We strive to bring you the freshest, hot of the press, yum that is going on. Period. It is our mission to hit the “refresh” button every year to calibrate the hues of the muses. Like mulching seeds, we love bringing emrging artist to the surface. From underground to blast off, there is something for everyone.
FIRST TIME PLAYING IN THE U.S.!
“Happy salts, funk synthetic, G-Funk environment, low rounds and sexy, harmony sci-fi, a mixture which preserves a hip-hop spirit all while insufflating there a new energy, more directed towards the electro one and the flights cyber-funk. Genuine happy machine, promising Slugabed is affirmed like a rising star of the new wave, creating a universe well with him, between G-funk under futuristic pressure and dubstep.”
- SUPR3M MGZN
Hot downloadable mix from electronicexplorations.org
Interview and mix from dummymag.com
Featured Profile on thequietus.com
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Digital Mystikz, comprised of DJ/producers Coki and Mala, are at the forefront of London’s dubstep sound, leading the way with their own unique brand of dubbed out London sounds. Both derived of jungle, dub reggae and garage yet brand new, the sound had emerged from London and spread a love of sub bass, skankin riddims and mystical melodies across the world. Digital Mystikz are available on their own or with their mic man Sgt Pokes. (includes their residence cohorts such as Skream, Loefah, Kode-9, Benny ill etc) and mc Sgt Pokes.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
MarchFourth is a date, a command, and a band. Imagine Duke Ellington meets Sgt. Pepper in an international big-top Fantasia. Imagine a 1920’s speakeasy where Mr. Bungle meets the Shogun Warriors in a PG Clockwork Orange. Imagine running into this giant spectacle marching through a festival, down a street, or onto stage. The impact is immediate and infectious! MarchFourth Marching Band is a mobile big band spectacular, consisting of saxophones, trombones, trumpets and a drum/percussion corps, anchored by electric bass (battery powered). M4 “rocks” with the best of them, entertaining the audience with an over-the-top explosion of performance and charisma. The sound is huge, melodic, and dynamic, taking audiences on a musical journey around the globe. MarchFourth writes and performs its own material, and also draws inspiration from an eclectic range of worldwide influences, such as Eastern European Gypsy Brass, Samba, Funk, Afro-Beat, Big-Band, Jazz, and Rock music, as well as television, film, circus, and Vaudeville. Stilt-walkers, dancing girls, flag twirlers, clown antics, and acrobatics are just some of the things you’ll see accompanying this eclectic big band. The musical quality, the energy of the band, and the spectacle of the dancers all combine to create an original performance that appeals to even the biggest cynics.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Hello Sean Hayes here…. Choices …chaos…chocolate… I write songs and sing in bars. Somewhere out there in the great bigness there is a Black Hole singing and eating up little baby stars. So be careful of mean people backup by whiskey. I like the sound of claw hammer banjo. Years ago in North Carolina I played Irish music and tradition American songs in a band called “the Boys of Blue Hill”. I also like PJ Harvey. The world has changed a lot. We are dinosaurs walking around in a sea of digital realities. Things do not weigh as much as they use to. I am listening to a radio station that is 3000 miles away. I make my living playing songs. I do and I just get by in this city of earth shakin. If you dig it up pass it on….this is all for now more later yes
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
SHHHHHHHHHHHH! hear that? thats the sound of fun being done, yes my curios cudly friends, the funginears are deep within the dream cacoon, creating storys and birthing new puppets and playtime activitys galore.
Here at Funginears Incorporated, we strive to continually reinvent the wheel of fun, fixing what isnt broken and finding what was never lost. Our products include demonstrations of fun’s many forms. We have a dedicated team funning around the clock, busily reasearching and developing brand new kinds of fun for everyone!.
Remember… even when you think you are unreachably far from the Fun, the FUNGINEARS are there with you live and direct from the Krystal Unicorn Fortress. Because, as everyone knows, the Krystal Unicorn Fortress is inside of everything, and everything’s inside of it!
