TOKiMONSTA’s Desiderium: Track-by-Track

If there’s one thing TOKiMONSTA taught us since she graduated from the 2010 edition of the Academy, it’s that she’s never one to settle. Linking up with the mighty Brainfeeder empire the following year, and signing with the Ultra conglomerate to drop off her previous full-length, her latest effort sees the LA-based producer jumpstart her very own Young Art imprint.

With features from Arama, Anderson Paak, and Joyce Wrice, Desiderium represents TOKiMONSTA’s most vocal-heavy work to date. Incorporating elements that nod to her classical training, as well as her appreciation for house, juke, and Yellow Magic Orchestra, the album yet again serves as testament to TOKiMONSTA’s ever-expanding musical palette. We asked the label boss to run down each track from her new release for us, and she kindly obliged.

Listen to a stream of the album on TOKiMONSTA’s Soundcloud and pick up your own copy now.

The Beginning
I made this song on Ableton while staying at an Airbnb in Berlin – no gear, just VSTs and my sample library I’ve built over the years. My intention was to make a new track to use just to begin my sets with, you know, a sort of “epic” opener. I didn’t plan to make it a track I would actually release, but after a while I realized that this track was just a great way to start any story, such as an album. That being said, I always believed albums should tell some sort of story from start to finish.

Drive feat. Arama
When I made this song, I had been revisiting a lot of the songs I grew up with in the ’90s and realized a lot of current music lacked the same sort of, let’s say, light-hearted sweetness. That probably doesn’t make sense, but I basically wanted to make a song that was soulful, but not a song that could be overly scrutinized. I had no intentions of making it a super artsy song, which I find is a lofty goal for a song anyway. I actually still haven’t met Arama yet, we worked on this song all over the internet and email. Regardless, she’s AMAZING. (Thanks MNDR for the intro.)

Steal My Attention

This song was interesting because I wanted to express my love for house, but keep it within a tempo range that I’m more comfortable with. It led to this song that is only 105 BPM (still a hip hop tempo), with a beat that is still somewhat 4/4. I also chose to use the same hip hop drums I usually use, not house drums which tend to have more punch to break through the mix. On an emotional level, I was feeling some type of way and needed to vent how hurt I was inside. Being able to release this song to the public was a very cathartic process.

Realla feat. Anderson Paak
This whole album was a study of “less is more.” I’m used to generous layers of pads, flooding music with obscure sounds for a thick texture. ”Realla” was my way of creating a deep environment, with just a few sounds that were more thought-out. Anderson Paak was someone I had known for a while and we both always wanted to work with each other. He is a creative genius, really. He is incredibly musical on all levels and one of the artists out there I’m the most excited about.

Dusty Stars
Most of this album was made during the day, while a lot of my past work had been made late, late at night. This is one of the tracks that was made pretty late at night and I think that quality is audible. I’m not sure how to explain this song because it built itself. I was alone in the dark for eight hours and crawled out the crypt with this track.

Open Air feat. Joyce Wrice
This song is particularly special to me because it’s the first song I wrote that was sung by someone else. I know I can’t sing well, or at least not how I wish I could. Nevertheless, I have so many ideas in my head and it’s great to see my ideas fleshed out with the right voice. I originally planned to build out the beat just slightly, so I could use it as a production collab with another artist, but I got greedy once I started working on it and just kept it for myself. As for the lyrics, I can’t really explain where I was coming from. I just like writing out lyrics that explain an image I envision.

Sakamoto’s Spring
This song is dedicated to Ryuichi Sakamoto, whom I have the pleasure of knowing personally. His career spans decades, being a tastemaker on every level, and yet he’s still super cool. He invented electronic pop in the ’70s (with his band Yellow Music Orchestra), has had his portrait done by Andy Warhol, has acted in countless films, and still has his beautiful piano music. This is the type of life I could only dream of having for myself. I digress. Basically, I love his music and wanted to dedicate a song to a person who I admire highly. Making this track brought me back to my roots playing piano, and you’ll be hearing more piano tracks from me in the future.

Header: Koury Angelo / Red Bull