User:Effyboat/L.A. Beat Scene

Los Angeles is said to be the origin of a distinct style of Abstract Hip-Hop that is characterized mainly by the sounds of Flying Lotus and Ras G. The music coming out of the L.A. Beat Scene makes heavy use of lo-fi drum samples, 8-bit synthesizers, and ambient sounds. It has roots in Hip-Hop and Electro.

History

According to Take (aka Sweatson Klank), Architeq, and Mr. Beatnik in an interview by Laurent, the L.A. Beat Scene started with DJ's Kutmah, Eric Coleman, and Orlando at a spot called The Room. The event was called Sketchbook, and the idea was to find and play instrumental hip-hop only. Laurent writes:

"...it basically became this night where all these hip hop producers and other producers would start coming through. And someone would bring a boombox and everyone would stand outside, and basically it kinda sucked to DJ there by that time because when you’re DJing half the people that you want to hear you DJ are outside with the boombox standing in a circle smoking weed and everyone’s throwing in their CDR! (laughs) They’d play their latest beat and everyone in the circle would have their heads down listening to it, smoking blunts, going just like ‘ooooohhh!’ and meanwhile we’re inside DJing for ten people while those guys are clocking in and out because it was more interesting outside.

So we started letting people play their CDs inside and that’s where it all began. Flying Lotus would come through, back when he was really young, Ras G and all these people. We’d put out notepads and markers and the night was no dancing really, just all about people chilling at the bar or tables and listening to music and drawing and having beers and going outside to smoke weed or whatever. And that’s why it was called Sketchbook, cos we had the sketchbooks out."

Characteristics

Artists of the L.A. Beat Scene work with lo-fi samples (drums and ambient sounds) along with 8 or 12-bit synths (although many different synth sounds and bitrates are used, these are the most prevalent), and usually loud, low-frequency basslines. These instrumentals often remain un-quantized, although this is not always true. One notable sub-genre that places emphasis on heavy basslines (and often borrows from Dubstep) is Futurebass.

Notable Artists

Notable artists include Shlohmo, Samiyam, Flying Lotus, Dibia$e, Alex B, Devonwho, Matthewdavid, Teebs, Nosaj Thing, Free The Robots, Tokimonsta, Daedelus, MNDSGN, as well as others. The L.A. Beat Scene is a breeding ground for young talent, so new artists emerge often.