Mukqs

Mukqs is the solo moniker of Maxwell Allison, co-founder and resident visual artist of the Chicago-based experimental label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hausu+Mountain%22">Hausu Mountain</a>. He regularly collaborates with the label's other operator, Doug Kaplan, in projects such as the psychedelic group <a href="spotify:artist:6Mj8zEcLdfcF23aNKyJ3Ov">Good Willsmith</a>, the gleeful rock band BBsitters Club, and the plunderphonic duo Pepper Mill Rondo. For his improvised electronic work as Mukqs, Allison records directly to cassette in real time with no overdubs, using samplers, drum machines, loopers, and other electronics. His collage-like music matches his distinctive visual art aesthetic: dense, surreal, colorful, and heavily influenced by video games and Japanese culture. While mostly issuing music on cassette, one of Mukqs' most accomplished efforts, 11,666,666,666,666,666,666, was released on vinyl in 2017. He recorded two abstract hip-hop albums with rapper <a href="spotify:artist:0DkCGlIl8Oen25zaKhpqTT">Sharkula</a>, Prune City (2019) and Take Caution on the Beach (2021). The frenetic glitch session Stonewasher appeared in 2023.

Mukqs made its recorded debut in 2013 with the first volume of <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hausu+Mountain%22">Hausu Mountain</a>'s Mugen split cassette series (the other side was occupied by Kaplan, aka <a href="spotify:artist:60md7mIj8Cg2vtqpUl1y3O">MrDougDoug</a>). Please Can You Keep My Secret was released by Patient Sounds Intl. in 2014, and two digital mixes appeared in 2015. Several Mukqs releases arrived in 2016, including split tapes with DJWWWW and Constellation Botsu, as well as solo cassettes on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hausu+Mountain%22">Hausu Mountain</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Apothecary+Compositions%22">Apothecary Compositions</a>. A tape for the Mexican label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Umor+Rex%22">Umor Rex</a> appeared in 2017, followed by the project's first vinyl LP, 11,666,666,666,666,666,666. Issued by <a href="spotify:artist:4kna4AADtdELxqW2xWeoWF">Magas</a>' <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Midwich+Productions%22">Midwich Productions</a> label, the album was a surprising venture into spacious electro. Following cassettes on Doom Trip and Unifactor Tapes, and a collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:7xwppARWdjgnJSKLhbGzFc">Ryley Walker</a> as the duo Crazy Bread, Mukqs teamed up with Chicago street rapper <a href="spotify:artist:0DkCGlIl8Oen25zaKhpqTT">Sharkula</a> on a 2019 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hausu+Mountain%22">Hausu Mountain</a> release titled Prune City. A second collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:0DkCGlIl8Oen25zaKhpqTT">Sharkula</a>, Take Caution on the Beach, appeared in 2021, while Mukqs' In Human Form was released by <a href="spotify:artist:7xwppARWdjgnJSKLhbGzFc">Walker</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Husky+Pants%22">Husky Pants</a>. The intense, glitchy Stonewasher was released in 2023. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi