the ExMonkeys

Bio:

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ANNOUNCEMENT 12/26/11

New release "Use Your Tools" available now!!!

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The evolution of the ExMonkeys continues…

The ExMonkeys got their start in 2007 when Raleigh-based musicians DJ Ed and MC Ian decided they wanted to create an electronic music presence that they felt was missing from their local music scene (Raleigh, NC). Borrowing sonic influences from electronic, rock, punk, experimental, and hip-hop, they created a sound that ends up more at home in rock clubs than at dance clubs. Blending beats, synths, guitars, and noise with an energy that propels the sound off the stage or out of the speakers, they prove that electronic music isn’t just standing behind a laptop pressing buttons...

The group evolved out of the NC Triangle-based live electronic act Friend Side Monkey, which laid the foundation for musical collaboration which MC Ian and DJ Ed utilize to build the dense, beat-packed, and scratch-laden sound which defines the ExMonkeys today. Coming from a diverse musical background (Ed from a hip-hop and rock background, and Ian from the do-it-yourself experimental sound ethic of the Wifflefist media collective combined with punk and rock influences and experience), the ExMonkeys sound can quickly change from hard and aggressive to melodic and bouncy, or from highly structured and calculated to free-form and unscripted, making for an unexpected and entertaining live or recorded experience. They can quickly and seamlessly change from metal-based riffs and heavy distorted beats to techno acid filter tweaking, and then suddenly shift to a funky hip-hop beat foundation with scratch-DJ layers on top, or devolve into looping, effected, experimental loops and noise.

As evolution (and of course de-evolution) are key elements to the ExMonkeys theme, change is something that can’t be avoided. And in keeping with that theme, the ExMonkeys have currently morphed into a solo act being manned by MC Ian (in this case, MC equals “master of controls”). For now, DJ Ed has stepped away from the turntables to focus elsewhere. However, prior to his departure, both Ed and Ian laid down the tracks for the new ExMonkeys release “Use Your Tools”, which is available as of December 2011 in online and physical formats. Happily, the door is always open to collaborations and remixes with other artists, as happened with last year’s remix/mashup of Juan Heuvos's "Call Me Sir Please" with the ExMonkeys "Up and Get It".

So the ExMonkeys ask that you follow along as the evolution continues...

Thanks!
the ExMonkeys

What other people have said...
"...can get aggressive in a make-you-shake-your-ass-while-head-bangin' kinda way. A medley of electronic, hip-hop, experimental, and punk rock influences. The Ex-Monkeys wield software, turntables and an 808 as if they were W.A.D.S (Weapons of Ass Destruction!) The result is bass and beat-heavy, with nice noise and crunch." -- them Spazz folk

"Aided by deft turntable-ism, Raleigh duo The ExMonkeys mixes space-age electrojunk into beat-heavy trip-hop, swinging from branches of desolate down-tempo to full-on party anthems." -- Spencer Griffith, Independent Weekly

"gear heavy jams careen from blissed trip-hop to aggressive beat-based anthems without notice. At its best, the Ex-Monkeys make music meant for heroics" -- Grayson Currin, Independent Weekly

"the ExMonkeys made a huge fuckin sound" -- Juan Huevos, briefcaserockers.com

"Ex-Monkeys are 2/3rds of the late-90s trip-hop band Friend Side Monkey, and as of now, at least, it's safe to say that they've picked up more or less where FSM left off. Too soon to know what the future holds." -- Ross Grady, trianglerock.com

the ExMonkeys have played shows with: Does It Offend You, Yeah? / Gliss / Mecca Normal / Sonic Death Rabbit / EAR PWR
One or both of us have played shows with: Terminator X / Trans Am / Superchunk / Mark Hosler of Negativland / Ben Folds Five / Dr. Eugene Chadbourne

Member Since:

January 20, 2008

Members:

MC Ian, DJ Ed

Influences:

DEVO, darwin, huxley, camus, vonnegut, pierre boulle, twain, john brown.