up doing the same thing, that’s gonna get popular too.

And they just run it into the round. Did you hear that Benga supposedly quit dubstep?
I haven’t heard that one. I don’t think they should fully quit dubstep though, just do whatever you like doing..

Did you actually eat the durian you posed with in the picture Cee (Detour Asia) took?
(laughs) No, I didn’t eat it. Everyone said it was a stinky fruit, but when I was holding one, I didn’t really smell it. It wasn’t bad to me for some reason. I smelled worse things. I’d like to try it still though.

Honestly, we live here and we haven’t tried durian ourselves!

Brought to you by Detour Asia, Mono/Poly played at Milk Club on Friday 27 July 2012. Listen to his productions at soundcloud.com/theofficialmonopoly and follow him at @mono__poly.