Best Boy

Voted 5th Best Irish EP of 2012 by Nialler9.com
XLR8R
Potholes In My Blog
We Are Noise
Hot Press
Nialler9
The Point Of Everything
Sound Blob

Words: Laurent Fintoni

There’s a lot to be said for youthful energy and confidence. 20 year old Monto, real name Ross O’Sullivan, hails from Wicklow but currently resides in Waterford where he puts much of his own youthful energy into making, and studying, music. As a result, and in a short space of time, he’s become one of Ireland’s brightest musical hopes, especially if those musical hopes are to do with new school instrumental hip hop and electronic music. And this isn’t just PR hyperbole either (ok maybe a little).

Making use of the internet to push out remixes and free tracks he’s already received praise from national and international press (The Irish Times, FACT Magazine) as well as from his peers and has been known to turn a few heads and move some bodies at live shows too. It’s not just beat nerds who like him either, as proven when his remix for Mark Ronson was chosen as the winner in a recent competition, landing him 5,000 Euros worth of music equipment – what more could a passionate music nerd want at 20 years of age? If the answer to the previous question was an official release, you were correct.Best Boy is Monto’s debut for Melted Music, a four-track EP that makes full use of hip hop’s bump and sampling psychedelia to create multi layered instrumental trips. You would be forgiven for thinking it was the latest blunted beats to come out of Los Angeles’ sun-soaked suburbs, and not from the grey and rainy streets of a small Irish city. I guess that’s globalisation for you. I blame the internet personally.

Homage starts off with overbearing fuzz, ambient sounds and coughs, the sounds of a young man getting ready to do his thing no doubt. Then in come a deliciously laid back groove coupled with a bubbling bass and a recurring melody built out of what sounds like strings and a broken xylophone, with switches keeping the whole thing engaging.
FTW has a deftly lifted bass line that provides the rolling backbone for another bumpy excursion into more esoteric instrumental hip hop worlds, with some jazzy piano and horn samples to keep the uninitiated attentive. Close your eyes and the sun’s shining while the living is easy.
With its title, vocal sample and hypnotising groove Pot Luck is one of the finest instrumental odes to herbal remedies you’ll hear this year. This despite being the EP’s most upfront and dancefloor-friendly track, unfolding in multiple layered parts across seven minutes.
The EP closes with All Is Well, an attempt at reassuring the listener that it will all ultimately be ok perhaps. You’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise at first thanks to the disconcerting rhythmic start. Things soon smooth out and brighten up though there might still be a couple surprises left in stock…

Best Boy is a promising first release, the sound of a young man finding his musical voice. Much like his label mate SertOne, Monto’s main asset is his potential and with Best Boy he shows that he’s got plenty. You should start paying attention now, before you find yourself late to the party.