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Resiliency: How TOKiMONSTA Recovered Lost Speaking and Musical Abilities Following Brain Surgery

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If you are feeling down and hopeless today, let the story of Jennifer Lee, known as TOKiMONSTA serve as inspiration.

In an interview with Pitchfork, Lee shared for the first time what she went through during the past 12 years. The Los Angeles-based artist tells of how she had been suffering from persistent migraines for 10 years, but doctors hadn’t detect anything unusual. Fortunately a health scare in 2015 led to specialists finding the culprit: an extremely rare and potentially fatal brain disease called Moyamoya.

“‘Moyamoya’ is a Japanese word that means ‘a puff of smoke,'” she said. “When your main arteries start shrinking, the blood still wants to reach your brain, so it starts taking these smaller, weaker collateral vessels. Usually you wouldn’t be able to see those little veins, but because they’re taking more blood to compensate, it looks like a puff of smoke is coming from the base of your brain. If your arteries start to shut down and the blood starts to take these weaker vessels, you’re either going to have a stroke or an aneurysm or thrombosis. It just explodes, basically, because those veins are not meant to take on an artery’s worth of blood.”

“Without any treatment, most people don’t live past 40… I didn’t know how much time I had, and I was leaving on tour… It’s a really convoluted process to get treatment. But I was a ticking time bomb. I was really desperate and scared shitless,” Lee adds. She sought treatment at Stanford, the leading institution for the treatment of the disease; upon diagnosis, she was advised to immediately undergo a brain surgery.

She eventually went through two brain surgeries in January 2016 as the disease affected both sides of her brain. The procedures were successful and at first she was doing fine. However, afterwards she found herself not able to talk or understand speech. Lee recalls, “I could still think thoughts, but all the words I knew were gone. I even tried texting people and my texts were complete gibberish. It was almost like suddenly I spoke a different language than everyone else… But the worst part was that I couldn’t understand any kind of music whatsoever. It didn’t sound right.”

For Lee, the thought of not able to produce music anymore was the worst part. Her language became better as time progressed but, having spent so much time in the hospital she lost muscle tone in her body, so she had to learn how to walk again on top of overcoming the biggest struggle: making music again. “I opened Ableton and I couldn’t understand what I was doing, even though at that point my speech was at 90 percent… The part of my brain that knew how to put sounds together was broken,” Lee relates. “I didn’t want to pity myself, but it was a heart-wrenching pain.”

Compounding the difficulties she faced physically was an emotional struggle she was not expecting to face: her boyfriend broke up with her after surgery. “That moment was probably the worst I’ve ever felt in my entire life. But that sadness allowed me to regain some clarity. I knew I had to overcome it.”

She decided to stop for a while and gave herself room to recuperate, something she was glad to have done looking back. “I think if I had pushed myself I would never have found the music again…I gave myself a couple weeks with music to be like, ‘Just don’t touch this shit—chill out, work on other aspects of your life, try to be normal again.'”

Lee eventually got back to music again, and the first song she managed to write after the surgery was a track titled “I Wish I Could Be.” “I wrote the instrumental and finally felt a sense of completion, like, ‘I’m back! This is a good song.’ I was given that glimmer of hope that everything would be fine.” Belgian soul singer-songwriter Selah Sue wrote the lyrics for the tracks, touching on deep meaning for both Lee and listeners.

The song would be the first of the many tracks she was able to make after recovery, all  featured in her upcoming third album Lune Rouge. As Lee talks about the album, it becomes clear that making it was a cathartic experience. “This album isn’t going to be made to satisfy the needs of an industry or the needs of a trend. I’m just going to make songs that make me happy, and I really hope they make other people happy, too,” she adds. “It’s my most personal piece of work…each of these beats—all these songs I put together—tell a story.”

Two months after the surgery she went to SXSW and on the following month, in April, she played at Coachella. This was followed by full tours with no one knowing about what she went through. Lee hopes that her story will help bring light to Moyamoya, as well as to give attention to all personal struggles people may be facing in their lives.

“We all go through really terrible things and face hardships. Being able to play Coachella three months after having the surgery was very significant to me. If I can do something like this, anyone can,” she shares.

Titled Lune Rouge, TOKiMONSTA’s new album is coming out October 6th through her own Young Arts Records imprint. Along with the aforementioned song, the Fovere follow-up effort includes collaborations with Joey Purp, Isaiah Rashad, and IO Echo. Said to be “her most personal body of work to date,” it also comes with “We Love”, a glimmering, summer-ready single featuring MNDR, which you can listen to below.