Chris Alfaro is Free the Robots. The genre-defying artist pulls together heavy doses of traditional jazz, Psych, Electronic, Hip Hop, with progressive melodies and devastating drums into a rich pot of sound. His techniques create harmony between genres with the blending of obscure samples with analog and digital compositions. Based out of Santa Ana, CA, Free The Robots started as a side project by Alfaro in 2003 while also playing with different bands, producing MC’s, and DJing full time. Having worked with so many different styles of music, Free the Robots brought everything together under one roof, allowing further exploration. With the use of samples, Controllers, and other live instruments, Alfaro creates a balance between the sounds of the past, present & future.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
VibeSquaD has the look and feel of a regular humanoid DJ / producer, but as the Crunkadelic Bass Traveler he tours the solar system bumpin’ his signature sound to all the deep space inhabitants. His spaceship leaks beats to the outer edges of the galaxy, leaving a blast of subterranean ill bass in his wake. Creatures are drawn to these sounds, regularly converging in large groups to observe and move to his music. Taking cues from classic electronic acts like Kraftwerk, The Art of Noise, and Front 242, he incorporates the reliable sounds of Chicago, Detroit, Miami, and the UK, informs it with his background in classic rock, psychedelic jam, and diverse jazz roots, then zaps it all with neon lasers. VibeSquaD’s launch pad is in Denver, Colorado (North America), but he travels all over the planet spreading bouncy beats, elastic synth lines, glitched-out samples and wobbly bass to gyrating, electrified masses.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
EPROM is known for his diverse, funky and energetic sets, which cross the lines between live remixing and manipulation of hiphop and dubstep with his own obscenely bass-heavy neurocrunk transmissions.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A one of a kind electronic music producer/DJ, MartyParty tours the world making crowds go crazy with his electric and high energy stage show. Born and raised in South Africa, found his way to San Francisco 15 years ago as a software programmer. After discovering the music of the west coast and wanting to “Africanize” it, Marty picked up Ableton Live and began to learn the art of music production in 2007. He soon after released his first digital album “Walkerville to the West Coast”, named for the town he grew up in and a tribute to his path to the US. Marty got tired of how all electronic music followed the same formula so he set off on a mission to re-invent electronic music and cross-pollinate it with all the other music he loves. Marty’s production can best be defined as IDM based hip-hop for lack of a better term. Marty started a movement back towards the power of the melody and instrumental composition. Song writing has always been Marty’s passion instead of the typical beat style dj production. The music is a hybrid of electronic music and hip hop that together forms a totally new flavor of urban beat with the pretty hypnotic elements of electronic music and hard-hitting bass. The MartyParty live performance is an intense journey that pulls together gorgeous instrumental, bass heavy songs, and overlays these with acapella and samples played live. The result is a true “crunky” and “hyphy” experience like no other
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Philippe Aubin-Dionne is a young producer and recording artist from Montreal, Canada. Coming up alongside like-minded teammates of the now infamous Turbo Crunk parties (including but not limited to Lunice and Megasoid), Hovatron has crafted a sound that has been said to be a “cross between warehouse techno and new-school laptop crunk”. As of 2010, the live performance consists of various analog synthesizers, a drum machine and laptop tucked away somewhere. Phil has played shows in Glasgow, Germany, London, Toronto, San Fransisco, Holland, Spain, just to name a few. Outside of writing and performing original material as Hovatron, Philippe Aubin-Dionne is involved in various promotional and musical endeavors, such as the Night Trackin’ parties in Montreal’s Old Port, as well as working a full time day job as an art director. Phil enjoys long walks around his neighbourhood, Olympico coffee and modular synthesizers.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Photo from Emrg+N+See 2009 !
All star cast of characters playing Live!
To some, it must seem like this young electronic producer came out of nowhere this year. Emancipator played his first live show in July 2009, opening for Bonobo at the Roseland Theater (cap. 1500). Since then, he’s toured with Bassnectar, STS9, Pretty Lights, drawn crowds at festivals like Trinumeral and Symbiosis, and closed out Sound Tribe Sector 9’s late night parties in Denver at the request of the band.
But those in the know have been following Emancipator since he self-released his first album, Soon It Will Be Cold Enough, at the age of 19 in 2006. His agile melodies layered over headnodic, immaculately-produced beats captivated fans across the internet and across the world. “Soon It Will Be Cold Enough” was picked up by Japanese super-producer Nujabes, pressed in Japan and sold 5,000 copies in the first six months. Emancipator landed a Puma sponsorship, gave an interview to Rolling Stone Japan, discovered one of his songs was played at the Beijing Olympics (still trying to figure out how that happened) and his song “Shook,” a mashup that perfectly mixes Mobb Deep’s mighty raps with a haunting track from the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, become the highest-rated song on Hype Machine’s “Best 50 Songs of 2007,” and appeared on Hype Machine as the #2 most popular song in April 2009.
