Deadbeat is the recording name of Scott Monteith, a Canadian electronica musician based in Montreal. His work sits in dance and electronica, with a strong focus on dub, ambient and laptop-driven electronic sound. He moves within the Montreal scene associated with artists such as Akufen and Algorithm, and he becomes part of the city’s internationally recognised electronic underground in the early 2000s.

Career

Monteith begins recording as Deadbeat in early 1998 and issues the first Deadbeat 12-inch in 2000. His debut release under the name is the Cesium Beam 12-inch, which appears on Hautec Records in July 2000. He goes on to release music on a range of labels including Revolver, Intr_Version, Background, Force Inc., Oral, Scape, Cynosure and Clitekture.

His first full-length album, Primordia, is released in 2001 on Mitchell Akiyama’s Intr_Version label. The following year Stefan Betke, known as Pole, releases Wild Life Documentaries on Scape. During this period, Force Inc. also presents his work on the Montreal Smoked Meat compilation, which includes material by Deadbeat and by his duo project Crackhaus.

Collaborations and projects

Deadbeat collaborates with Steve Beaupré as Crackhaus and with Robert Henke of Monolake under the name Atlantic Waves. He is also part of the same Montreal scene as Akufen and Algorithm, and he co-founds the multimedia collective Covert Ops after moving to Montreal in 1995.

Live activity and context

Monteith performs live at Mutek in Montreal, Transmediale in Berlin and Creative Time in New York, among other places. His profile grows alongside Montreal’s electronic music scene, which also gains visibility through the Mutek festival and local record labels. He works by day for the Montreal-based audio software company Applied Acoustics Systems.