A Beat Happening

We close season 2 with two very special guests, a pair of photographers and documentarians without whom our path in this music thing wouldn't be the same. Brian "B+" Cross and Eric Coleman met in the early 1990s. One was an immigrant from Ireland recently arrived on the US west coast to study, the other was an Angeleno, and they both had a deep love for and interest in the then burgeoning hip-hop culture and the artform of photography. In 1997 they setup Mochilla, a production company through which they've documented beat culture in motion via a series of crucial documentary films, events, as well as ongoing work for artists like Kamasi Washington, Damian Marley, and Quantic. Individually they've shot some of the most loved and memorable hip-hop covers, including DJ Shadow and Madvillain, and have been involved in a wide variety of projects both officially and behind the scenes. But what really makes Mochilla important is that they are elders with a genuine passion and interest in the history that has been unfolding for the past 40 years and the understanding that it deserves to be shared and treasured. We couldn't be happier to wrap up season 2 with them, especially as we've spent so much time in LA this season.  

For the penultimate episode of season 2 we welcome one of the kindest and most eloquent proponent of beat culture we have the pleasure to know: Alfred Darlington aka Daedelus. Since the early 2000s, Darlington has been an integral node in the LA underground connecting seemingly disparate scenes and sounds from rave to folk, jazz to IDM. An original dublab 'rat', classically trained bass player, and early user of custom digital control devices, Darlington has released over 20 albums, both solo and in collaboration with Frosty, Laura Darlington, Busdriver and Radioinactive and Kneebody. Equally important has been their role as a live performer, using the monome to take productions outside the studio as well as create mindbending DJ sets that remain some of the best encapsulations of the late 2000s and early 2010s beat scene explosion and its cross pollination with dance music. All of this, as well as their unequalled eloquence of what this music and culture is and represents, has naturally led to a recent role as a faculty member within Berklee's Electronic Digital Instrument program. 

On this week's episode of A Beat Happening we welcome a producer from Detroit who rarely gives interviews but whose music has been an inspiration to those in the culture with keen ears for over a decade: dakim. Coming to the attention of many in the late 2000s, when he relocated to Los Angeles and involved himself in the local scene, and early 2010s, thanks in part to his central role in Gus Sutherland's sadly unreleased All Ears documentary, dak has been a quiet force as a producer unafraid of experimenting with the potentials of beat culture beyond its most obvious representations. As comfortable with sample chops as he is with jit rhythms, drones, and layered compositions, dak's music traverses internal universes. he has released primarily via his own ddust label and matthewdavid's Leaving Records, and has taken on aliases such as Saafron and Peoplemover to represent different sides of his output or creative approach. Based out of San Francisco since leaving LA, he is a true producer's producer and we are very grateful to have him on the show to discuss his career, creative process, and perceptions of beat culture.

This week we welcome to the show the only DJ to hold a residency at both Sketchbook and Low End Theory: Elvin Estela aka Nobody. Originally from Carson, Elvin fell into the world of hip-hop and beat making via college radio, including Mike Nardone's KXLU show We Came From Beyond, and trips to South Central LA to hear what was happening at the Good Life and soon after Project Blowed. He befriended Omid and others who turned him onto new ideas and eventually parlayed an early beat tape into an album deal with San Francisco label Ubiquity, which released his debut album, Soulmates, in 2000. Taking a cue from the likes of DJ Shadow, Mumbles, and DJ Hive, Nobody made dusty beats but where others leaned on funk and soul he instead focused on psych rock, which at the time was still largely ignored as a sample source. In the following years he befriended Prefuse 73 and learnt to DJ in order to promote his music, eventually ending up as one of the irregular residents at Sketchbook before becoming one of the founding residents at Low End Theory, where a close proximity to the new generation of producers led him to evolve his sound towards the dancefloor both on his own and in collaboration with Low End's host, Nocando. 

