Deadbeat
Canadian-born electronic musician and music technology educator Deadbeat (Scott Monteith) produces and performs a wide variety of sounds rooted in the Jamaican dub tradition. Initially associated with Montreal's fertile electronic scene, he first made an impact with abstract dub albums such as 2002's Wild Life Documentaries, which appeared on the renowned ~scape label run by Stefan Betke (Pole). Monteith relocated to Berlin in 2006 and began focusing more on live performances, appearing at numerous clubs and festivals throughout the world. Albums such as 2008's Roots and Wire incorporated dubstep and techno, while 2011's Drawn and Quartered was a monolithic experimental dub opus. While Deadbeat released numerous club-friendly 12"s throughout the 2010s, the majority of his full-lengths during the decade were vocal-heavy collaborations, ranging from 2014's The Infinity Dub Sessions (with reggae singer Paul St. Hilaire) to 2019's Trinity Thirty (with Camara), a reinterpretation of Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session.
Originally from Kitchener, Ontario, Monteith moved to Montreal in late 1996 and quickly became enthralled by the city's underground community of digital musicians and artists, eventually co-founding the multimedia collective Covert Ops. Working for music software developer Applied Acoustic Systems, he began recording music as Deadbeat in 1998, and started releasing minimal techno 12"s in 2000. The murky dub-techno full-length Primordia was released by Mitchell Akiyama's Intr_version label in 2001. Follow-up Wild Life Documentaries was released by ~scape in 2002, and Deadbeat contributed to that year's scene-encapsulating Montreal Smoked Meat compilation, issued by Force Inc. Monteith collaborated with Stephen Beaupré as the microhouse duo Crackhaus, debuting with 2003's It's a Crackhaus Thing (Onitor) which was succeeded by 2004's Spells Disaster (Mutek), both of which were significantly more lighthearted than Monteith's solo work.
The ~scape label remained Deadbeat's home for the 2004 release Something Borrowed, Something Blue along with 2005's New World Observer, which introduced vocals to the producer's dub-heavy sound. Journeyman's Annual from 2007 continued on this path with dancehall and dubstep figuring into the mix, while 2008's Roots and Wire -- released by the Canadian label Wagon Repair -- was more stripped-down and club-ready. A dub techno mix on The Agriculture titled Radio Rothko followed in 2010.
By 2011, ~scape was no more, but with the label as his inspiration, Monteith formed BLKRTZ and released the Deadbeat album Drawn and Quartered on the imprint that year. The project's eighth official studio effort, simply titled Eight, arrived on BLKRTZ in 2012 with guest appearances from Dandy Jack, Mathew Jonson, and Danuel Tate. The Infinity Dub Sessions, a full collaboration with vocalist Paul St. Hilaire, was released in 2014. Additionally, Deadbeat's first three full-lengths for ~scape were remastered and issued as LPs 2002-2005. Walls & Dimensions, featuring guests such as Fink and Howie B, landed in 2015, with an instrumental version following the next year. Following a 2017 BLKRTZ reissue of Roots and Wire, as well as singles such as Our Rotten Roots (on Echocord Colour), Deadbeat released the full-length Wax Poetic for This Our Great Resolve, featuring spoken word contributions from guests such as Gudrun Gut and Thomas Fehlmann, in 2018. A more straightforward dub reggae single titled "Wail Ball & Cry" followed shortly afterward, and dub-techno full-length Waking Life appeared at the end of the year. In 2019, Deadbeat and Camara (a fellow Canadian living in Berlin) released Trinity Thirty, a full cover of Cowboy Junkies' 1988 breakthrough album The Trinity Session.
© Jason Birchmeier & Paul Simpson /TiVo
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LNOE in Dub (Dub)
Electronic - Released by Last Night On Earth on 14 Feb 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kübler-Ross Soliloquies
Techno - Released by Diggers Factory on 22 Sep 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Four Quartets Of Love and Modern Lash
Electronic - Released by Another Moon on 26 Jun 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Infinity Dub Sessions
Electronic - Released by Diggers Factory on 3 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Air Texture III Deadbeat + DJ Olive
Deadbeat, DJ Olive, Air Texture
Electronic - Released by Air Texture on 11 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Walls and Dimensions
Electronic - Released by Diggers Factory on 20 Nov 2015
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Root, Stalk, Leaf and Bloom
Techno - Released by Midnight Shift on 16 Jan 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Our Rotten Roots
Techno - Released by Echocord Colour on 20 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Trinity Remixed
Alternative & Indie - Released by Constellation on 21 Apr 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wax Poetic For This Our Great Resolve
Electronic - Released by Diggers Factory on 27 Apr 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Walls And Dimensions Instrumentals (Instrumental)
Electronic - Released by Diggers Factory on 25 Nov 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Echocord Sessions
Electronic - Released by Diggers Factory on 13 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Mercy Cage
Electronic - Released by Echocord Colour on 4 Nov 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Roots and Wire
Electronic - Released by Diggers Factory on 10 Mar 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wild Life Documentaries
Electronic - Released by Diggers Factory on 1 May 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Deadbeat Meets The Mole
Techno - Released by Diggers Factory on 25 Sep 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Drawn And Quartered
Electronic - Released by Diggers Factory on 20 Jun 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -