How Flying Lotus Got Thom Yorke to Play Low End Theory, Plus Daddy Kev and Nobody's Dream List

This morning, we woke up, logged into Twitter, noticed that Low End Theory was trending in Los Angeles and wondered what we missed. As it so happened, Thom Yorke played the Wednesday night party at The Airliner and, unlike last week's surprise set from Odd Future, we weren't there.

Intuition for Knocksteady

Low End Theory's Daddy Kev with Thom Yorke

​After kicking ourselves for not being there, we emailed Daddy Kev and LA Weekly's DJ of the Week Nobody to ask them what went down at The Airliner last night.

Low End Theory trends

​Kev explained to us via email that Low End Theory regular Flying Lotus, who played the crew's San Francisco event last weekend, had text messaged him last Sunday about the possibility of Yorke playing at the club. Kev had suggested that he play that Wednesday.

"Things were seemingly positive up until yesterday morning when I received a phone call from Lotus," Kev recalled. "He said that the prospects were no longer good, but that he would work on still trying to convince Thom."

By 4 p.m., he said, the show seemed ready to move forward. He and Nobody arrived at The Airliner four hours after that, at which point, "the line was around the block."

"Then, at 9:37 p.m., I received a text from Lotus saying: 'No go - sorry man.'"

Kev continued, "My heart sank. With a set time of 10 p.m. myself, I had just a few minutes to inform the residents and send a quick tweet from Low End letting people know it wasn't happening.

Wait, the story isn't over yet.

​"Nocando informed the crowd as soon as we started, which definitely was a major buzz kill. Finished my set, and then ran into Lotus at the upstairs bar. He had just taken a picture of the crowd and emailed it to Thom, even though the the gig was definitely off at this point. Thom then replied, 'Fuck it. I'm coming.' That's when I knew it was really going to happen."

Even though news of the show had seemingly spread, Kev estimates that the crowd was still "at least 70% Low Enders." He clarifies though, that "most, if not all, Low End Theory fans have a serious appreciation of Radiohead."

Nobody acknowledged that he saw a lot of new kids that night and "once [Yorke] went on, those folks stormed to the front."

He added, "It was crazy."

Nobody didn't meet Yorke, instead he "opted to be in the crowd and just spectate." Kev met Yorke, in fact, the Radiohead frontman DJed off his laptop (the DJ
admits he "kind of geeked" about that).

"I must say," Kev added, "both he and Nigel Godrich were complete gentlemen."

After two high-profile weeks of Low End Theory, we wondered if Kev and Nobody could still have a Low End Theory Dream List. They do. Kev said "that list is infinite," but gave five. Nobody offered a few more. Check the following page to see who those artists are.