 

Lune Rouge Tracklist:

01. Lune
02. Rouge
03. Thief (feat. SAINTS)
04. I Wish I Could (feat. Selah Sue)
05. We Love (feat. MNDR)
06. Bibimbap
07. NO WAY (feat. Isaiah Rashad, Joey Purp & Ambré Perkins)
08. Don’t Call Me ft. Yuna
09. Rose’s Thorn
10. Early to Dawn (feat. Selah Sue)
11. Estrange (feat. IO Echo)

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Q&A and Global Vibe Radio 078 feat. Sandy Turnbull

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For this week’s episode of Global Vibe Radio we welcome Galleria Records boss Sandy Turnbull, who has fast become a prolific artist in recent times, his distinctive Disco House fusions championed by the likes of Derrick Carter and Groove Armada to Soulclap, Mark Farina and Sonny Fondera, among others.

Listen too the mix below and read on for both track list and our exclusive chat with the Sheffield lad as he reveals his exciting new “Night Talk” series.

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Digging Deeper with Judge Jules

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Spanning 30 years of work in the electronic music world, Judge Jules‘ career is one that has touched all corners of the globe.

The accolades have poured in over the years, with Mixmag crowning him the #1 DJ, Dancestar Awards naming him the Best International DJ, winning Best Radio DJ from Smirnoff’s Dancestars and continually featuring in the DJ Mag Top 100 poll, peaking at #3 alongside the industry’s greatest. Judge Jules’ touch is multi-dimensional, and spans far more than just one area of the industry. He is a producer, a DJ, a radio host, a promoter, has worked record label A&R duties and has also been involved with quite the number of TV work.

In England Judge Jules ruled the radio waves with shows on Kiss FM and the iconic BBC Radio 1, and now his show The Global Warm Up is broadcast on over 70 stations across the globe including the colossal Sirius XM, and notches up a gigantic 750,000 downloads every single week via his podcast. And what about his famous Ibiza brand Judgement Fridays, formerly known as Judgement Sundays? The residency packed out its balearic home every week, with 15 years experience.

Somehow 6AM found the time to chat with Judge Jules in the middle of his packed summer schedule. Our aim was to dig a little deeper and talk about how he juggles it all, exploring the personality outside of music too.

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Q&A: Jon Rundell Explains Why He Switched To Free Streaming to Democratize Music Sharing

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Jon Rundell‘s new release “Poetry” marks a controversial new direction for the British producer, DJ and label owner, as he seeks to challenging the status quo by giving away his music and the individual parts to them for free.

The moves is complete counter-current to the way the industry has been operating for years. Rundell has decided enough is enough. Increasingly frustrated with the underground music industry’s general resistance to change across the board, he’s decided to ditch the traditional DJ-only focused way of releasing music for multi-platform streaming, ensuring free to listen (in both senses) access to his tracks and even encouraging remixing in fans’ bedrooms across the world by releasing individual parts to this new track.

How? Rundell has decided to revive his own ETCH label to release a brand new single entitle “Poetry,” the first of a series that will see the label churn out tracks that will go straight to Soundcloud, Spotify and Youtube. Each track will be available for free download on SoundCloud, with its parts also available for download to make it easier for aspiring & professional producers to remix it or do whatever they want with them. Eventually, Rundell plans to keep an eye open for anything that may stand out to him from the result of his project and, if appropriate, release it in the same way on the label.

Rundell has been around for years, and this is in a way how he has decided to give back to the younger demographic of dance music fans that he knows have been coming out to party and dance to his music.

6AM caught up with the producer to get more details about the project and how it came about.

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Dubfire b2b David Guetta: A Friendship that Transcends Time and Music Genres

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Some of the best friendships are often the ones hardest to explain, which can seem to be the case with David Guetta and Ali Shirazinia, commonly known by his stage name Dubfire.

Yet, a quick glance at the past and you can instantly spot where their paths crossed and their friendship began, born out of musical respect, as well as an instant personal connection. In a recent interview for a forthcoming Dubfire documentary, the two stars sat down with Pacha Magazine and explained the origins of their lasting friendship, which began roughly ten years ago when Deep Dish and David Guetta swapped duties for remix projects on each other’s music.

It all startedwhen Deep Dish added their twist to David Guetta’s “The World Is Mine,” whilst the French start remixed the duo’s iconic “Flashdance,” setting the two stars on a personal friendship that remains strong to this day.

It’s safe to say that since that time both of the artist’s sounds have changed. The Deep Dish project was put on hold for several years before it was picked up again a couple of years ago, although Dubfire remains focused on is solo career more than ever. Guetta went on to collaborate with some of the world’s biggest pop and hip-hop artists, becoming one of the biggest EDM artists in the world.

When it is all said and done, however, Guetta credits the Deep Dish remix as a really important part of his early career:

“I was really huge in France but I was struggling at a international level,” said Guetta. “It was the first time my record was playing everywhere because they were really hot at the time — so I’m really thankful for that.”