This week on A Beat Happening we are very happy to welcome Jimetta Rose: a singer, songwriter, and community activist whose radiance and energy has powered the LA scene for over a decade. The South Central native began her career in the late 2000s collaborating with the likes of Shafiq Husayn and Georgia Anne Muldrow, before self-releasing her debut in 2010. She spent most of that decade as a go-to vocalist, working with House Shoes, Blu, Quelle Chris, Quantic and many more. In 2016 she reunited with Georgia for a second album, and just this year she released an album with Shoes' Street Corner Music and the debut from her new project, The Voices of Creation. Inspired by the transformative power of music, The Voices of Creation is a choir led by Jimetta that combines the spiritual jazz, gospel, and soul music that have all been integral to her solo work and now find themselves amplified through community. Jimetta's dedication to the late Ras G, I Met A Mountain, as performed by the choir is a poignant and essential tribute that speaks to the deep spiritual roots that run across the LA underground but are rarely highlighted. A true lodestar of soul music, Jimetta Rose continues to shine a light for us all to follow. 

This week we welcome Dibiase to the podcast, a veteran of the Los Angeles underground, the man responsible for that boombox outside Sketchbook, and one of the nicest people we know. The Watts native cut his teeth alongside Ras G at Project Blowed, eventually becoming an integral part of the producer community that flourished around the night's MC showcases and which took full flight in the mid 2000s with dedicated beat showcases. It's also around this time that his name began to spread outside of LA thanks in no small part to MySpace, where his early video game flips gained him worldwide recognition, and to various beat battles he took part in across the USA and Canada. But what separates Dibi from many of his peers is his love of and dedication to the craft of beat making and the idea that it isn't what you use but how you use it: from traditional samplers to calculators, Dibi has shown many that you can use almost anything to make a dope beat. In recent years this approach has led him to work more closely with manufacturers like Roland as well as take on more of an educator role within online communities through Twitter and Twitch. 

For season 2, episode 2 we welcome our first mastering engineer to the show. Kelly Hibbert might not be a name you instantly recognize but you've heard his work for many of your favorites including Flying Lotus, Madlib, and Knxwledge as well as Hiatus Kayote, Arca, and Q-Tip. Originally a drummer, DJ, and studio engineer, Kelly worked privately, including a stint on Paul Allen's yacht, before moving into mastering in the early 2000s under the tutelage of Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters in Los Angeles. At the time, Elysian was the go to studio for many lesser understood artists in hip-hop and electronic music and this threw Kelly into the deep end of what would eventually become the beat scene of the late 2000s. In the following decade, Kelly setup his own studio, Almachrome, in Costa Rica, where he continues to work today. 

For the first episode of Season 2 we welcome House Shoes. Originally from Detroit, now an adopted Angeleno, Shoes is a DJ, producer, and label head who started working at local record stores in the Detroit area where he befriended a young Jay Dee. Soon after he became host of the hip-hop room at St. Andrew's Hall in the 1990s, setting himself on a path to become an ambassador for his city to the world for the next decade. In the early 2010s, he moved away from beat making to set up Street Corner Music (named after the record shop where his career began), through which he supports new and established talent and acts as an ambassador for dope shit, regardless of origin. Through it all he has remained a DJ's DJ, with deep crates and a deep understanding of the music, and an opinionated commentator of a culture he loves deeply. 

On this week's show we close season 1 with Chris Cole AKA Black Monk, a producer and engineer from Los Angeles who was an early supporter and collaborator of Ras G. Growing up in the Inland Empire, Monk became involved in LA's music scene through attendance at Project Blowed, where he first met G, and as a studio engineer working with Death Row. He was responsible for introducing G to Poo-Bah's owner Ron, which led to setting up the store's label and its debut beat series in the late 2000s that featured the pair alongside Samiyam, Ta'Raach, Kan Kick, Take and more. Today, he works in film but his time in music and being involved in the early days of the beat scene remains foundational.   

On this week's show we welcome Gregory Feldwick AKA Slugabed, a producer who has been cutting a distinctive path through beat culture over the past decade. Starting in the MySpace days as part of the Donky Pitch collective in Brighton, Greg made neon bright and bass heavy beats with simple tools (read: FruityLoops) which caught the attention of Planet Mu and eventually Ninja Tune, where he released his 2012 debut album Time Team. Following this, he co-founded the Activia Benz label with Jake Slee, releasing work by a young Iglooghost, Sega Bodega, and DZA among many. The second album came in 2017, Inherit the Earth for Anticon, refining the early over the top sound towards the current surrealist beat paintings that can be heard on his latest full length, We Have The Window Open At Night. 

