EDMsauce.com Artist of the Week: Munchkin Kat

BIO

For rock musician-turned-EDM producer Jeremy Hall—a.k.a. Munckin Kat—gone are the backbreaking days of carrying 60lbs amps across New York.

After starting their musical career as a classical guitarist and several years performing in venues across Manhattan and Brooklyn as a guitarist in rock bands, bass music production and mixing has now become the main focus of their career. But, even after a shift in genre and technical discoveries, their musical direction is still led by curiosity and fun—the fun of exploring the neverending possibilities of sound creation and the electronic music scene.

Munchkin Kat’s sound has developed over the several albums they’ve released since switching from rock to bass music, mixing influences from their original musical background with sounds from the EDM, new disco, and bass music scenes. As Jeremy has been honing their mixing and production skills, their style has further cemented itself as dark and heavy, but always with a playful dimension to it. Pop culture references—especially to videogames—find their home in tracks where blues, funk, and heavy bass are all in conversation.

But Munchkin Kat’s sound isn’t set in stone. Curiosity and constant evolution are the driving force of Jeremy’s musical exploration. With several tracks set to be released in 2024, we can expect things to get even more surprising and exciting… with plenty of heavy, filthy bass music in the works.

“Creative Process

A lot of times when you want to get really  good at something. Drawing, sports, video games, or in my case music, it helps to have someone who’s an expert in that category to sorta help you along. Someone that can help you understand why things work and how to get to closer to what you would like to express. And Between music lessons with Synk and playing along to Mr.Bill and Au5 tutorials I feel like I have finally touched toward the direction I always wanted to go. And that’s not to say I have gotten there, because there never really is an end. It’s an exciting beginning, and I can’t wait to see how this journey will continue. How new tools will have artists think differently. Exciting techniques to be discovered. How weird and fun are we going to get?

So now, when I open the DAW one of the first things I do is either make some drums or see if I can make a cool new sound. With the help of analyzing/inspecting tools I am able to have an idea of how I am affecting a sound and what to move to nudge the frequencies in the direction I am aiming for. In reality though, I often am unsure what will come out of a session. Just jump in, tweak some nobs and always try new techniques. That constant discovery is the exciting part and makes the process is just so much fun.”

Track Description: 

Munchkin Kat channels their inner LSDream with their new track “CONTROL.” Beginning its journey with punk rock chanting, the audience loses control with bass-in-the-face wubs from space, garnished with star clusters sprinkled straight from the cosmic hand of Salt Bae. And if the synth bass isn’t enough, you can feast your ears on intense hip hop lyrics backed by Bernie Edwards-inspired bass guitar. 

“CONTROL” isn’t about taking control, but about losing it—forgetting about the existence of anxiety, fear and depression, and letting loose to the embrace of synthetic soundscapes, groovy funk and inspiringly phat bass.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1PR9RZc3wxUcC7Uoe8Kkiw?si=1&nd=1&dlsi=4e229e7f6cf34969

This is a track of the present, past and future, integrating elements from funk, punk and hip-hop into electronic psychedelic bass. “CONTROL” is blasting off into space, and all are invited to hop on for the ride. 

Personal Description:  

Lately Opiuo and LSDream have been huge inspirations  to my music, so when I start writing I’ll spend hours tweaking a kick and snare or messing with a new bass thinking about how to transition them in similar ways. Adding harmonics to wubs with minimal movement, but such drastic differences between each other that they are distinct. 

Alternative to that are the big and heavy saw synths. Very simple, but tons of modulation to add texture to the instrument. Through this and the many hours on drums, I was able to acquire the meat of the potatoes and eventually make a herby fondant shepards pie that it is now.

“CONTROL” was a fun track to write, with the idea of every section being unique while moving away from the norm of my arrangement. To do that I wrote several motifs in different genres and tried to merge them together in varying ways like a 3D puzzle. Many to no avail, but that just made those that did work more special, eventually making its way to become a journey of its own.

“Plans comming months and new releases: 

I have been storing up a LOT of content. Enough to where I have decided that I will be releasing at least one track just about every month. From artwork, to visualizers (similar to “CONTROL”), to videos explaining the process. Additionally I have been working on collabs with a lot of talented artists. I am super excited about all these projects and can’t wait to share these bass heavy, wubby dubby face huggers with the world. Expect another LSDream influenced track in January (named “Lilac Bloom”), followed up by a Lovecraftian spiral (“UZUMAKI”) in February.”

Socials-

https://www.instagram.com/munchkin_kat/

https://www.youtube.com/@munchkinkat

https://www.munchkinkat.com/