Lainna FaderOn Saturday night the House of Blues on Sunset hosted the final stop on the five-week-long Magical Properties tour–featuring Teebs, Samiyam, Free the Robots, the just-profiled Gaslamp Killer, and Daedelus, with psychedelic visuals by Dr. Strangeloop. Brainfeeder indeed is the champion sound, and these five proved why the L.A. beat scene is the best in the world.
Teebs makes the most beautiful, delicate, and smooth beats and Strangeloop brought the calmness of the sea and soaring through clouds as the visual equivalent to his sonic landscape. Apparently Flying Lotus said his first Brainfeeder release Ardour sounds like “an island vacation–the way Avatar looks.” It's partly because there's no discernable origin of his sounds. Being able to let go–instead of trying to find a particular instrument or sample–allows you to sit back and explore the organic possibilities of electronic music as fish swim by in the background instead.
The Gaslamp Killer and Samiyam; Credit: Lainna Fader
Gaslamp Killer danced his way back on stage to introduce Samiyam, letting us know what we were in for: “This little guy is gonna tear your head off and put it back on again and give it a kiss.” Samiyam set the tone for the rest of the evening, with high energy hip-hop and new material unveiled for the first time in L.A., looped into remixes of Flying Lotus and Ras G, and his own 8-year-old beats. He worded every lyric he played, breaking every once in a getting so excited at the words coming out of his mouth that he had to grab the mic and shout them. (Which he did with a smile.)
Free The Robots; Credit: Lainna Fader
Strangeloop curated a stellar visual show for Santa Ana's Free the Robots, with multi-colored laser lights shooting out from behind kaleidoscope and lego-like projections. Free the Robots asked the crowd if they remembered the '80s which got a lot of screams but not as many as when he asked everyone to give it up for Nintendo before blending heavy doses of hip-hop beats, fuzzed-out psych, futuristic synths, and a jazz elements.
I'm sure a five-week tour with shows almost every night is incredibly exhausting, but you would never have been able to tell with the energy Gaslamp Killer brought to the stage. He took took us down the rabbit hole and straight into Hell. He is a total maniac who doesn't give a fuck and that's why we love him. He smashed together so many different genres so quickly it was schizophrenic, mixing dubstep, classic rock, psych, and hip-hop and making your mind crumble in the best possible way. He said he woke up that morning and couldn't even crack a smile out of exhaustion, but he snuck one in at the end of his set out of love for his city.
After finishing up with a Radiohead sample, Gaslamp Killer brought Daedelus to the front, and said following Daedelus is like “jumping headfirst into a tornado and getting shit out the back,” which is probably about right. Daedelus fed off the wild energy of the crowd as he mixed non-stop dance music and conducted the crowd like a master magician. Gaslamp Killer and Daedelus are a fantastic pairing–a meeting of two of the most brilliant beatmakers L.A. has to offer.
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