Andy J. Scott

Usually, if an electronic musician's laptop craps out, he's fucked. But for Brian Allen Simon, who performs under the name Anenon, it just means one thing: Break out the saxophone and go nuts.

"It was honestly one of the most liberating performances I've done," Simon says of his recent show at Home Room in Silver Lake, where a laptop failure forced him to scrap his experimental ambient set in favor of a 20-minute free-form sax solo. "I really went for it, frustration turning into passion, in a way."

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Press Photo

It was the '90s in Bakersfield, and West Coast gangster rap gripped much of the town. But Charles Dickerson felt bored. So he ignored what was popular, sticking with his beloved electronic music.

He now performs under the name Mono/Poly, and released an EP under Brainfeeder last year. The 25-year-old plans to drop two more in the next two months, one downloadable off his website and another under Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's label, before he kicks off his international tour.

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Aaron Frank

Austin Peralta and Flying Lotus at Cinefamily

Flying Lotus and Austin Peralta
Live Score of Harry Everett Smith's "Heaven and Earth Magic"
Cinefamily
2/28/12

See also: The Time Flying Lotus Pretended To Be A UCLA Physics Major

If Flying Lotus' live score at Cinefamily last night was any indication of the direction of his upcoming fourth album (due this summer), then his fans are in for something special. Putting a modern twist on beatnik artist Harry Everett Smith's crowning cinema achievement "Heaven and Earth Magic," Flying Lotus' live accompaniment added another dimension to the film that Smith -- a lifelong occultist and mystic -- probably could've never imagined, but certainly would've approved of.

Considered the birth of abstract animation, "Heaven and Earth Magic" was initially released in 1957, then re-edited several times, with a final version being released in 1962. Aside from basic sound effects, no soundtrack accompanied the film at the time of its release. As with many of his films Smith, a renowned painter and ethnomusicologist, intended for the project to be screened with various musical interpretations. Improvisational jazz bands mostly accompanied the film during its first screenings in the late 1950's, and more recently artists like Phillip Glass and DJ Spooky have developed live scores for Smith's work.

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Kai Flanders

Starfucker

KXSC Fest
White Fence, Nosaj Thing, Starfucker
Founders Park
2-25-12

Better than: Your college roommate's reggae band.

College music festivals aren't always compelling. They often book a bunch of acts popular with students that don't add up to a coherent bill. The fest put on by my alma matter had Drake follow Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. But USC's KXSC Fest, held Saturday night on the campus, managed to put together a lineup that worked well.

After a bevy of openers, (Gothic Tropic, Fiore, Trmrs), L.A. psych-rockers White Fence played to a thousand kids or so. Some of their recordings -- "Mr. Adams, "The Love Between" -- are fun to listen to in a spacey, pining sort of mood, but live they lost some of their essential weirdness; less flower-power bizarreness than by-the-book indie rock. They were competent; people sort of danced. But at least some of us wished it were White Denim instead.

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Nanette Gonzales

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.]

See also:
*Low End Theory Anniversary
*More Low End Theory Oral History From Those Who Helped Build It

All apologies to Mr. Holland, but our opuses have gone electronic. Orchestras still abound, but the most groundbreaking compositions often are created with computer and keyboard. And within Southern California, Steve Nalepa may be the closest approximation to Richard Dreyfuss' famed music teacher in the Academy Award-nominated 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus.

In February three of the billed guests at Low End Theory -- L.A.'s vaunted hub of brain-crumbling beats and obscene bass -- boasted an affiliation with Nalepa, the Chicago-born composer, former Chapman University professor and onetime wide receiver at Yale.

From 2006 until last spring, Nalepa's music-technology courses ranked among the most popular at Chapman, the liberal arts school in Orange. His intro classes taught students the history of music technology, from the player piano through Ableton. His advanced class required students to bring in new compositions each week, and before it was over they had to furnish a mini-album, complete with art, bio and tech rider.

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Walton Brush

Since dropping out of art school in 2010 to pursue music full-time, Shlohmo has become an L.A. electronic-music rising star. Born Henry Laufer and raised in the Fairfax District, the lanky 21-year-old producer -- a regular performer at beat mecca Low End Theory -- combines house and hip-hop with his own hazy ambient style. His first full-length, Bad Vibes, was well-reviewed by Pitchfork and put him on the international map. We talked to him ahead of his first European tour; his new EP, Vacation, is out today.

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Aaron Frank

Four Tet

See Also:
*Our oral history of Low End Theory
*Teebs: Flying Lotus' Former Roomie Speaks On Loss And Art

Four Tet
Low End Theory
12/21/11

Better Than... John Wall and David Guetta's heralded Spotify Playlists.

Let's face it: straight vinyl DJ sets can either be delight or disaster. With seasoned professional Four Tet taking the reigns at Low End Theory last night, however, there was no cause for concern. The veteran producer has been performing experimental DJ sets for years at the Plastic People club in London, introducing new talent from his TEXT label, testing out his own new tracks, and learning to successfully read the room on his own terms.

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Lina Lecaro

It was another great year for nightlife in Los Angeles. Despite the economy, party vibes inside the clubs were as creative and crazy as ever. From hip-hop haps to gay grinders, electro-a-go-go's to arty parties, the energy was contagious. Sure, many of Hollywood's swankier spots struggled to sell enough bottles, but those aren't our focus anyway. The club nights that kept us coming back never rested on their laurels. They sought to book the best DJs and attract the most bodacious crowds. Here, then, are the ten best Los Angeles club nights of the year.

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5. Bon Iver
Shrine Auditorium, September 19th

In 2009, Justin Vernon and his band, Bon Iver, received glowing reviews for their beautiful performance at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, playing at dawn as the first rays of sunlight reached across the L.A. skyline. So when the band finally returned to play the Shrine this September, expectations were pretty high. They delivered.

Capitalizing off this year's Bon Iver, Vernon was able to take the act's live presence to new heights with the addition of nine vocalists, a horn section, and two drummers. With a virtual orchestra in tow, the Wisconsin native demonstrated the subtle arrangements that make his wistful and tender songwriting so poignant. Our critic Molly Bergen said, "It felt like Dorothy stepping into the Land of Oz in all of its Technicolor glory."

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See also: Flying Lotus Plans To Direct A Feature Film

The Weekly once dubbed Flying Lotus the "Godfather of Spiritual Electronica." He's convinced Thom Yorke to perform at Low End Theory. A recent headline performance at the Eagle Rock Music Festival drew over ten thousand people.

Oh, and he also DJed my friend's apartment party earlier this year. And I missed it.

The story goes like this: In January, FlyLo played an intimate on-campus concert for UCLA students that I helped organize. After the show -- which was quite good -- I figured that was that. Most artists usually bounce promptly when these things are over. So, stupidly, I decided to head out early on a ski trip I had planned.

But little did I know that as I barreled up highway 395 toward Mammoth, Flying Lotus was playing my friend's living room. And he wasn't just cruising through his iTunes playlist -- he was composing tracks on the spot. This was never-before-heard Flying Lotus.

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