I Monster | |
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| Origin | Sheffield,England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1998–present |
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| Members |
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| Website | imonstermusic.com |
I Monster are an Englishelectronic music duo, composed of theSheffield based record producers Dean Honer and Jarrod Gosling. Best known for their songs "Who Is She?" and "Daydream in Blue", both of which appeared on their 2003 albumNeveroddoreven, they have also produced records for acts such asThe Human League andHK119, and worked on a documentary about the origins of electronic music.
I Monster and its label Twins of Evil are both named afterhorror films starringPeter Cushing (i.e.,I, Monster andTwins of Evil).[1]
Gosling played in arock band calledCandy Paige as a teenager.[2]Honer left school at 16 and moved to Sheffield shortly after. He started producing music and joined numerous bands. In 1990, he opened Neptune studio, arecording studio, together with Duncan Wheat.[3]
Dean Honer and Jarrod Gosling first met in 1991, when a mutual friend introduced them to each other. Honer was setting up his studio and invited Gosling to make music together.[4] Early influences included earlyWarp Records releases,Fad Gadget andBlancmange.[5] They were already makingtechno music akin ofAphex Twin,Autechre andBlack Dog[6] together for years when they foundedI Monster in 1998. Drawing inspiration from thepsychedelic rock,progressive rock andeasy listening of the '60s as well asEnnio Morricone, they would go buy vinyl records and start tochop them into songs. This was the process that resulted in an early version ofDaydream in Blue, which sampled TheGunter Kallmann Choir's version of "Daydream". After finishing their first albumThese Are Our Children in 1999, the two musicians received anArts Council grant to press 500 CDs which they had to give away for free, due tosample clearance issues.[4][7] After being evicted from Neptune studio in 2001, Honer set up Bowling Green studio, where he has been situated since.[3]
Daydream in Blue, which already featured on their first album, was reworked and released as asingle in 2001 on Cercle Records, a record label founded by Honer and frequent collaborator Barry Smith ofAdd N To (X) along with singles from Smith's band andAll Seeing I members. Honer describes this era of creative cooperation as "quite a bit of cross-pollination between Add N To (X), the All Seeing I, and I Monster".[7] After British radio hostNemone picked up the song and played it on her show, interest grew in the duo and they signed toInstant Karma shortly thereafter.[4]Daydream peaked at number 20 in the UK charts.[8]
In 2003, I Monster returned with their second albumNeveroddoreven. The original artwork featuring a skull was created by Gosling under the pseudonym of Varrod Goblink.[9] The duo embarked on a tour after the release, joined by Marion Benoist and Fred de Fred ofThe Lovers. According to the group, the label mishandled some of the release strategy, leading to them leaving.[4]In 2005, the album was re-released with a new sleeve byDharma Records.[citation needed]
In 2007,Chicago rapperLupe Fiasco heavily sampled "Daydream in Blue" on his hit song "Daydreamin'" featuringJill Scott, popularizing the song even more.
I Monster started collaborating with Finnish pop artist,HK119, for her second album in 2007. The resulting project,Fast, Cheap and Out of Control was released in September 2008 onOne Little Indian Records, and saw I Monster co-write and co-produce over three quarters of the album. This collaboration came from Dean Honer's previous role as a remixer for HK119's debut single, "Pick Me Up", from her eponymous debut album in 2006.[citation needed]
I Monster released their third studio albumA Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars in 2009.[10] The coverart was once again designed by Gosling, as well as the artwork for every I Monster release thereafter.[9]
In 2011, the band producedThe Human League's ninth album,Credo, their first in 10 years. Joseph Stannard, writing forThe Quietus, called the album a "terrific synthpop record" and better than 1981'sDare.[10]
October 2012 saw the duo releasing two albums,Rare andRemixed, both composed of bonus tracks and rarities from "Neveroddoreven".[11]
In 2013, they released a collection of songs that didn't make it ontoA Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars under the name ofSwarf.2013 also saw the release ofI Monster Presents People Soup, an album heavily featuring a fictional band entirely consisting of female singers over more pop-oriented instrumentation.[citation needed]
Bright Sparks, a two hour-long documentary, produced by I Monster and Dave Spiers of GForce, about the origins and pioneers of electronic music, was released in 2015,[12] joined later by an accompanying album of the same title in 2016. The feature documentary contains numerous interviews with instrument designers and musicians. The first half of the movie, called "A Side", focuses on US inventors, while the "B Side" features British innovators. Interviewees includeAdrian Utley,Daniel Miller,Billy Currie,Karl Hyde,Alessandro Cortini,Will Gregory and many more.[13]
