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Up close & personal with the Los Angeles EDM scene
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| alan |
Up close & personal with the Los Angeles scene
http://www.ibiza-voice.com/story/news/3396
The City of Angels is no stranger to music, electronic or otherwise. This West Coast megasprawl leviathan of a city, in addition to being film central, is also the heart of the major label universe being coordinated in the high rises of city's such as West Hollywood and Burbank. As such, Los Angeles is a city of stars, making it, and opulent luxury. But there is also a dark side to the music here, it's not new, it came with the post-war blues musicians moving to California to escape the Jim Crow law misery of the South, only to find institutionalized racism greeted them in the land of plenty as well.
In the years following, many a great musician has chased themselves down the rabbit hole of fame in search of the freedom that can only be found with money to find, ultimately, a cold slab and tombstone at the end of that rainbow - Brian Wilson, Arthur Lee, Jeffrey Lee, Eazy-E, and of course, the Lizard King himself, Jim Morrison are some of the city's greatest casualties (both spiritually and physically).
But it's also in the darkness caused by this gulf between stardom and independence that true musical greatness is achieved, and Los Angeles is never without a fertile underground and it was here that suburban America's love of electronic music begins, contrary to popular myth, where the sounds of Detroit, Chicago, and New York met the masses in the late Eighties.
Since then, the city has seen it's fair share of outdoor parties, illegal warehouse events, super clubs, and stadium-sized raves and has attracted artists such as Damian Lazarus, Frankie Bones, and Mr. C to call Los Angeles their home. In fact, it was the recent I. Voice interview with Mr. C by Stephen Flynn that inspired this piece. As a non-native participant in the underground dance music scene there, Mr.C was able to steer clear of any of the baggage associated with any particular scene and offer an enthusiastic, non-partisan overview of things in the interview prompting a closer look. The portrait he painted contained hues of John Digweed making a tour stop at the Mayan Theater, Droog holding down the rooftop at the Standard Hotel, and Droid Behavior keeping the warehouse techno vibe somewhere in the city and that only just begins to scratch the surface of what's happening in El Ciudad de Los Angeles, the oldest city in California.
There are plenty of nightclubs, seedy dive bars, and one-off events to keep residents and out-of-towners in the know plenty occupied plus add in events in the San Fernando Valley, Inland Empire, Long Beach, or even behind the dreaded Orange Curtain and further south, San Diego. With balmy temperatures year round nightlife is a cornerstone of Southern California existence. The big city, super clubbing affairs are mostly in Hollywood so be prepared to pay for the experience the loins of the city have to offer.
The must visit clubs during any stay in Los Angeles are as follows:
Avalon Hollywood
Located on Hollywood & Vine, the center of the glamorous old Hollywood of yesteryear. Avalon, like many venues in SoCal, is a large hall meant to accommodate mid-level alternative rock and pop acts such as Nine Inch Nails and the Beastie Boys. A recent scan of the calendar shows a stready stream of tired old progressive has-beens with the occasional support billing from a local act such as Android Cartel.
www.avalonhollywood.com
The Music Box
Also located in the heart of Hollywood like the Avalon, The Music Box features mostly indie electronica artists such as 12th Planet, James Blake, and a whole lot of pop and rock artists with few dance music artists outside the realm of the Swedish House Mafia.
www.themusicbox.la
Vanguard
Vanguard is also in Hollywood and features a Funktion One sound system and Miami-style patio. The focus here is good old fashion house music from cats like Murk, Mark Farina, and Marques Wyatt.
www.vanguardla.com
King King Club
King King was once located on Pico Blvd on the West Side and featured roots rock and Americana acts but, again, like so many others, chose to make the move to Hollywood and a more diverse roster of talent. King King features a cutting edge selection of talent from every genre in the electronic music pantheon.
www.kingkinghollywood.com
Playhouse
Playhouse in Hollywood also features a more commercially friendly roster of DJs from Dan to 16 Bit Lolitas.
www.playhousehollywood.com
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The real action is at the various events around the city, here are ones we like:
Droid Behavior
The long running underground techno crew comprised of Raiz, Drumcell, and Audio Injection brings the grimy, underground sounds of Berlin to Los Angeles and have developed a huge international following. These guys are at the heart of scene in SoCal.
www.droidbehavior.com
Culprit Sessions
The popular Droog trio play just about everywhere in a city that doesn't normally respect the local talent. Their Culprit Sessions are held on the Standard Hotel rooftop and offer some of the best music Los Angeles has to offer from Tiefschwarz to Seth Troxler.
www.facebook.com/CulpritLA
BASK
BASK, along with HEAR, Damaged Goods, and the boat party Overboard are all the property of Harmonic Productions. There is a definite focus on touring techno artists at these events from Mobilee to Jennifer Cardini.
www.myspace.com/beharmonic
Incognito
Incognito happens the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month at King King and Homegrown is the 2nd and 4th Fridays at the Burgundy House. They also feature the world's top techno touring artists.
www.iluvincognito.com
Sublevel
Longtime veteran Doc Martin's Sublevel continues to focus on quality house music often featuring Martin along with veterans like Marques Wyatt and DJ Heather.
www.sublevelcalifornia.com
Superfreq LA
Mr. C's Superfreq LA party bounces around a few locations but brings in some of the finest talent in the world to the city.
www.facebook.com/superfreqla
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Los Angeles has an abundant amount of local DJs and producers, many toiling away in obscurity, here are some of our favorites:
Droog
The trio of Andrei Osyka, Brett Griffin and Justin Sloe are at the forefront of the Los Angeles scene with a hot label (Culprit) and a slew of gigs together and separately, not to mention their own Culprit Sessions.
www.facebook.com/DroogLA
Raiz
The brotherly duo of Vangelis and Vidal Vargas formerly known as Acid Circus are also founders of Droid Behavior.
www.facebook.com/raizdroid
Drumcell
The other founder of Droid Behavior and gear guru Moe Espinosa AKA Drumcell is known throughout the world for his tough techno sound.
www.facebook.com/pages/drumcell
Android Cartel
A prolific big room duo with a ton of big name releases and gigs under their belt and responsible for two labels - Sketchbook and Riff Raff.
www.androidcartel.com
John Tejada
Every time people forget about L.A's techno legend, John Tejada, he pops up with a genius new album, like his latest for Kompakt - Parabolas.
www.facebook.com/pages/John-Tejada
Kenneth James Gibson
Kenneth works under his own name, as [a]pendics.shuffle, and in the band Bell Gardens. The low key talent is gifted in the studio and a treasure trove of influences.
www.worldofkennethjamesgibson.com |
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| 72hrpartyanimal |
| very good article. i like how they mention all the typical hollywood clubs and the tell us where the real action is :) |
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| Quazar |
Not one mention of trance, how typical.
Still a pretty good article, though. |
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| 72hrpartyanimal |
| quote: | Originally posted by Quazar
Not one mention of trance, how typical.
Still a pretty good article, though. |
there is not a lot of Trance in Ibiza. I know they have there Armada night @ Space but other then that, not a whole lot of trance. |
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| Randy S |
| quote: | Originally posted by 72hrpartyanimal
there is not a lot of Trance in Ibiza. I know they have there Armada night @ Space but other then that, not a whole lot of trance. |
I'm no Ibiza pro, but they do have Judgment Sundays too...
When I was there a few weeks ago, that was Ferry and Jules.
There is still some Trance on the island :) |
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| GPC |
| Think Cream still has a weekly too. |
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| jonmitz |
| circus not listed at all, heh |
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