A Beat Happening 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.  

This episode was edited and produced by Laurent Fintoni. Intro and outro music by Duke Westlake. Artwork by Kutmah. Design assistance by Paper Resistance and Brandy Flower. This show is a labor of love and if you enjoy what you hear and would like to support us in being able to continue, you can donate via PayPal at https://paypal.me/abeathappening.

In this episode we discuss...


Cairo trip with Jay Electronica
First meetings and learning to DJ 
B's shoot with Eazy E 
will.i.am vs Thes One at Dusk's soundclash 
Firecracker and Aron's 
Hanging out with Doom in LA 
Getting to know and hang with Madlib and Jay Dee 
Finding that Cortex record 
Shooting the cover for Company Flow's Lil Johnny 

Tracklist:


Coleman - Earthquake
will.i.am vs Thes One at the Rootdown
Cortex - Huit Octobre 1971
Jrocc - Go! 

Links:


Keepintime at Internet Archive
Mochilla portfolio

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. 

This episode was edited and produced by Laurent Fintoni. Intro and outro music by Duke Westlake. Artwork by Kutmah. Design assistance by Paper Resistance and Brandy Flower. This show is a labor of love and if you enjoy what you hear and would like to support us in being able to continue, you can donate via PayPal at https://paypal.me/abeathappening.

In this episode we discuss...


Meeting Justin 
Early LA digging days and the city's digging culture
Late 90s LA jazz scene and its links to other scenes 
Family building and music 
EDM and club nightlife 
DJ set approach and international connections 
Low End Theory 
Hagiography of the LA beat scene 
The Long Lost and the Dwight Trible album 

Tracklist:


Daedelus - Experience 
Live on KEXP 
Daedelus - Hrs:Mins:Secs
The Long Lost - Woebegone 

Links:


Song Exploder episode on Experience
Daedelus Bandcamp

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 episode was edited and produced by Laurent Fintoni. Intro and outro music by Duke Westlake. Artwork by Kutmah. Design assistance by Paper Resistance and Brandy Flower. This show is a labor of love and if you enjoy what you hear and would like to support us in being able to continue, you can donate via PayPal at https://paypal.me/abeathappening.

In this episode we discuss...


Audo pilots project 
Coming up in Detroit after the '90s era 
Discovering Slum Village and electronic music 
Seeing Mike Paradinas live and being inspired to get an MPC 
Working with different machines/processes 
The importance of dancing for creativity 
Spirituality in the creative practice 
Beat archives and samples 
Improvisation and live vs recorded output 
Relationship with jit culture 
Connections with Baatin, Black Milk, and Akh 
Meeting Kutmah, Ras G, and Sacred at Project Blowed 
Lessons on the MPC

Tracklist:


Extract from The New Dance show 
Saafron - Saffron
ddustbin archive joint 
Peoplemover - jitterbugs 
Sterling Toles - 11/19
ddustbin archive joint   

Links:


ddust Bandcamp
The Unseen - A Detroit Beat Tape

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 episode was edited and produced by Laurent Fintoni. Intro and outro music by Duke Westlake. Artwork by Kutmah. Design assistance by Paper Resistance and Brandy Flower. This show is a labor of love and if you enjoy what you hear and would like to support us in being able to continue, you can donate via PayPal at https://paypal.me/abeathappening.

In this episode we discuss...


LA radio landscape and the importance of college radio 
Going to the Good Life and meeting Omid 
Making his first beat tape and working with Ellay Khule  
Being inspired by DJ Shadow, Hive, Digiak and CVE 
Signing to Ubiquity and getting into psych rock 
Meeting Justin at Aron's
Meeting Prefuse and the IDM moment 
Making RoadKillOverCoat with Busdriver and Boom Bip and the beginnings of Low End Theory
Collaborations with Nocando and Mystic Chords of Memory
Getting into modern rap in the '10s and the EDM crossover 

Tracklist:


CVE - KKK/K 
Nobody - Green Means 
Bonzo Dog Band - Noise For The Leg
Nobody - Porpoise Song (Savath Y Savalas Remix)
Busdriver - Bloody Paw On The Dance Floor
Nobody & Mystic Chords Of Memory - Decisions, Decisions 
Nocando - Hurry Up And Wait  

Links:


Nobody Bandcamp

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 episode was edited and produced by Laurent Fintoni. Intro and outro music by Duke Westlake. Artwork by Kutmah. Design assistance by Paper Resistance and Brandy Flower. This show is a labor of love and if you enjoy what you hear and would like to support us in being able to continue, you can donate via PayPal at https://paypal.me/abeathappening.

In this episode we discuss...


Sketchbook days  
Beginnings and first collaborations  
Soul music past and present and its relationship to beat culture 
Growing up in South Central 
Founding the Voices of Creation and working in the community 
Writing I Met A Mountain for Ras G
Collaborating
Los Angeles and creativity 

Tracklist:


SA-RA Creative Partners - Glorious (instrumental)
The Voices of Creation - Let the Sun Shine In
The Voices of Creation - I Met A Mountain 
Jimetta Rose - Might Could Be Nice 
Jimetta Rose - Emerald City 

Links:


Jimetta Rose Bandcamp
The Voices of Creation

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. 

This episode was edited and produced by Laurent Fintoni. Intro and outro music by Duke Westlake. Artwork by Kutmah. Design assistance by Paper Resistance and Brandy Flower. This show is a labor of love and if you enjoy what you hear and would like to support us in being able to continue, you can donate via PayPal at https://paypal.me/abeathappening.

In this episode we discuss...


Early days at Poobah, Sketchbook, and Juju
The boombox, beat making, and connecting with local heads 
Learning to make beats with Ras G at school 
Early '90s LA rap scene, rhyming at Good Life and Project Blowed 
Beat tapes at the Good Life and Project Blowed 
Meeting Jonwayne and collaborations 
Sketchbook and the LA club beat battle scene in the mid '00s 
Working with dancers 
Working with the producer community 

Tracklist:


Dibiase & devonwho - Flawless victory 
Quelle Chris - LiveAlone.DieAlone 
CVE - The Afterlife 
Sacred - Grow Your Own 

Links:


Bandcamp
SP 404 Documentary