The albumBright Sparks consists of eight songs paying tribute to different innovators of electronic music, including but not limited toRobert Moog,Herbert Deutsch,Ken Freeman,Don Buchla,Harry Chamberlin andAlan R. Pearlman among many others.[14]
Bright Sparks Instrumental, an instrumental version of the album, was released on 19 July 2016 on the group'sBandcamp site. Included on this album is a preview track forBright Sparks Volume Two.[13]
I Monster didn't release any music in over 5 years, but after the sixth track ofNeveroddoreven called "Who Is She ?" gained overnight virality onTikTok in 2022, the duo started work on an expanded version of that album. This resulted in the release ofNeveroddoreven (Redux) in March 2024. This version added three new songs and an acoustic version ofDaydream in Blue to the end of the album.[7]
The newfound attention on their music also allowed them to tour Europe for the 20th Anniversary ofNeveroddoreven, called theWho Are They Tour. They were joined by two vocalists, Jenny Green and Hannah Hu, with visuals created by Katie Mason.[4]
In June 2024, I Monster confirmed they were working on a new album.[5][7]
Honer, alongside DJ Parrot and Jason Buckle, was a founding member of electronic music groupAll Seeing I, whose 1998 hit record "The Beat Goes On" was most notably covered byBritney Spears on her debut album...Baby One More Time. Honer recounts the aftermath of the success as "a flood of work", remixing a lot of songs and even turning aMadonna remix down.[3]
Honer plays in multiple other bands together with long-time collaborator Adam Flanagan, such asThe Eccentronic Research Department,The Moonlandingz (together with Lias Kaci Saoudi and Saul Adamczewski ofFat White Family) andThe International Teachers of Pop (together with Leonore Wheatley from The Soundcarriers).[3] In 2018, he started a new project with Will Goddard, calledFrogman. Their entire output was exclusively released oncassette tapes. The music was created as asoundtrack to a fictional TV series, featuring spoken word written by Goddard and recorded byHK119,Russell Senior,Richard Speight andTerry O'Connor.[15]
In 2020, Honer formed yet another group,Another New Thing, with Don Himlin and Paul Nagle, releasing their debut albumXYZZY in 2021 via Dipped In Gold.[16]
Gosling too is part of multiple music projects besides I Monster. Theacid folk band Cobalt Chapel consists of him (exclusively onorgan) and Cecilia Fage, aLondon based singer andclarinettist. Creative influences include horror filmsValerie and Her Week of Wonders andThe Stepford Wives. They released their selftitled debut in 2017.[17] This was followed byMountain in 2018 andOrange Synthetic in 2021.[18][19]
Gosling has released multipleprogressive rock albums under the alias ofRegal Worm.[6] Regal Worm released their first albumUse and Ornament in 2013. Gosling was planning his sophomore effortKlara Till Slutet while still finishingUse and Ornament. "It was going to be aconcept album" Gosling told in an interview, but it got scrapped. Some of the songs written forKlara Till Slutet were released as part ofDissecting The Worm andSausages, twoEPs which came out later in 2013.[20] 2015 saw the release ofNeither Use Nor Ornament, the sophomore studio album by Regal Worm.Pig Views, the final installment of his initial trilogy, came out in 2018.[21] Regal Worm's fourth albumThe Hideous Goblink was released in 2021. Their sound has been described as a mix of "Canterbury, Psychedelia,Space Rock,Zeuhl and theRock in Opposition movement".[22] Gosling himself called the Regal Worm output "a continuation of [I Monster], but channeled through a more progressive rock and psychedelic style rather than electronic pop".[23]
Studio albums[edit]
EPs[edit]
Instrumental albums[edit]
| Compilation albums[edit]
Singles[edit]
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Production by I Monster, noted if otherwise.
| Release | Year | Artist(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ...Baby One More Time | 1999 | Britney Spears | Production on Track 12 "The Beat Goes On" by Honer as part ofThe All Seeing I[3] |
| Overpowered | 2007 | Róisín Murphy | Co-production on Track 5 and Track 9 by Honer (together with DJ Parrot) |
| Fast, Cheap and Out of Control | 2008 | HK119 | Co-production[24] |
| The Art Of Chill 6 | 2009 | Various Artists | DJ mix[25] |
| Credo | 2011 | The Human League | |
| Pocket Handkerchief Lane | Kevin Pearce | Production by Honer[26] | |
| Matthew Hopkins and the Wormhole | 2013 | Kevin Pearce | Co-production by Honer[27] |
The duo's music has featured in movies such asShaun of the Dead,[28]Riders (Steal)[29] andEndorphine.[30]
Daydream in Blue featured on the soundtrack ofMr. Robot Season 2 Episode 1 called "eps2.0_unm4sk-pt1.tc"[31] and on the soundtrack ofSeverance Season 1 Episode 2 called "Half Loop".[32]
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