His latest album “Safe In The Steep Cliffs” blends new instrumentation and organic samples with the signature Emancipator style of clean production, silky melodies and addictive drums. Dense layers of choirs, horns, American folk instruments such as the banjo and mandolin, violin and some distinct Asian influences make for a playful but refined album built out of intricate tracks listeners can enjoy on as many levels as they want. Dance to it, chill out to it, immerse your mind in it.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Ghostly International
“I know it’s electronic music,” Brian Lindgren says, “but sometimes I feel like an old-timey traveling musician with an M-Audio Trigger Finger instead of a guitar.” As Mux Mool, Lindgren has been criss-crossing the country by himself for years, collecting records, loops, and samples, and rocking parties in towns both large and boondock-small. Lindgren is a self-confessed nerd to the bone, an incurable doodler, a Star Trek: The Next Generation fan; he lives on energy drinks and barely sleeps, spending his days working on music and his nights absorbing Internet memes by the hard-drive load. Mux Mool’s homespun electro hip-hop is the product of an introverted mind, an extroverted imagination, and a bottomless cultural appetite.
As for where he got that name, Lindgren offers up an oddly telling story: he was dubbed Mux Mool by a band he admired, after he posted a blog on MySpace soliciting fans to submit names for his project. “Mux is short for ‘multiplexing,’ which is the streaming of many types of information through one channel,” he explains, “and Chac-Mool is an ancient Meso-American statue of a reclining man.” A technologically complex breed of synthesis and a timeless piece of indigenous art. Sounds about right.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“San Francisco’s NastyNasty is one of the Bay’s up-and-coming masters of bass, and on “No Names,” he kicks it down with dark bass rumblings, synth blips, and some truly impressive polyrhythmic intensity. Though the genre can often get a bit tired, this track is particularly noteworthy because of a prominent Marvin Gaye vocal sample, which turns a well-done but standard bass track into a much more sentimental affair, with a resonance approaching that of Burial. Next month sees a new single on Frite Nite, featuring remixes from wonky leftfield bass producer Slugabed, among others.” – XLR8R
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
There’s a deep rooted sound to Teebs’ music that connects with our everyday surroundings. It spotlights emotional corners and builds warmth over the listener. Rich in color, complex, yet leaving enough breathing room for its subjects to shine. Affiliated to Brainfeeder, My Hollow Drum and Dublab.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Portland-based artist saQi is a classically trained composer, producer and trumpet player. Drawing his name from the Sufi title for a mystic muse, saQi creates eclectic electronica that maintains a balance between organic and synthesized sound. His live sets rock the dance floor while maintaining a grace and musical depth to engage the listener. For live performance saQi is often accompanied by the multi-instrumentalist/composer Russ Liquid as well as Taylor Aglipay on guitar and Saxophones. All three are composers and horn players for the infamous March Fourth Marching Band.
“LA native Henry Laufer may be a young fella, but the 19-year-old producer, better known as Shlohmo, has rocketed on to our radar screen in recent months with his lo-fi, psychedelic mix of abstract hip-hop, dubstep-flavored wonk, bouncy synth-funk, breezy trip-hop, and what sounds like lost gems from the mid-’90s Mo’ Wax catalog.” – XLR8R
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
After raging the North American festival circuit with the music from their album “Between Worlds” in summer 2009, LYNX & Janover have established themselves as pioneers of a unique brand of electro-acoustic music by creating a diversified harmonic blend of all original hip-hop and down-tempo electronica grooves with stellar song writing, guitar playing, beat boxing, rhyming, amplified mini-kit percussion and the unique sounds of the hammered dulcimer. Big warm bass and sophisticated beats combined with LYNX’s incredible songwriting and Jamie Janover’s melodic and percussive genius puts them in a league of their own. LYNX is a Colorado born and raised singer-songwriter and beat-boxer with a great love of hip-hop and dubstep. Jamie Janover is a national hammer dulcimer champion who holds it down as one of the only hammer dulcimer players in the world to be totally immersed in electronica. Together, they have achieved the elusive perfect balance between the acoustic and the electronic, using today’s most advanced technologies mixed with ancient live instrumentation to create a unified sound reflective of the polarized nature of our times.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
CAMPFIRE SONGS WITH MICHA AND LEIGHTON TOUR 2010
By Leighton Kelly, Micha Devlin and Dugan O’Neal
C.F.S.W.M.A.L. is one of the funniest, most magical and healing shows you will ever see, if you are lucky enough to see them. Micha and Leighton are midway through there west coast tour playing in peoples backyards and living rooms. They recently played an LA show(which was amazing), and the night before the show we made this commercial for their tour. We have been planning to make a film about their tour starring Brad Pitt as Leighton and George Clooney as Micha but we ran into some scheduling issues, so we are postponing the film but for now we have this lil dity for you to enjoy. For more info and art make sure you go to Leighton’s super inspirational blog DAYONE2012 and if you are in Seattle or Vancouver you should do everything you can to go see them play. They will rock your faces off and give your spirit a hug and a highfive at the same time. Two of my closest and dearest, Love you Micha and Leighton. You are living the dream.
