Mono/Poly

Emerging during the 2000s from Los Angeles’ circle of instrumental hip-hop producers, Charles Dickerson—known professionally as Mono/Poly—formed connections to the city’s Low End Theory club nights and to Flying Lotus. Originally based in Bakersfield, he began issuing material through 12" singles and EPs on the Circulations, Faces, and Fat City labels. Under the Monopoly alias he supplied a remix of Flying Lotus’ “Melt!” in 2008. After the release of his debut album Paramatma on Tasteful Licks in 2010, he joined the Brainfeeder roster assembled by Flying Lotus. His first project for the label, the 2011 EP Manifestations, illustrated a beat-making method that alternated between sparse and densely packed textures while displaying an off-center sense of humor, reflected in pitched-up Ice-T and Public Enemy samples and in titles such as “Punch the Troll in the Neck.” Following a contribution to labelmate Thundercat’s 2013 album Apocalypse, Dickerson issued Golden Skies in 2014, a set that proved dreamier and more melodic than his earlier work. Early 2016 saw the arrival of Cryptic, a lengthy EP that featured collaborations with Thundercat and Seven Davis, Jr. Dickerson next produced Union, the 2017 EP by London-based pop/R&B vocalist Alyss.