Beast

Beast was a Canadian electronic music duo based out of Montreal. Its members were vocalist and lyricist Béatrice Bonifassi and composer/producer Jean-Philippe Goncalves. Bonifassi was the main songwriter for the band and the music was composed and produced by Goncalves. Beast was described as "an experimental hip hop project filled with psychedelic trip hop-style electronica, aggressive guitars and loud drum beats," or (as Bonifassi describes it) "trip rock". History Bonifassi and Goncalves, both originally from France, were active members in the Montreal music scene, and had each been making music for about 20 years by the time they began collaborating musically. Bonifassi had previously worked with such local musicians as composer and saxophonist, François D'Amours, DJ/techno musician Champion, and yet another French expat rock musician, Deweare. Jean-Phi Goncalves, a percussionist and record producer, had produced albums for Quebec musicians such as Pierre Lapointe, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Ariane Moffatt and Daniel Bélanger as well as American recording artist Lauryn Hill. He also played percussion for the singer Dumas and for Montreal bands Afrodizz and Plaster. The pair first worked together in 2006 on a project for the video game company Ubisoft in 2006. The resulting sound was angrier than either artist was used to: "The angry message is about letting the beast out that's inside, because in society you're not allowed to be emotive or sensitive. The feelings of the moment when we were writing were mostly sadness and anger," said Bonifassi in an interview with Canadian music news magazine, Chart.