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Sci-fi meets hip-hop with Twin Monster

by David Lindquist

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Hip-hop act Twin Monster (from left, Neil "Ligyro Cain, Aaron "Yeti-One" Coleman and Cory "Lorax" Salas will perform Aug. 22 at the Melody Inn. (David Lindquist / Indy.com)

Radiating sci-fi beats and rhymes, Twin Monster is Indy's latest version of the "in sound from way out."

Aaron "Yeti-One" Coleman and Cory "Lorax" Salas are dual MCs who tackle instrumental tracks created by producer-DJ Neil "Ligyro" Cain, who also oversees the group's label, Pattern-Hungry Records.

Twin Monster's debut recording, "The Lost Habitat" EP, was released earlier this year and features standout track "Something New Above the Sun."

On Aug. 22, Twin Monster will perform at the Melody Inn as part of a multi-act showcase presented by online record label Audio Reconnaissance.

Coleman, Salas and Cain talked to Indy.com about their musical universe:

On their lyrical approach: "I consider us to be authors and writers as opposed to being rappers," Coleman says. "There's more poetry and a lot of heavy mental stuff. It's life experience. We want people to be able to relate to it and understand it, and also shake their booty."

On rhyming together: "We do a lot of unison rhyming, partially because we've been working together so long," Coleman says. "We base a lot of it on instinct and how we know each other's styles."

On the group's otherworldly sound: "When I started producing under the name Ligyro, it was really kind of abstract electronic music," Cain says. "Once I put it to a hard beat, it ended up retaining a lot of that more exploratory feel."

On the group's Pike High heritage: "I feel like everybody met not really through school itself, but just through living in the same area and having the same friends," Cain says.

Salas adds, "Univibe was a record store in College Park. We'd skateboard there and listen to records."

On discovering hip-hop: "As a kid, I watched a lot of 'Yo! MTV Raps,'" Salas says. "The first tape I ever had was Tone-Loc. My dad bought it for me."

On embracing hip-hop: "Being from the Midwest and being white, I never felt like I could identify with hip-hop," Cain says. "It was one of those things I always listened to and always admired, but I never felt like I was part of the culture. It seemed too audacious to make myself a part of that. I kind of got in through the back door by producing and haggling (Salas) to rhyme on my beats."