Besto 2010: The L.A. Beat Scene for Dummies (Starring Teebs, Asura, Lorn, Shlohmo, Take)

That's a double helix by Teebs. Get yr DNA right.

Los Angeles. So much reason for so much pride right now. This city had an unbelievable year in music, and nothing’s slowing for 2011. Mark my words. Just as the noise scene grew up this year with more “mature” releases from No Age, Wavves, Abe Vigoda and others, the next two will be marked by increasingly sophisticated and beautiful releases from the local beat fam. But you don’t want to wait for Rolling fucking Stone or Paste to tell you that, do you? Nah. Get on the train now, and check out five future classics that came out this year, but which didn’t make it onto the A.V. Club’s year-end list (which is why Baths and Lotus are excluded).

Click here, then scroll down ’til you see:
THE L.A. BEAT SCENE, FOR DUMMIES (ya dummy!)

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News: DJ Kutmah Returns, Meet ASKA, a Beat Scene Megamix, ScarJo Covers Steel Train

Kutmah's much needed passport?

Quick blog bits from around the L.A. underground (and up). Share ’em.

  1. FEATURED: New Kutmah Podcast Ft. Fugees, Flying Lotus*
  2. Check Out ASKA’s Stunning ‘Love Trance,’ on Manimal Vinyl
  3. Proximal Drops L.A. Megamix Ft. Dâm-Funk, Daedelus, Baths
  4. Scarlett Johansson Covers ‘Bullet’ By Folk-Rockers Steel Train

(all stories via West Coast Sound, via L.A. Weekly)

* After being expelled from the U.S., DJ Kutmah delivers a fifty-minute mix featuring a ton of unreleased gems — including a Flying Lotus track and a Fugees remix by Jonwayne.

Feature: Valley Boredom Inspires Baths to Great Heights on His Anticon Debut, ‘Cerulean’

Baths contemplates a cerulean sky.

So we’ve really made no attempts to hide our enthusiasm for Chatsworth producer/musician/singer Baths, a.k.a. fresh Anticon signing Will Wiesenfeld. We’ve previewed his gigs, big-upped his ambient works as Geotic, talked about the young star on the radio, and basically become dude’s personal documentarian via news updates (a couple of those below).

Finally, things may cool down a bit.

This isn’t so much because anything’s cooling down for Wiesenfeld, a rising star in indie music, but because we were able to do a lengthy feature on Baths for L.A. Weekly, dubbed, “The Great Escape.” Wiesenfeld was kind enough to donate a few hours to the cause, which meant lunch at the estimable Islands, and hang-time with him and his mom at the family home in Chatsworth.

So if you haven’t already, go to L.A. Weekly to read that.

Further listening/reading:

(both stories via West Coast Sound, via L.A. Weekly)

Bassmaker Shlohmo Signs To Friends Of Friends, Plays Calling All Kids Friday [MP3]

Something less, erm, bawdy from the L.A. music universe.

Friends Of Friends — friends of ours responsible for a growing crop of exciting releases — has just announced its signing of L.A./S.F. beat music artist, Shlohmo, a.k.a. 19-year-old Henry Laufer, a former intern at Dubab. […]  Shlohmo’s glitchy, bass-heavy soundscapes are already drawing comparisons to the output of Flying Lotus and Nosaj Thing, both of whom are part of the Alpha Pup family, so dude should fit right in.

Read more, and download an MP3, here, via LA Weekly.