MUNNYCAT and the hyper hip hop glowing constellations of "follow the leader" (Official Video)

 

"MUNNY MUNNYCAT with the MUNNYCAT skills..."

There is something within MUNNYCAT's latest esoteric electronica spinner "follow the leader" (elevated by their most adventurous Official Video to date) that had me thinking of a lot of things. Sonic hints of 'Computer Game "Theme From The Circus"' from Yellow Magic Orchestra's eponymous 1977 album (with the core electronic music fab 4 of Haruomi Hosono / Ryuichi Sakamoto / Yukihiro Takahashi (R.I.P) / Hideki Matsutake) and the kinetics distillations of AG. Cook-ified hyperpop or the sample smashing glitch hop electronica reverence of artists like opiuo. 

I also thought of front woman / producer K808 and multi-instrumentalist / producer Khaledzou (Katianne and Khaled Tabbara respectively) and their eventual metamorphosis as full fledged anime characters which is bound to happen. The pairs influences are many and the love for their art (and each other) is joyfully apparent. Last time I wrote this about their track "honest":

The thing that I have always like about MUNNYCAT's sound which is clearly expressed on 'honest' is how they seem to draw from 80's / 90's hip hop AS WELL as that period's alternative side. In fact as much as I hear tones that make me think of hip hop / funk icons like 3rd Bass, DJ Pooh, EPMD, I think more of the lo-fi indie, trip-hop alt, twee sounds of Japanese expatriates / East Coast art indie Cibo Matto, Brooklyn based Land of the Loops or even the southern stemmed Sukpatch (or an amalgam of similar artists).

AND that pastiche of influences, now and to some extent then, have coalesced into a more hyper hip hop blend here and (to me) leaning into the noise pop punk aesthetic. Hyperpop has, for the most pop balanced crystalline sounds with distorted one but maybe "follow the leader" is leaning into the peaks into the red zone while branding the MUNNYCAT sound. After all, the Official Video might have to do with cults but the way Katianne and Khaled are going, they maybe the ones that future electronic heads may be following.   

  

LINER NOTES (bracketed) ABOUT THE OFFICIAL VIDEO:

[Khaledzou and K808 of MUNNYCAT love making music videos together about as much as they love making music together - which is a lot. They concepted the visuals for their newest single ‘follow the leader’ about 2 weeks ago, gathered up 6 of their favorite collaborators from around the country, rolled up their sleeves and got to work filming in and around LA. Drawing inspiration from stories of charismatic cult leaders, 70’s cinema, and their love for all things spooky - their newest video features 3 dark, but lovely vignettes that explore late stage capitalism and the way people look for answers when things get dark and confusing (but… make it MUNNYCAT!).]

[To rewind, the song’s original idea came about while cooking dinner and listening to music one night. ‘Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In’ came through the speakers and they began to kick around the idea of how the era of harmony and understanding that the song sings about - still hasn’t arrived. What began as a casual conversation, became a moment of intense inspiration. The age of Aquarius hasn’t dawned, but… the age of the Scorpio? That sounds about right.]

[K808: ‘follow the leader’ came out of us talking about what the ‘Age of the Scorpio’ would even look like. It’d be a time of brutal rebirth - leading to the silver lining that we all hope could possibly come out of these ‘unprecedented times’. I hated being a Scorpio when I was little. I wanted to be a cute little sign like a lion or a goat. Everything about my sign was deep, intense, secretive, and mysterious. So, I feel like this is me owning the darker parts of myself that I used to try and hide.]

[Khaledzou: Everyone talks about Scorpios being ‘intense’ but it’s because when they solve problems - they investigate deeply and cut out the root. That’s the difficult, painful and effective way. It’s inspiring to people looking for answers. That’s how we developed the 3 vignettes in the video. They all relate to following proposed leaders. But of course, like most things MUNNYCAT, even when it’s dark - it’s still real fun.]

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://www.munnycat.com/

https://www.instagram.com/munnycat/

https://www.facebook.com/munnycatmusic

https://twitter.com/munnycat

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3mib3ZXDjjjGpWxnoZu0XF?si=m12NqLSLS_-1tw35APB0JQ&nd=1

https://soundcloud.com/munnycat


MUNNYCAT is the production duo made up of LA-based songsmiths K808 & Khaledzou. They’ve joined forces to blur the lines between escape room pop and golden-age hip hop. The result is confident, creative, and completely infectious. 2 total collaborators - they love each other, they live together, they write and produce together, they even shoot and edit their own music videos together. MUNNYCAT makes energetic and empowering neon-colored west-coast bops, with bombastic kick drums and grimy percussive layers. Looking to be featured on blogs, playlists and to collaborate with influencers.

MUNNYCAT, "follow the leader" (Official Video), trip hop, hip hop, East Coast funk, proto hip-hop, 80’s art pop, front-woman K808, multi-instrumentalist, producer Khaledzou,