The Mighty Mum



Monotrona was a one-woman musical/performance group active from 1996 to 2003 founded by Jodie Baltazar, also known as Jodie Mechanic. Monotrona performed in costume and in character as one of many self-styled Superbeings or Fourteen Impersonations of Man. These Superbeings took the form of marginally or partially human figures such as apes, robots, ghosts, madmen, or giants with the additional perk that they possessed (or thought they possessed) superhuman powers. Monotrona’s early performances (1996–1997) utilized drums and metal percussion, played while standing up, along with electronics, which Jodie built herself and played with her feet. These early performances include Gorditz, Ooka, and Jing Pow Ki Poo. Some of the homemade electronics in these performances include a sine-wave generator, square-wave generator, baby monitors, heart monitors, PZM microphones attached to drums, toy drum machines, and a Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorder. As Joey the Mechanical Boy, Monotrona used a Casio keyboard and modified children’s toys attached to her arms. In 1998 Monotrona moved to New York City, dispensed with actual instruments, and began using video game and other electronic samples. Beginning with Hawkeye and Firebird and continuing with The Might Mun, Monotrona used SID samples and songs from early video game music, as well as samples generated using the Elektron Sidstation. In the spring of 1999 Casey Spooner of Fischerspooner performed as Hawkeye and Firebird and even dressed in Monotrona's costume when she was unable to make her show. In 2001, with Burglemir Frost Giant of the Supersphere Monotrona began using the MC505 and Elektron Sidstation to compose songs. During this time, a single appeared on an Electroclash compilation though she had no formal affiliation with the movement. One reviewer suggested her primary effect on that movement was to ‘befuddle the beautiful.’ In 2003, Monotrona created the character Nakadai the Samurai. She sang on and later covered two songs by gamewave band Mr. Pacman and put words to a song by Polish gamewaver Palsecam. Monotrona performed her last show on February 14, 2003 when she was eight months pregnant, though many of her songs are now available free online as MP3s. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.