On this week's show we welcome a producer, musician, DJ, and composer with a list of achievements longer than this introduction can afford. A Philadelphia native and proud supporter of his hometown, King Britt has been involved in beat culture since the late 1980s operating across scenes, genres, and roles: He was DJ for Digable Planets during their first album tour; he was one of the co-founders and residents of Back2Basics, an influential weekly that help stir what would become neo-soul; he helped link the US and UK dance music scenes as one-half of E-Culture with Josh Wink; he paid homage to his diverse musical roots as Sylk 130; and as King Britt he's explored beats, hip-hop, and house. But as we said at the beginning, there's much more - techno, ambient, broken beat, jazz... In recent years, King took a position as Assistant Teaching Professor in Computer Music at UCSD and used this to create the Blacktronika curriculum which honors people of color who have pioneered groundbreaking genres within the electronic music landscape. 

On this week's show we welcome Suzi Analogue: a producer, songwriter, DJ, and label head whose forward-thinking, global outlook continuously provides fresh perspectives on beat culture. Originally from the Baltimore area, Suzi first came to attention in the late 2000s as part of the Philly-based Klipmode collective alongside mndsgn, devonwho, and knxwledge. Suzi then moved to NYC where she setup her Never Normal label as a home for her own music and that of peers and influences including Count Bass D, DJ Earl, Ezrakh and more. At the same time she also collaborated with Tokimonsta and Georgia Anne Muldrow, continuously pulling at different sides of her hip-hop and electronic music backgrounds, while involving herself in different aspects of the industry. Today she resides in Miami, where she continues to expand her practice and grow Never Normal into a home for new and exciting sounds and artists while traveling through sounds on her own, varied releases. 

This week we welcome Alexander Nut to the show! A DJ, promoter, and the co-founder of Eglo Records, Alex has been an integral part of the London scene for over a decade, both behind the scenes and behind the decks. In the late 2000s, he was one of the most vocal supporters of the global beat scene through his show on Rinse FM, the only non-dance music focused program on the station at the time, and his work as a promoter through the All Young Kings mailing list. A regular at Plastic People, it was there that he met Sam "Floating Points" Shepherd with whom he setup the Eglo Records label in 2008, as a home for a new school of artists inspired by the soul and funk of the past and energized by hip-hop and dance music. 

This week we welcome another old friend to the show: Jim Coles AKA Om Unit. Jim and Laurent first met back in the early 2000s when Jim was blending youthful interests in electronic and dance music with the experimental approaches afforded by bedroom production and turntablism. Jim first attracted attention for his work in the liminal spaces between these two scenes as 2tall before eventually giving himself a fresh start at the end of the decade under the name Om Unit. As the 2010s rolled in, he was a part of the short-lived but much-loved club night Tempo Clash in London alongside Kutmah, Kidkanevil, Blue Daisy, and the late Offshore. At the same time, he also began to find a new musical voice at the intersection of UK club and dance culture, dub, and beats that earned him plaudits from peers and forebears including Fracture, Machinedrum, Mark Pritchard, Danny Breaks, Goldie, and Doc Scott. 

Episode 3, Part 2: Ali explains his decision to not become pigeonholed as the "hip-hop cover band," how Astigmatic helped put together the Lahore session with Tenderlonious and Latarnik, and various stories behind the sessions and the albums that came out of it. 

This week we welcome to the show Ali Riaz Baqar, a musician, composer, and producer who bridges North Indian classical music with jazz and hip-hop. Baqar is the driving force behind Jaubi, a quartet based in Lahore, Pakistan who first came to many people's attention with a cover of J Dilla's "Time: The Donut of the Heart" that reimagined the original using the Indian melodic framework of ragas. Working with the London-based, Polish label Astigmatic Records, Jaubi released their debut album earlier this year, Nafs At Peace, featuring collaborations with 22a's Tenderlonious and EABS' Marek Pędziwiatr. The album is the result of a short but intense recording session in Lahore that helped crystalize Baqar's approach and capture the freeform essence of the band.

This week we welcome to the show Ali Riaz Baqar, a musician, composer, and producer who bridges North Indian classical music with jazz and hip-hop. Baqar is the driving force behind Jaubi, a quartet based in Lahore, Pakistan who first came to many people's attention with a cover of J Dilla's "Time: The Donut of the Heart" that reimagined the original using the Indian melodic framework of ragas. Working with the London-based, Polish label Astigmatic Records, Jaubi released their debut album earlier this year, Nafs At Peace, featuring collaborations with 22a's Tenderlonious and EABS' Marek Pędziwiatr. The album is the result of a short but intense recording session in Lahore that helped crystalize Baqar's approach and capture the freeform essence of the band. 