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Digging Deeper with Mark Knight

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DJ, producer, label owner and businessman: Mark Knight has proven a rare and wonderful breed of musical heavyweight. He is the second highest-selling Beatport artist of all time with no less than eight Number 1’s, and a career that has spanned over a decade with releases on labels such as Suara, 1605, Stereo and of course his own Toolroom Records.

Mark remains one of the hardest-working DJs in his field, a constant champion for the tech house sound that has made Toolroom and his own brand one of the most respected in the industry world-over. It is thanks to his music that Mark has remained a firm fixture on the worldwide touring circuit with a number of key residencies around the world under the Toolroom Live banner and performances at dance music bastions Space Ibiza and Amnesia as well as a host of landmark festivals.

6AM caught up with the globe-trotting DJ ahead of a weekend that will see him perform at Heart Nightclub in Miami and in New Jersey.

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Digging Deeper with Afrobrotherz

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Afrobrotherz are a young and upcoming duo making waves on the South African dance music scene with their organic beats and stunning melodies. With their Drumsoul Music EP out now on Afrocentric Records, 6AM say hello.


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Digging Deeper with Degray

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Parse Audio are a catalyst for sonic explorations – a label set in the rich electronic environment of Spain. They’re known for their frequent sourcing of avant-garde techno, as evidenced by Origin Part I EP, which came out on July 3rd courtesy of label owner Degray, as well as Origin Part II which is coming out on October 23rd.

Degray’s interdisciplinary approach is applied to all of his productions. His transience results in tracks that are representative of a more ephemeral vibe that glides through the bulk of electronic sub-genres. His work adheres to the reflective side of electronic music – heavy on the atmosphere, but light on the ears.

In summary, the first EP is a constellation of sonic semaphores. The abundance of sampling creates a vernacular that illustrates visions of a post-apocalyptic arena, symbolic of abandonment and reunion. Degray’s EP could also be interpreted as lithified sound sediment; ambience as a matrixial nebula for order and insight, and a glimpse into the vast world of post-genre production.

We took the chance to chat with Degray to dig a little deeper into the man and the artist behind such thought-provoking music.

 

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Q&A and Global Vibe Radio 075 feat. Love & Logic

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Love & Logic is the DJ duo/ production outfit made up of NYC based DJs Chris Love and AB Logic. With a lifetime of experience behind the turntables, and as co-owners of SOUP NYC, Love & Logic are staples in the underground house and techno community of New York City and the United States. The duo currently hold an official monthly SOUP DJ residency at the city’s world-renowned Cielo nightclub, and make regular appearances at the highly regarded Output and TBA venues, all on top of having cracked into the festival circuit with a monster set at NYC’s 2015 Electric Daisy Carnival.

Love & Logic released their debut single “Righteous Way” on the world famous King Street Sounds record label and haven’t looked back since. 2015 saw massive records from Love & Logic including hit singles “Big Booty Bitches” on Riva Starr’s Snatch! Recordings, and “Bicycle Seat” on the storied Guesthouse Music label. In 2016 they released their single “Hot Business” feat. Derrick Carter, on their own SOUP label, in addition to a massive EP on Junior Sanchez’s Brobot Records.

This week they are the guests on our Global Vibe Radio podcast, and took the chance to chat with us about their career and more. Listen to the mix below and read on for the exclusive interview and full track listing at the end of the article.

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Digging Deeper with Audiojack

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Leeds grown and Ibiza based, Audiojack are a duo who have built a sterling reputation over the last decade as DJs, producers, remixers and label owners. With music on labels the likes of 2020Vision, Hot Creations, Tsuba, Leftroom, Get Physical and Culprit and remixes on Moon Harbour, B-Pitch Control and Diynamic, there is no doubt that Audiojack are one of the current most respected producing acts amongst their peer.

The duo have been mainstays on Ralph Lawson’s 2020Vision recordings for over a decade where they released their debut album Radio, and several bestselling EPs including Get Serious and No Equal Sides. Audiojack also signed to Jamie Jones’ infamous Hot Creations label, debuting with the heavily played Vibrate EP, which features their good friend and vocalist Kevin Knapp on vocals; one of many collaborations between the transatlantic trio.

Running their own dance floor focused label Gruuv for over five years has provided an alternative home for their original music. EPs such as Stay Glued and These Days, which include their rework of Jaydee’s classic ‘Plastic Dreams’ were received to critical acclaim. The label has also garnered a reputation for nurturing the best talent, new and old, and counts Emanuel Satie, David Mayer, Marc Romboy, Dachshund, Hugo, David Pher, A1 Bassline, Hermanez and Black Loops amongst its regular releasing artists.

More recently the duo have enjoyed musical outputs on Sasha’s Last Night On Earth, as well as the revered mobilee imprint of Anja Schneider and Ralf Kollman. We caught up with Audiojack as they were in the midst of their U.S. tour with a stop in our home city of Los Angeles.

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