A father, a husband, a musician, and a student of life, Muenster is a versatile wordsmith, polished orator, prolific national performer; not your typical human. A key member of multiple musical projects in Texas, Ian has been an MC, beatsmith, and all around avid musician for numerous years, having traveled around the United States building, performing, and growing with people he meets along the way. As a cultural anthropologist he has a keen interest in all sectors of people groups and believes wholeheartedly in understanding and holistic bond building through identifying a common ground. This translates to his approach through each record he cuts.
Muenster likes to think of himself as an “all around’r” when it comes to making music. He tries to not put himself in any one box of style. That said, he would say he is a hip-hop head first and foremost, as most of his music ends up in the hip-hop genre.
Going back to the beginning, Muenster looks back on his artistry journey, “I think for me, music, creation, expression, and artistry in general has always been a part of me.” He feels as though he was born for oration. The first time he remembers being on stage for a class performance in grade school, he can still see in his mind. He recalls the buzz of the performance, the smell of the curtains on the stage, the way time stopped when the show began, and just how it felt to perform. “Coupled with that a bit of ADHD, another bit of good timing, and lastly a decent amount of talent and music composition, performance, etc became a way of life at a very early age. I won my sixth grade talent show and sort of just never stopped going.”
He has been a recording artist for the last two decades, and has been lucky and talented enough to enjoy a relatively seasoned career so far from touring, festivals, local shows, and records his cut. Hailing from Austin, TX in the 80’s and 90’s, it was a thriving, still unaware of its future self, sort of comeuppance as an artist. “It was very unassuming but also everything felt possible (and was) with regard to music, art, and my driving factor to create THE PEOPLE,” he mentions.
Everything he does in this realm, he does for you all. “If it weren’t for my fans, the crowds at shows, and just general music lovers in the world, I couldn’t sit here and type this now… It really is nothing without y’all…So, Ima keep making these records as long as you keep showing up! .. No music, no life,” he continues.
His brand-new 17-track hip-hop album ‘MuensterVision Presents: Ian’, released on his daughter's first birthday on March 3, 2023, is out now.
‘MuensterVision Presents: Ian’ was released on his daughter’s first birthday in commemoration. “What better way to do this than to honor my influence on the little person I had just created the year before than to put a footprint in time down?” And for those following his music, he released his previous record ‘Weirdope’ on April 2, 2019. “ Those that know me often hear me lean into “all we have is what we leave behind” as sort of an all around way I approach life.” Considering the fact that we are only here or mere blips of time, what we do with that time matters. “I suppose by releasing these pieces of my life on my children's birthdays It is my way of leaving some sort of guide stones for them. Something to be held on to, as long as possible and far after I’m gone; that’s all that we can hope for as artists, right?”
‘MuensterVision Presents: Ian’ was born from the confusion the world was feeling during and the aftermath of the global pandemic of COVID-19. 2020 was “the great reset” as his mello Fritzo likes to relate it to. “We had to learn how to navigate remote interactions, rebuilding connection with each other and what it meant to be together. For many it was a truly isolating time. I'm thankful that my music buddies and I (for the most part) all had home set ups and we could still create,” he says.
“The beats never stopped. The pens were never put down. I found myself in creative freedom.” He realised in the middle of 2021 that he had half a project or so created, with no real feeling of needing to adhere to any sort of rubric or schedule, but was sure this was something. He discovered a new way of creating music ‘no rules releases’, and this is the way he has committed to music creation from here on out. “Really what I'm getting at is that I had so much influence it's hard to quantify, the world changed.”
He expresses that he would not have been able to make this record without everyone that joined him on this journey. From his day ones to my actual music heroes turned homies; this is as much about them as it is about himself.
‘MuensterVision Presents: Ian’ is likely his biggest record that he will cut. Meaning, as far as a talent group in one session, fans won’t find this again in his music catalogue. For me music is catharsis first and foremost, not record cutting, but music making. That is what I love, the expression of creation through sound and harmony of thought and delivery,” he mentions.
This ‘Ian’ record is a namesake album. He intends to let it sit, marinate with the masses, as he works on side projects, collaborations, and EP’s with specific producers, etc. “I’m just excited to enjoy the moment.”
Muenster makes music for the listener to bump their whip and question reality. “I don’t shine away from tough s***, but I also hit the tracks in a fly way that makes you want to listen (I hope), and then go tell all your friends about Muenster and how “that mofo spittin”... I make music to throw on and chill to but also turn up on your way to go carpe some diem.” He never makes the same song twice, and promises the fans that.
He wants to inspire the listeners’ with the hope that it would be for good and motivation, but realisies that life is suffering too; so music acts to ease that pain for some. “I hope that my music can be a healing force. That maybe something that is touching on within the “Ian” record can be that for those that need it.”
Muenster comments on the musical project, “This record is my gift to you, to me, to the unknown. It is an ode to my former self and a nod to my future. I hope that when the needle drops, and all things settle, that we all remember to enjoy the ride. Peace and manifestations.”
Closing out the interview, Muenster speaks on his mission as a music artist which is to leave behind something more than he had when he got here. “Maybe I can make someone’s day. . .just a bit more funky.”
Check Muenster out via: Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, SoundCloud, BandCamp, Patreon