Tokimonsta

Jennifer Lee (born January 26, 1988), known professionally as Tokimonsta (stylized as TOKiMONSTA), is an American record producer and DJ from Los Angeles.[3] She has collaborated with Anderson Paak, Isaiah Rashad,[4] Selah Sue,[5] and ZHU. She has also remixed tracks by Beck,[6] Duran Duran,[7] Olafur Arnalds[8] and ODESZA.[9] In 2019, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance / Electronic Album for the album Lune Rouge.[10]

Tokimonsta
Tokimonsta performing at Coachella 2016 with Anderson Paak
Background information
Birth nameJennifer Lee
BornLos Angeles, California, US
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Record producer
  • DJ
Years active2008–present
Labels
Associated actsFlying Lotus, ZHU, Gavin Turek, Anderson Paak
Websitewww.tokimonsta.com

Early life

Jennifer Lee grew up in Torrance, California.[11] She is of Korean descent.[3] She graduated from University of California, Irvine[12] with a degree in business and later worked for a video game producer.[13][14]

Lee was classically trained as a pianist. She first started working on electronic music while in college, when she participated in workshops by Leimert Park's Project Blowed and Low End Theory.[14]

Career

Lee was invited to attend the Red Bull Music Academy in London in 2010.[15] She was the first woman to sign to Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label and released her first album, Midnight Menu, in November 2010 on Brainfeeder.[16] She was rated the #1 Hottest Los Angeles Lady DJ by LA Weekly in December 2010.[17] She released the EP Creature Dreams, also on Brainfeeder, in 2011.[18] The next year, she released Boom, an 11-track collaborative project with Suzi Analogue as Analogue Monsta.[19]

In 2013, her second album, Half Shadows, was released on Ultra Records.[20] In 2014, she released Desiderium on her own Young Art Records.[21] She returned to the Red Bull Music Academy that same year as an alumni lecturer.[22] She produced Gavin Turek's You're Invited in 2015 on Young Art Records.[23] On September 9, 2015, she announced on Twitter the release of her solo album Fovere and she will be out on tour in support of her new album starting November 9, 2015.[24]

Name

The name Tokimonsta originates from the Korean word for rabbit (tokki), which she took from a Korean's children's song "San Toki"[25][26]

Personal life

Lee was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease in late 2015. After undergoing two brain surgeries, she briefly lost language and comprehension skills. Once these were regained, Lee eventually began work on her 2017 album Lune Rouge, despite not being able to fully understand music. She has noted that this album was her most personal piece of work due to the difficulties she experienced prior to making it.[27]

She discusses surmounting these challenges in Vox's Netflix series, Explained (season 1, episode 20)[28] and the Great Big Story miniseries Soundwave.[29]

Discography

Albums
  • Midnight Menu (2010)
  • Half Shadows (2013)
  • Desiderium (2014)
  • Fovere (2016)
  • Lune Rouge (2017)
  • Oasis Nocturno (2020)[30]

Extended plays
  • Bedtime Lullabies (2008)
  • Cosmic Intoxication (2010)
  • Creature Dreams (2011)
  • Los Angeles 8/10 (2011) (with Mike Gao)
  • Boom (2012) (with Suzi Analogue, as Analogue Monsta)
  • You're Invited (2015) (with Gavin Turek)

Singles
  • "USD / Free Dem" (2010) (with Blue Daisy)
  • "Mileena's Theme" (2011) (for Mortal Kombat)
  • "Darkest (Dim)" (2012) (with Gavin Turek)
  • "Go With It" (2013) (with MNDR)
  • "The Force" (2013) (with Kool Keith)
  • "The World Is Ours" (2014)
  • "Realla" (2014) (with Anderson Paak)
  • "Steal My Attention" (2014)
  • "Drive" (2014) (with Arama)
  • "Pinching" (2014) (with Iza Lach)
  • "Saw Sydney (Pharrell 'That Girl' Flip)" (2015)
  • "Hemisphere" (2015) (with Gavin Turek)
  • "Surrender" (2015) (with Gavin Turek)
  • "Put It Down" (2015) (with Anderson .Paak)
  • "Don't Call Me" (2017) (feat. Yuna)
  • "We Love" (2017) (featuring MNDR)
  • "I Wish I Could" (2018) (featuring Selah Sue)
  • "Strange Foot" (2019) (featuring Ambré)[31]
  • "Dream Chorus" (2019)[32]
  • "Love That Never" (2019)[33]
  • "Fried For the Night" (2020) (featuring EarthGang)[34]
  • "One Day" (2020) (featuring Bibi and Jean Deaux)[35]

Remixes
gollark: Idea: hypertoaster vs osmarksßßssmartwatch.
gollark: Maybe a bunch of seriesed high discharge lithium batteries? That CANNOT go wrong.
gollark: But those are low voltage.
gollark: Further evidence of ABR prescience.
gollark: The power of filter bubbles is immensely powerful.