Baths is Will Wiesenfeld, a 21-year-old from Los Angeles who makes fractured but blissed-out electronic music that occupies a middle ground between cassette-happy chillwave bedroom-pop nostalgia and the forward-thinking beat music scene that Baths’ mentor Daedalus represents. Tracks like “Maximalist” stagger and boom with the assurance of a Flying Lotus, but they do it with a starry-eyed sense of psych-pop optimism. On June 22, Wiesenfeld will release Cerulean, his debut album, on Anticon.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Grimes is from Montreal. Lack of musical training yields unpretentious but compelling composition in which electronic and organic sounds come together in a colourful goth-pop-noise medley. Drawing from classical medieval chorale and synth-pop, among other things, Grimes fuses contemporary instrumentation with classical vocal practices from around the world.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Featherweight Champions Production/ Funginears
Music producer, multi-voiced singer, celestial song healer, sound engineer, voice over talent, bells and whistles wig, transmission channel, performing fARTist, puppeteer, dancer and fun time maker…
Anahata Sound creates soundscapes of heartfelt eclectica. Drawing from influences as diverse as jazz, gypsy, avant-garde, electro-acoustic, bosa nova, underground hip-hop, a’capella, opera and experimental. From recording in Hawaiian caves, Native American ruins, jungles in Costa Rica to gettin’ down in her studio in Oakland and playing shows all over the world. Anahata is continually influenced by the Universe, Earth, Humanity and our connection to harmonizing them through sound, smiles and artfully moving the body!
In addition to her solo project, Anahata is also a member of The Funginears and has mixed FOH sound for the Yard Dogs Road Show and has extensive experience in live, theater and studio sound since the age of 15. Her formal schooling includes a B.A. with honors in Sound Engineering from the Art Institute of Seattle in Sound Engineering with additional studies in jazz theory and history, music theory, theater and environmental studies.
She is teaching incarcerated youth meditation in Oakland Juvy halls with Mind Body Awareness and creating new music when divinely inspired.
Bass Science started in the summer of 2007 as 2-man Live P.A. collaboration making Dub-hop / Glitch step bass music. Bass Science fuses dubstep, glitch hop, IDM and dub into a fresh new sound that is simultaneously filthy and extremely clean. In less than a year since their inception, they have created a prolific body of work and electrified dance floors across the globe: call it glitchstep, call it dubhop, call it what you will, Bass Science’s hybrid sounds are generating a cabinet-rattling buzz. In the past 2 years they’ve dazzled crowds at seminal festivals and clubs from UK’s Glade to LA’s Low End Theory, with globetrotting gigs spanning Asia, Europe and the US and sharing stages with STS9, Flying Lotus, Nosaj Thing, Eliot Lipp, and more. Bass Science’s tracks, meanwhile, have received enthusiastic support from influential DJs like the BBC’s Mary Anne Hobbs and Annie Nightingale, Resonance FM’s Nick Luscombe, with regular rotation on Dubstep.FM. 2010 is a changing of an era for Bass Science.
