Artists
MOPHONO
From DJ’ing at the now infamous Future Primitive parties to running his own Change the Beat weekly in San Francisco for nearly 5 years, Mophono (also aka DJ Centipede) has been an unsung mainstay of the Bay Area, CA electronic/hip hop DJ scenes for some time. Fresh off of both an appearance on The Gaslamp Killer’s latest Death Gate EP and live at his 10/10/10 Brainfeeder Session in Los Angeles, the beatmaker and crate- digging aficionado has begun to focus on his next step – a full length release entitled Cut Form Crush for his own label CB Records.
Benji’s sample digging and break hunting roots stem from the era where DJ Shadow was “Entroduced” and vinyl was the only way to DJ; as Mophono, he specializes in the art of dusty drums and heavy synthscapes. Cut Form Crush presents an expert take on the escalating west coast beat scene with 14 tracks of formidable compositional styles that beautifully weave together all sorts of musical breeds – the wide-ranging influences of music concrete, B- Boy culture, classical string arrangements and dirty jazz drumming can all be heard throughout. “Cut Form Crunch”, which was created from a live studio session with the luminary Flying Lotus, is completely exemplary of the album’s hard edge drum machine crunch and odd rhythms. After a listen to the album, the unique stamp of Mophono’s skillful past and future in music becomes exceedingly clear.
Having performed at the Brainfeeder festival (Flying Lotus brain child) and shared the stage with Amon Tobin, Edan, DJ Food, DJ Krush, Dabrye, Diplo, Gonjasufi and De La Soul and many others), Mophono is poised and ready to present Cut Form Crush, his finest and most all-encompassing statement.
http://www.myspace.com/mophono
THE GASLAMP KILLER
The Gaslamp Killer (William Bensussen), Los Angeles based DJ/Producer, Low End Theorist, and Dublab Radio resident, is not your conventional artist. What separateds him from the rest of the herd is his extensive knowledge in psychedelic rock, demonic bass-heavy Hip-Hop, Middle-Eastern/ Indian rare grooves, and ear-piercing helicopter breaks. The energy during his live sets resonates through crowds, taking you to the filthiest psyche/freak-out you’ve ever been on. He’s earned the respect of eclectic heavy-hitters and has shared the stage with Digable Planets, Broadcast, M.F. Doom, Thievery Corporation, and many others.
Take a step further, into the deeper, darker world of sound. Life can’t be appreciated without a bit of murder and death.
http://www.myspace.com/thegaslampkiller
http://www.thegaslampkiller.com/
CITIZEN TEN
Citizen Ten is a rare breed. Working as a DJ-Producer, his style of hard downtempo music is some of the illest heard in the Bay Area. He spins rare groove mixes, classic break sets, psych-rock, and hip hop.
http://www.myspace.com/citizenten
BELLOW GARMON
Occasionally artists move irresistibly toward recognition-for the possess a natural quality that cannot be ignored. Talent is a part of this quality, but not for the whole. The public constantly search for a personality whose sense of style and intuitive sympathy for performance excites the imagination: a personality who anticipates tomorrow’s taste and fashion, as surely as a light anticipates the moth. Such personalities and artists are BELLOW GARMON
Bellow Garmon is an uncompromising musical force who acts as a catalysts to those who work with them, demanding that they raise their standards and skills. Bellow Garmon’s technique, approach and concept combine the background of an open-minded B-boy Disk jockey with the expressive powers of today’s “progressive rock” or “avant_garde pop” (or whatever journalists find the most valid of present musical forms) and create a living process of challenge and questioning.
DJ CENTIPEDE
The record collector is inherently an archivist. Whether that collector is a DJ (who shares new discoveries with an audience in the hopes of fostering a knowledge of the music being played), a completist (who perserves the vinyl in the vaults of his own home, thus “protecting” the music from dusty obscurity), a sampling producer (who, most interestingly, promotes awareness of the record being sampled through digital and analog loops and chops) or the average music aficionado who genuinely wishes to influence those within his limited sphere, the ultimate goal remains the same: the preservation of an overlooked form of creative expression.
