A Decade of Dublab

In the six years that have followed, Dublab has grown in ways McNeill never imagined possible. Buck left in 2005, making way for Alejandro “Ale” Cohen to join full-time. Since he teamed with Dublab, Cohen’s annual Tonalism ambient-music happening, once a get-together at Pehrspace and now an overnight festival in the woods of Big Sur. 2007’s Echo Expansion tour took Dublab staples like Flying Lotus and The Gaslamp Killer to Europe along with a dozen others. A regular Labrat Matinee evening screens rare music videos and shorts at the Downtown Independent theater, often with live music. Most recently, Dublab collaborated with Dave Eggers’ 826LA nonprofit, scheming up a workshop that allows kids to write and record their own news radio show as time-traveling reporters (you can hear “Future News Radio, Episode 1” on Dublab.com).

Dublab’s seemingly ceaseless stream of artful ideas has led to partnerships with MOCA, LACMA, the Getty, Disney Hall and the Natural History Museum, among others — all of which should only increase with the organization’s nonprofit status (which brings access to grants, as well as a certain gravitas). McNeill says they trust their intuition in deciding on projects.

Dubrats united: part of the Dublab posse, on the roof of their Silver Lake headquarters

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• John Buck
• Hollywood
• Walt Disney Concert Hall
• Staten Island
• Radio

“I think a lot of it goes back to the same tool you use as a DJ — you know, what’s the next record I’m going to pick out? What do I want to play? What do others want to hear? What’s going to keep that flow going? We’re all music freaks, as well as people who love film, literature, art. From year to year, we’re growing, expanding and exploring, and Dublab is a realization of our process of discovery. That’s why those projects pop up — because we’d get bored running in place, doing the same thing.”