Captained by Mattb, Bass Science has transformed from the live p.a. set of the past into a live hybrid act with the inclusion of Devin Landau, a drummer native of Chicago, IL. Rooted in jazz, funk, hip-hop, punk, and dnb, one could expect a complete transition from the day-to-day “dj experience” into something more rocking than your senses are ready for. He can stomp it out, and slap it around, all in the blink of an eye. The new live set covers all the bases, with material from Mattb, Bass Science, and RND, melding a live experience with flavors of deep, rootsy dub, gangster-ass glitch, and banging low-end dubstep. Don’t turn your back on us, because Bass Science will continue to blow up, and not just the sound systems.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Mr. Rogers’ brain is a fun place to visit, but you might not want to stay for too long lest you get stuck in the intricate, syncopated pulse that oozes from it. Crawling out of the swamps of Northern California, Mr. Rogers has been sending his hand crafted sonic waves, out of the lush forests, slowly creeping down the mountains and rippling into unsuspecting eardrums worldwide. Following the success of his first album release, “The Ooze System”, Mr. Rogers has since been slipping behind the console and slurped up on dance floors all across North America, inciting fun-filled, energetic frenzies for freaks a plenty. Mr. Rogers connects with dance floors instantly with his totally unique style. His signature sound seeps out of every beat per minute, and latches onto your primal dance button. His roots lie in recognizing the importance of enjoying life, laughter, creativity, and play.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Y La Bamba began in early 2008 as Luz Elena Mendoza began playing shows, and wanted a name other than her own to play under. She began writing and making home recordings of her songs one by one. During this process she began hosting an open mic regularly at a sake bar in Northeast Portland. This is where Y La Bamba began. She met Ben Meyercord, who Luz Elena describes as, “one of the many beautiful people I met who opened me up and saved my soul.” Meyercord and Mendoza began playing together and brought in Luz Elena’s long time friend and collaborator, Mike Kitson on drums, with the addition of Sean Flinn on lead guitar and Eric Shrapel on accordion. Y La Bamba was complete. Luz Elena went through a major transformation upon moving to Portland in 2008, citing the local music scene of Portland as a kind of savior. Combined with the heritage of traditional Mexican music lent to her from her parents she describes her influences as “Loch Lomond and Devendra Banhardt, a lot of old school Mexican 30’s music, basically it comes from my parents…. seriously, all of their music” it becomes evident upon listening to the music of Y La Bamba that Luz Elena draws from a deep well of varying influences.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Featherweight Champions Electro Pop Love Hop
Hot Pink Purple is a sonic and visual collage of artistic expertise. With bumping mid-tempo beats, hip hoppish grind and dreamy lyrical vocals, Russ Liquid and Anahata Sound create an irresistible electric synergy between Live PA electro-pop and experimental performance art. As a creative force, they’ve taken the best of electronica and turned it into their own original and unique style that is both magnetic and globally rich in rhythm and melody. They are a polysonic bionic chronic odyssey!!!
A poet from the great northwest who represents the final stages of Hip-hop’s growth across North America. Marv has been playing live music for the last ten years, breaking down genre borders with his abilities to blend his message into anything. Currently he is one of the hardest working emcees on the west coast, having performed countless shows across America, bringing his musical intentions to those in need of true Northwest
Fresh Music. Ellis has been paying the bills with his talent for the last ten years, independently releasing three full length solo albums, as well as two collaboration albums, one with Lafa Taylor and one with Keegan Smith.
He raps in English, with a touch of Spanish at times, adding vocal scratching and beat boxing, while singing all his hooks. It’s evident that Marv molds and manipulates words and cadence structures with the best of them. The album has been well received by critics, and on March 20th, Ellis packed the legendary Crystal Ballroom in Portland for the CD release show. He has built a band called the Platform, a world fusion hip-hop collective, comprised of his favorite players from both Portland and Eugene. Creating an eclectic, conscious, & booty shaking experience, every player in his band is a veteran of thrilling entertainment.
Marv has also visited over a dozen schools, speaking about what he does, while inspiring countless youth over the course of the last eight years. He is a spoken word artist at the Oregon Country Fair every year, where he entertains thousands of people with one microphone. He has always kept his promise, keeping the message thought provoking, conscious, and real. Overall, Marv just wants you to see, hear, and feel his art
Sasha Rose brings a unique original sound to her dj sets. She creates lucious soundscapes and fat bass lines all bridged by her live soulful angelic voice and flute playing. Playing off ableton live she creates a collage of different sounds and rhythms with deep lyrical content. She has performed with many live electronic acts including Members of String Cheese Incident, Zilla, Lynx and Jamie Janover, Random Rab, Anasia, Goddess Alchemy Project and many more. She has been touring extensively for 10 years, and brings all the flavors of her experience to the stage. Sasha Rose will take you on an unforgettable musical journey.
What happens when two of the Northwest’s dopest musicians / producers collaborate? The answer is simple: Bodies bouncing on the dance floor! The Bounce Brigade is Freak Funk (Lafa Taylor) and DangerRuss (Russ Liquid). Freak Funk brings the catchy Crunk/Funk whomp to the live melodic/harmonic journey that is Danger Russ to create a new style of booty shaken Beats. The Bounce Brigade combines electronic with the organic to create a very live sound that is both as danceable as it is experimental! Think Tipper meets Blackalicious meets Herbie Hancock. Any event that has this Duo on the line up is sure to be an exciting mind-bending experience. You have to see this group live to understand the full spectrum of sonic-flavor!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Danny has been an instrumental player in the formation of what has been called the “west coast” sound. Danny’s influence has been felt from the early days of Moontribe in the Southern California desert to the acclaimed Symbiosis Gatherings in the Northern California forests. He is a recent transplant to Portland, where he is focusing on producing his own music. He is known for a cutting edge style that are is firmly rooted in syncopation and lower frequencies.
