MUNNYCAT
MUNNYCAT just dropped their new project titled the MUNNYCAT mixtape and I think the last time I heard something that good was when Mark Ronson dropped his record Version in 2007 lol. The production on that project is insane. I am blown away and impressed by their talent. K808 and Khaledzou created something huge with this mixtape. It is unique, refreshing and cool as fuck. And I think “eyes on this” and “do yer own thing (please)” are my favorites….. but the production on “easy” is just incredible.
K808 and Khaledzou are geniuses. Go stream the MUNNYCAT mixtape now !
Photo credit: Anna Azarov
Introduce yourselves - what's your story?
Hi! We’re MUNNYCAT (K808 and Khaledzou). We’re a DIY noise-pop band in Los Angeles. We originally met in our hometown of Youngstown, Ohio as musicians doing our own things. We played a show together, fell in love, and realized we had so much fun making music together. So we started MUNNYCAT and moved to sunny California.
You’ve just released your new project the MUNNYCAT mixtape - when did you start working on this project? What's the inspiration behind it?
We started working on ‘the MUNNYCAT mixtape’ a little before everything shut-down in 2020. We were listening to a bunch of old mix-tapes, mash-ups and DJ sets by cats like Z-trip, and D.J.P. We loved the kitchen sink approach to just like throwing everything at a song. The idea was to make it sound like its a patchwork of old samples - like we had gone crate digging in some other dimensions and came back with some super rare funk and soul records from alternate universes.
Could you describe the production process for this mixtape?
We basically kind of made our own samples by writing songs that sounded like 1970’s hits, scrapping them for parts and putting huge hiphop beats under them. We remixed our own remixed remixes. We are both producers so we would take turns chopping and screwing whatever the last person had done while they were driving. We love doing that. It’s like destroying your own song until it becomes something even cooler. It’s chaos magic, Wanda.
What was the hardest part about making this project?
Finishing it. We were both pretty depressed while we working on it, and making these songs was like the only thing that made us feel better. So it was kind of difficult to stop tinkering and re-writing. It was hard to say “Okay. It’s done.” There’s like 10 different versions of most of these songs. But the ones are on the record are the best.
Any favorite memories from the making of this project?
Making this during a pandemic (besides all the obviously horrifically tragic and difficult things) was such a unique experience. We are partners that work and live together in a small apartment / music studio in Los Angeles. We would basically wake up in the morning, drink our coffee together on the porch, walk a few feet to the studio where we worked all day, walked a few feet to the couch to watch Disney+ or Netflix, walk a few feet to our bedroom, sleep and repeat. We are somehow even closer. Our short hand and creative communication is razor sharp. It was kind of amazing to be completely immersed in making something without distraction.
What can you tell us about the artwork?
We really ran with the multiple universe mixtape idea. The artwork concept is of the Armageddon style battle in the ensuing war that was a result of our breaking inter-dimensional copyright law. We loved it. The idea is that this mixtape is so dope it like.. broke reality. If you look closely at the art, it’s like you’re looking through the spokes of a wheel on a cassette tape and seeing the Battle of the Angels after the Apocalypse of St. John.
What are your thoughts on today's music industry?
Creatively we think it’s thriving. So many people have access to the tools they need to just create. It’s kind of a madhouse right now - in a good way. Everyone can make music and share it. People that were previously locked out of the music industry by the powers that be can now just make music, put it online and maybe find an audience. It’s very liberating. There’s an entire generation of people that grew up with the ability to make a record in their bedroom completely isolated from the old ways people thought about making music. There are artists right now that are masters of producing in recording software the way Eddie Van Halen was a master of playing guitar. It inspires the shit out of us.
What biggest lessons have you learned since the beginning of MUNNYCAT?
You get really good art when you step outside of your comfort zone. We try to consume art all the time for inspiration. Things we weren’t into two years ago blow us away now because we let ourselves be open to it. It helps us grow as artists to really challenge ourselves to do something different. And another big lesson is to really embrace and love our true confidence. When you’re young, you’re taught to be humble and apologetic, but that doesn’t make good art. You have to really believe in what you’re doing or else why should anyone else care? Even if you’re writing something vulnerable, you have to be confident in your own voice to be able to share that. You’re never gonna get to the really good stuff by pretending you’re not awesome.
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