References
  1. Li, Christina (June 28, 2012). "L.A. Beatmaker TOKiMONSTA: "People Think I'm Some Cutesy Anime Princess"". SF Weekly.
  2. Wunsch, Jessica (April 9, 2013). "Exclusive: TOKiMONSTA Talks Keeping Up With Boys Before Half Shadows Album Release Party". Vibe.
  3. Kakaire, Christine (September 28, 2010). "RA: Breaking through: Tokimonsta - Interview". Resident Advisor.
  4. "TOKiMONSTA, Isaiah Rashad, Joey Purp, and Ambré Team for New Song "No Way": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  5. "TOKiMONSTA's 'I Wish I Could' Video Will Have You in Tears: Watch". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  6. "Beck – "Wow (TOKiMONSTA Remix)"". Stereogum. 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  7. "TOKiMONSTA Shares Duran Duran Remix of "Last Night in the City"". HYPEBEAST. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  8. "Premiere: Ólafur Arnalds ~ they sink (TOKiMONSTA remix)". GoldFlakePaint. 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  9. "ODESZA - Falls feat. Sasha Sloan (TOKiMONSTA Remix)". Dancing Astronaut. 2019-01-25. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  10. "Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: TOKiMONSTA". GRAMMY.com. 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  11. Benson, Kristin (May 25, 2011). "Tokimonsta: Draw From The Opposites". L.A. Record.
  12. Bain, Katie (April 4, 2013). "Tokimonsta Leaves the Nest". Los Angeles Weekly.
  13. Cliff, Aimee. "Five things you should know about TOKiMONSTA". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  14. Schiewe, Jessie. "Tokimonsta Mixes Hip-Hop and EDM for the EDC Masses". Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  15. "Red Bull Music Academy". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  16. Deviant (November 7, 2010). "Review: TOKiMONSTA - Midnight Menu - Sputnikmusic". Sputnikmusic.
  17. Benson, Kristina. "Top 5 Hottest L.A. Lady DJs in 2010". Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  18. Diver, Mike (May 18, 2011). "BBC - Music - Review of TOKiMONSTA - Creature Dreams". BBC Music.
  19. Martin, Andrew (July 25, 2012). "Album Premiere: Analogue Monsta "Boom"". Complex.
  20. Weigel, Maxwell (April 11, 2013). "TOKIMONSTA: HALF SHADOWS". In Your Speakers. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  21. DeVille, Chris (September 19, 2014). "Stream TOKiMONSTA Desiderium (Stereogum Premiere)". Stereogum.
  22. "Red Bull Music Academy". Redbullmusicacademy.com. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  23. "Listen to TOKiMONSTA and Gavin Turek's Slick Mini LP 'You're Invited'". Vice. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  24. "T᷈O᷈K᷈iM᷈O᷈N᷈S᷈T᷈A᷈ on Twitter". Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  25. "TOKiMONSTA on Instagram: "The "toki" part of my name is based on a Korean children's song called "San Toki"—which means "mountain rabbit." I commemorated this song…"". Instagram.
  26. "Quick catch-up: TOKiMONSTA". Dummymag.com. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
  27. Geffen, Sasha (September 12, 2017). "TOKiMONSTA Lost Speaking and Musical Abilities After Brain Surgery. This Is How She Regained Them". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 16, 2018. That’s not to say that this is a happy album, but the whole process of creating it was very cathartic for me. It’s my most personal piece of work.
  28. "Tokimonsta reveals full extent of her recovery from brain surgeries and relearning music on final episode of Vox's Netflix series, explained". Dancing Astronaut. 2018-09-25. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  29. "Losing And Finding Music After Brain Surgery". Great Big Story. 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  30. Pryor, Terrance. "TOKiMONSTA reveals new album 'Oasis Nocturno,' releases new single "Fried For The Night"". MP3s and NPCs. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  31. Bein, Kat (March 1, 2019). "TOKiMONSTA recruits Ambré for the chill 'Strange Froot': Listen". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  32. "Dream Chorus by TOKiMONSTA on Spotify". Spotify. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  33. Corcoran, Nina (December 7, 2019). "TOKiMONSTA shares new single "Love That Never": Stream". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  34. Whyte, Devin (16 January 2020). "Tokimonsta and Earthgang Collaborate on "Fried For The Night"". Mixmag. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  35. Bein, Kat (February 21, 2020). "Tokimonsta, Bibi & Jean Deaux's 'One Day' honors the fighter in all of us with stunning video". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 27, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  36. Middleton, Ryan (2018-10-25). "Moby, Tokimonsta, DJ Tennis, DJ Seinfeld contributing to George Fitzgerald 'All that Must Be' remix album". Magnetic Mag. Archived from the original on 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  37. Peacock, Tim (2019-07-19). "Ólafur Arnalds' TOKiMONSTA Remix of 'They Sink' Is Out Now". uDiscover Music. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
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