RLS (Russ Liquid Sound) is a multi-instrumentalist with a background in Jazz and Classical music. RLS combines many genres of music tastefully using both the electronic sound palette as well as live instrumentation. RLS has played and or collaborated with MARCHFOURTH, UPRITE DUB ORCHESTRA, GROOVEYARD, SAQI, SUBSWARA, LAFA TAYLOR, BLUETECH, LUMINOUS FOG, ANAHATA SOUND, MARV ELLIS, BEATS ANTIQUE, LYNX AND JAMIE JANOVER, ESCORT SERVICE, SLEATER KINNEY, OREGON JAZZ ORCHESTRA, BOUNCE BRIGADE, HOT PINK PURPLE… as well as a bunch of local artists from portland. PURPLE! Download RLS’s new full length album PURPLE @ russ.bandcamp.com
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“Live drums, heavy synths, groove and energy are the foundation that Brandan Hale AKA Siren builds on. Hailing from Oregon and now settled in San Francisco, Siren is another new west coast find that has been making his distinctive mark on midtempo breakbeats and dubstep. With a background of metal influences and playing piano, saxaphone, drums in punk, ska and metal bands, Siren brings both melody and unforgiving edge to his productions. Already making headway with touring the ‘bass’ scenes of the US west, ‘Spawn’ is clearly the first of many releases to come. Expect bass that hits you in the gut, raw and pounding lead riffs and some epic instrumental accompaniments, truly made for ‘large’ environments or the most urban of basements.”-MUTI MUSIC
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
(Castle Dubskull//Hollowpoint/West Side Dubs) – Facebook – Twitter – SoundCloud
Producer, label owner, and DJ, David performs live as his downbeat and mid-tempo alter-ego Auditory Canvas, currently touring to support the release of his new album “Fabric of Life,” which hit stores in May. His label Summer Rain Recordings has been donating a good portion of their proceeds to humanitarian efforts across the globe since their inception in 2007.
David has recently been performing with a live vocalist (Jillian Ann), and a live violinist (Duke Goff), to bring the shows to life even more. The result is lush, intricate melodies, and deep bass fused with glitched breaks and percussion, occasional live violin, and haunting vocals, creating a captivating sound that touches you, moves you, and embraces you.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
* Our Bjork Remix Contest Winner! *
Scuzzy’s take on electronica is not limited to a particular genre, as he explores the meeting points of hip hop, downtempo, dubstep, breaks, and jungle. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s all psychedelic rave music – I’m interested in anything that moves the body and stretches the mind, as well as the downtempo stuff that you’d want to chill to at the end of the night.” His live performances are an important part of his expression, and he insists on remixing, glitching, and dubbing his tracks out live, even incoporating live vocals and instrumentation when possible. He can often be seen rocking his sound out with the All-One Ark, working with the Hoodlums of Eternal Love to bring organic soap foam goodness to the masses.
“SOLOVOX is the brainchild of keyboardist/producer Carlton Tietze III, whose deft skill on the analog ivories and catchy songwriting prowess generate much, much more than typical “electronica” squelches and blurts. Solovox’s debut album, Break Out of Prism, offers the soul-bearing soar of Low era David Bowie, but played as if both Booker T and Keith Emerson sat in on keyboards.
David Clifford, Willamette Weekly”
A producer, composer, and one-man synthesizer attack squad, Solovox is the sound of Earl Carlton Tietze III. He starts with his own original music which spans the genres of house, glitch-hop, breaks, electro, cosmic funk, ambient, and downtempo acid jazz. He also remixes other artists’ tracks and throws those in for good measure. Then, in the live environment, he explodes with live synth, organ, and piano playing that is like Herbie Hancock smashing head-on into the Chemical Brothers. Mayhem usually ensues, and he consistently delivers one of the finest live electronic shows available anywhere.
He has recently remixed Vokab Company’s single ‘Shine’ featuring Souleye, as well as doing remix work for Hulk Hogan and numerous commercial clients. As a live performer his legend in Portland, Oregon and the Northwest continues to grow. In July of 2009 he became the first-ever all-electronic act in the history of The Oregon Country Fair for their 40th Anniversary. He also played San Diego’s Elysium Festival, Oregon’s Emerg-N-See Festival, and Pantheon in Los Angeles.