Episode two, part two: Kutmah, Laurent, and Vanese discuss Jay Dee's impact, the different ways in which instrumental music can be presented, and the importance of mentoring and representation. 

This week we welcome Vanese Smith AKA Pursuit Grooves to the podcast, one of our favorite people in this modern beat culture. Originally from Maryland, now residing in Toronto, Vanese first came to many people's attention - including ours - via the Beat Dimensions compilation eventually going on to collaborate with fellow beat scene alumni Onra as well as making inroads into the dance music world with releases on Bristol's Tectonic label. Rocking live shows with two SP-505s, Vanese left a lasting impression on the scene and has remained active with self-releases as well as mentoring work as part of the Loop Sessions series and most recently working as DJ consultant and instructor on Spin, a Disney movie about DJ culture.

This week we welcome to the show one of our favorite people in this modern beat culture: Vanese Smith AKA Pursuit Grooves. Originally from Maryland, now residing in Toronto, Vanese first came to many people's attention - including ours - via the Beat Dimensions compilation before going on to collaborate with fellow beat scene alumni Onra as well as making inroads into the dance music world with releases on Bristol's Tectonic label. Rocking live shows with two SP-505s back when everyone was moving to laptops, Vanese left a lasting impression on the scene and has remained active as an independent artist with multiple album projects as well as mentoring work as part of Loop Sessions Toronto. Most recently she worked as DJ consultant and instructor on Spin, a Disney movie about DJ culture.

In this episode we discuss...

• Partying at APT in early 2000s NYC 
• Discovering and using the SP 505  
• Playing live with the 505  
• Touring Europe in the late 2000s 
• Beat Dimensions 
• Being independent and doing everything yourself
• Releasing on Tectonic and different beat aesthetics 

Tracklist:

Episode one, part two. Sweatson Klank, Kutmah, and Laurent continue their remembrance of the early days of the L.A. beat scene including first meeting Ras G, the Sketchbook residents, moving to the Little Temple, and how Poobah's eventually replaced Aron's as the record store of the scene. 

For the first episode of A Beat Happening we welcome Tom Wilson FKA Take and now known as Sweatson Klank. A part of the L.A. beat scene since the early 2000s, Tom first met Kutmah at Aron's Records and the pair eventually became the DJ duo at the heart of Sketchbook, a club night Kutmah started in Hollywood that set the ground for what would come next with Low End Theory. Tom is also responsible for introducing Laurent to Kutmah and schooling him on the historical importance of Aron's and Sketchbook. 

In this episode we discuss...  

• How Tom and Kutmah both met Ras G at Aron's
• Coleman, Orlando and the Sketchbook residents 
• The second incarnation of Sketchbook at the Little Temple
• Dibiase and his boombox and the Sound of L.A. compilation 
• How Poobah's replaced Aron's 
• The importance of beat CDs to the early L.A. beat scene  

Tracklist:

For the first episode of A Beat Happening we welcome Tom Wilson FKA Take and now known as Sweatson Klank. A part of the L.A. beat scene since the early 2000s, Tom first met Kutmah at Aron's Records and the pair eventually became the DJ duo at the heart of Sketchbook, a club night Kutmah started in Hollywood that set the ground for what would come next with Low End Theory. Tom is also responsible for introducing Laurent to Kutmah and schooling him on the historical importance of Aron's and Sketchbook. In part one of this episode, the three of them reminisce about these early days and their formative importance to both Tom's and Kutmah's careers. 

In this episode we discuss...

• Tom's early career in the Seattle area 
• L.A.'s early 2000s record store culture and how Tom and Kutmah first met
• The pair's DJing approach and philosophy and how they focused on the weird records no one else played
• The first incarnation of Sketchbook at The Room in Hollywood
• How Tom discovered Dimlite while working at Aron's

Tracklist:

A Beat Happening is a brand new podcast about beat culture past, present, and future presented by journalist Laurent Fintoni and DJ/producer Kutmah. In this trailer, Laurent Fintoni gives you a quick run down on how it came about and what you can expect.

Stay tuned for episode 1 featuring Sweatson Klank dropping August 30.