Music

Monolyth Makes Move

Tyler Henderson |

The Chippewa Valley has a new face in the electronic hip-hop scene. Altoona native Markus Sherman writes and produces his own beats and harmonies under his producing name, Monolyth. Complicated rhythms incorporated with trippy harmonic lines highlight his obsession with expression, coming up with new ways to conceive electronic music. On a couple of his tracks he sticks to a stylistic theme throughout. For example, “Shark Weekend” begins with an eerie, ominous bass line on top of a basic beat. Even as the rhythm and treble lines change, the bass line keeps coming back to haunt the listener. In his song “It’s Summer…” he focuses on a recurring upbeat vibraphone line of thirds and fourths, jumping back and forth to compliment the driving hi-hat and snare drum rhythms. Perhaps that’s what drew the Eau Claire based rapper, $tarbound, to him, as they have collaborated in the past. Sherman hasn’t been involved in the live music scene yet, but he’s consistently releasing new music on his SoundCloud. To give MonolythMusik a listen, go to http://soundcloud.com/monolythmusik.