Solovox has composed original music for A&E, PBS, and various national TV spots. He has recently been added to NIA’s new compilation, Sanjana with Thievery Corporation, Badmarsh & Shri, among others. In September of 2006 he kicked off KEXP’s NW Electronic Showcase Weekend with an in-studio performance broadcast worldwide. In April of 2007, he won First Prize in YouTube’s Turbo Tax Video competition.
Boy meets club is a Portland Or. collaboration of Drewbot 9000 and Nicky Mason. Drewbot started producing music in the hip hop game in the late 1990’s, and Nicky has been DJ’ing for better part of five years. Together they smash their laptops into a high energy exploration of original music, unheard tracks, and favorites of new and old. Always ever changing, their live set is a journey of Bass heavy mash-ups, always bringing together whomping beats with a familiar twist. Guaranteed whenever, and wherever they play, Boy meets club always has the right track selection, and skill to trick your finest senses and take you for a ride.
He was handed his first guitar among the mystical Joshua trees at the age of five. Leaving the desert to pursue a BFA in photography, he landed in Boise, Idaho where a trio was formed. They started playing songs in bars and supporting major acts such as the Violent Femmes and local heroes, Built to Spill. Restless for new music and inspiration, Cohen traveled Europe, playing the streets of Galway and countless Parisian courtyards. And it was here that he found his distinctive voice combined with a Dylan-esque sensibility.
Yuk is a record collector/sound collagist coming from the far-out left- field of the My Hollow Drum camp. With a niche for the psych-obscure, yuk delves deep into the music spectra to discover the indigenous and worldly sounds often overlooked by the common ear. After Yuk’s obsessive meddling, revisits and deconstructions, the end product converges into the most refreshing and bent out of shape layers of rich rhythmic textures. He will be dropping My Hollow Drum’s first album July of this year as a cassette/digital release. Yuk’s debut cassette A D W A has been receiving plenty pre-release love from the ever-growing Los Angeles scene as well as caught the ears of BBC’s very own Mary Anne Hobbs and Dublab’s Frosty.
DJ Dials vs DJ Bogl is the bay area’s premier DJ tag team- always live, always spontaneous, never rehearsed and always a battle- these two unique talents go head to head twisting out exclusives and showcasing future music to rabid fans. They’ve brought and opened up for acts such as Hudon Mohawke, Rustie, Lazer Sword and played alongside everyone from Modeselektor to Flying Lotus. In 2009, the duo created their first dubstep mixtape- entitled, HOTPOCKETS. This fused together BOGL’s rough and rugged sensibilities with Dj Dials’ hip hop and electro background, showing the bay area, and their worldwide audience, that dubstep- while looking forward, pays homage to other genres, including it’s hip hop background.
Kyrstyn Pixton is a multi-talented singer, composer, pianist, producer and performer. Having relocated to S.F. from Portland, OR only 2 months ago, she’s worked with a number of prominent music groups including Lynx and Janover, Beats Antique, Saqi, Lila Rose, Artemis, Omnicircus, and more. Some of her past performance venues include the Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland’s Blues Fest, Emrgnsee Music Festival, and the Midnight Show at Oregon Country Faire. You may have seen her toting a wee singing seahorse last year; Seahorse has now grown to galactic proportions…
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Chip Chop is a live production and percussion duo featuring Portland, OR based producer Graintable and Lake Tahoe, CA producer/drummer AD/AM. The two grind together filthy synth noises, sub shaking basses, and back breaking drum patterns to create a glitched out bass heavy masacre that ignites dancefloors and melts faces!
Creating waves in the west coast Chip Chop has already shared the stage with Bassnectar, Ooah, Free The Robots, Gift Of Gab, Del The Funky Homosapian, Mad Professor, KJ Sawka, Eoto, and more. The duo released their first track on Run Riot Records’ “Motion Sickness” compilation available now.
Download the Launch Blank EP !
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
OREGON INSTRUMENTAL DUB + _*solar powered band*_!!
Feeding off the energy radiated to us by the sun. We store the seal of life to rejoice in our independence from the GRID. Honoring our place on the planet while releasing the sun’s energy as music and medicine. The trio ebb and flow with composition and improvisation to create and maintain a complex comfortable musical environment, encouraging all who join to pay attention, reflect and be inspired… come dance wit us!
