Nearly eight years ago, Luis Monterrosa, then 27, turned his back on a graduate program in Latin American Studies at U.C. Berkeley, his job, and everything conventional – even his name.
“The Genie,” he insisted friends, strangers—everyone but his mother—call him. And instead of bookish inquiry, he decided to pursue a passion that had accompanied him half his life: music.
When he first picked up the guitar at age 14, it was Bay Area musicians like Metallica’s Kirk Hammet and Carlos Santana who influenced him.
Later, he became immersed in the world of turntables, citing San Francisco’s DJ Qbert and DJ Shadow as major influences—never imagining that he would become an underground icon in his own right.
When he dropped out of Berkeley, the Genie (I’m not his mom.) disappeared into the subways of Montreal, and there, over three years, he developed his own style, he said.
When he resurfaced on the San Francisco music scene in 2004, he turned heads with a unique sound—and barefooted performances.
“I could tell that if I just practiced it constantly, I could come up with something good that folks would really like,” said the 35-year-old, who was raised in the Mission District.
“I could be a performer who, through all these innovations, could evolve into something completely new that people haven’t seen before.”
Or heard: with a style he calls “scratch guitar,” the Genie combines the technicalities of turntables with live instrumentation.
“It’s always refreshing to hear new, innovative music from the Bay Area,” said RushOne, a San Francisco-based emcee from the duo ‘Kings of 8 Bit,’ who has shared the stage with the Genie in the past. “Genie’s sound is groundbreaking because he makes all of his stuff from scratch.”
Equipped with a Fender Strat laid out across his lap, loop pedals and an iPod, the musician can recreate the distinctively large sound of an entire live band with a technique called “live looping.”
“I was grabbing from other types of music and translating it into ‘scratch guitar.’” said the Genie.
While even the Genie has trouble describing what he does—he never writes down his technique or music (too conventional)—he said that it’s all about the layers.
He generates his own background music by recording segments of his playing and “looping” them for as long as he needs with his foot-controlled loop pedal.
Next, he adds a guitar layer or a line of percussion by beat boxing into a mic. He plays that back over his original guitar riff.
His set includes a mixture of original material, improvisation, and live remixing, a technique that he calls “Gemixing.”
The Genie has spent years perfecting his style, and he effortlessly switches from manipulating the pickups to beat boxing, all while controlling the loop pedal with his toes.
“People can appreciate it because it’s a little bit of both—the traditional way of seeing someone play an instrument combined with mixing,” said the Genie.
It’s working. He released his debut album, “Rebel Music,” in 2002, followed by a live CD recorded in Hawaii (“Entropic”) and “Aquadry,” a collaborative side project. He’s currently spreading the word in Pittsburgh, where he recorded a Gemix-tape called “Love Eternal” that will be released this spring.
good job
p.s. your work is awesome!! ..seriously girl, you are great.
hey laura!..
did you know im a journalist too? for the AF?