Lilla D’Mone has performed at festivals such as EarthDance, Power to the Peaceful, Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, Northwest World Reggae Festival and the National Festival of the States. She has worked and shared the stage with Mos Def, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Ciara, Kenny G, Boyz II Men, Wu-Tang, Bill Summers of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, and album feature artist Talib Kweli. Nationally and internationally, she’s played from Kingston Jamaica to Beijing China. At 6 she taught herself to play the piano by ear and, by age 12, was the shining light in her local gospel choir.
Writing and producing her album, Music Trance, has been one of Lilla’s greatest accomplishments. Despite the challenges of creating truly original music, the end product is one of uncompromising dedication to conscious music with integrity.
“A languid, sultry and vibrant progressive mix that is instantly accessible, yet shows a remarkable depth and musical maturity.”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Dapper dipped low down beats coming from a smoke filled, crunked mothership from planet Xerflac! The sounds of Portland DJ/producer Ben Westenburg (Behnibubu) can range from late night, sweat filled dancefloor sessions filled by deep wobble bass and riotiouslly ecstatic substep, to etherial minimal soundscapes crafted for hookah tents and desert sunrises. He has recently joined forces with the likes of Portland staples Tyler Tastemaker, Nicoluminous, and Dj Barisone to create the Hometown Blap Clique. A group of diverse sounds and smash seeking bomb droppers that far beyond exceed any expectations. Through the midst of his career, Ben has shared the stage and been apart of events with the likes of Caspa, Ana Sia, Danny Corn, Beats Antique, Babalyon Sysytem, Bassnectar, 6Blocc, Sexy Time, Geno Cochino, Nasty Nasty, and many others. He has performed at venues all over the Midwest, Emrgnsee, & Shambhala. Keep your ears tuned in for the latest mixes, mash-ups, and upcoming originals which can all be found on www.soundcloud.com/behnibubu.
Metal Mother is the current incarnation of musician and songwriter Tara Tati. The project emerged in early summer of 2009, when Tara began working with engineer Paul Lamb in what was initially a collaborative experiment. However, many magical and charged late night recording sessions in their home studios lead to the making of a full length LP, to be released in early summer 2010. The making of the album has led to collaborations with such luminaries as Mica Devlin (Yard Dogs Road Show), Tommy Cappell (Beats Antique), and Evan Fraser (Hamsa Lila).
Thugged out bass music, glitchy space infused slaps and TONS of energy. Tyler Tastemaker brings the heat and his very own style to the decks. Dropping sounds on unexpecting heads now for over 13 years, Tyler Tastemaker proves that technical ability plus impeccable track selection equals bodies grinding. Slanging every form of bass, Tyler Tastemaker touches down in the fields of HipHop, Glitch, Dubstep, Beat-Scene, Funky, Drum and Bass, Tropical, and anything else that keeps the subwoofer pressure high.
Download Tyler’s most recent mix here!
Shakt Bliss is a DJ and Performing Artist based out of Ashland, Oregon. Taking the stage as a dancer since she was a child, her passion for music that moves the soul and an obsession with bass is felt through her dance mixes blending cutting edge west coast dubstep, gypsy circus cabaret, and heart-centered jazzy lounge melodies.
She collaborates with The Tantric Circus and Liquid Fire Mantra and has opened up for artists such as The Yard Dogs Road Show, March Fourth Marching Band, Vagabond Opera and Beats Antique.Since the turn of the millennium she has toured the festival scene with her workshops, dance rituals and performance art embodying her life mission to assist in the awakening of the planet by dancing our way through ascension via embodied bliss, spiritual transformation & divine love!
Classically trained, electronically maintained: Hailing from Olympia, WA and representing the Dropping Gems Crew, ‘Brownbear.’ a.k.a. Andrew Des combines sounds from all over the sonic spectrum to create diverse, beat-driven, electronic environments for him and his listeners to exist within. Using an array of synthesizers, samplers, live effects and the DNA extraction technology exhibited in Jurassic Park, Andrew manipulates his loops and samples live and on the fly, allowing for extensive improvisation and unexpected twists and turns.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Sports Cars is a lamborgini droptop with hydro’s out of portland with Myk Dubbs and Tiger Fresh (Dillkins) Together they rev up tempos, blending lazer bass, whomp mashups, organic flavors, midtempo crunk and live looping along with favorites of new and old. Sprinkle me mayn!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Marin Patenaude, aka Iron Mary, brings you Soul Folk Blues from the snowy mountains and grassy fields of British Columbia. With canny and profound lyricism and a rapturous voice, her and her guitar sing you songs of love, lust, and the dirt under yer fingernails.
