Video by: Smash Le Funk
Photos by: Watchara, TenSquare and Chazz Gold
Words by: Duke DuRock
October has always been a time to celebrate tricks and treats. With that in mind, we started off the month by revisiting one of our standout shows from last year when we welcomed back electronic music innovator Gaudi to Los Angeles. He shared the stage once more with one of our favorite artists from 2011, Gladkill. The two teamed up for this special reunion alongside the fresh new sounds of +verb. Each artist’s music was creating conscious energy that kept the night’s packed crowd dancing and creatively inspired until well after the lights finally came on.
“I’m so happy,” Gaudi added about his tour stop in the City of Angels. “This year was so long and intense with my tour. But I’ve been really looking forward to touch base in L.A. again. The last time I played here for The Do LaB was rock solid. I loved it. What’s special to me about The Do LaB is that they don’t want to be special. Most people, they have to use hype, laser lights, flashy marketing strategies or fireworks, in order to achieve something spectacular. But what I’ve noticed about The Do LaB is that they genuinely love music. They are authentic. They don’t need to flaunt what’s special. They just do it. That’s the magic of music. You don’t really need to sell it, because it speaks for itself. Tonight we speak in the language of good music.”
Fresh Sounds from the Headtron Family
Arizona-based Dominic Tetmyer, better known by his production alias +verb, set the evening’s tone from the opening notes of his energetic set. Armed with an all-original music set, +verb’s style is very uptempo and his twisting and crunchy electronic grooves got the crowd into it from the start.
“This is my first Hollywood show and my first big event with The Do LaB. So I’m stoked to be a part of it,” said +verb. “I’d hope that, after my set, people felt that they were able to dance quite a bit and had a good time. I try to bring a lot of laser, bass and various different sounds to an already crowded bass music market. I want to make sure people leave feeling as though they heard a fresh sound and hopefully had a life-changing experience.”
+verb is the latest, strong addition to the Headtron Agency family. And his sounds fit in perfectly alongside his peers Sugarpill, Stephan Jacobs, Jupit3r, ChrisB. and Gladkill. “I think everyone at Headtron brings a very unique sound and it’s very inspiring,” said +verb. “There’s a lot of creativity amongst everybody. We push each other to do better and make sounds that we probably wouldn’t make if we weren’t exposed to such a diverse group of artists.”
“It’s the best thing that’s happened to my career so far,” added Gladkill. “Just getting with so many like-minded people all on the same level who are pushing me to create and do better…it’s not an agency, it’s not a posse, it’s a family.”
Gladkill Brings Melody Back to Bass Music
2011 has been an especially busy year for Gladkill as he’s toured almost nonstop. From his first show with us alongside Gaudi, to featured slots on our festival stages at Coachella and Lightning in a Bottle and, more recently, playing at Burning Man, Gladkill’s live sets have continued to evolve while getting better and better.
“After being on the road all year it’s been a lot of creating and knowing now what I need to play in my live sets to get people dancing,” said Gladkill before his set at King King. “I’ve definitely been working on a lot of new music. I have a few new treats in store for the crowd tonight.”
Gladkill’s set took the audience on a roller-coaster ride through music full of rich bass and soaring melodies. “I definitely implement a lot more melodies in my live sets,” said Gladkill. “It’s not about what can get louder or harder. It’s all about the emotion and the dynamics, which are the most important things. I can’t stand listening to an hour of the same thing. So I really try to take listeners on a musical journey and bring a lot of diversity and dynamics to the set. You need to keep people on their toes while maintaining a very coherent atmosphere with the music.”
Gladkill has also been hard at work on his debut album on which we’ll hear him embrace live vocals. He treated the King King crowd to a sneak preview, as the lovely and talented Erica Dee sang and freestyled over two classic Gladkill tracks towards the end of his set. “The live element is very important to play with in terms of instrumentation and vocals,” explained Gladkill. “There will be other surprises within the next few months in my set as it’s good to implement the live with the electronic.”
He added, “To make something timeless is every artist’s ultimate goal. I want to create an album that will be good a decade from now as well as a year from now. The way the music industry is now, stuff that’s been released three months ago is considered old. So I’m definitely trying to play with different sounds and styles.”
Gaudi Mixes Dub Reggae With Multiple Music Genres
After Gladkill’s set had the crowd properly amped up, our headliner, Gaudi, took to the stage and continued to up the energy level with his unique brand of electronic music. Throughout his set, Gaudi seamlessly mixed between all the different styles and tempos the producer has tried out over his 30-year recording career. “As with every show, this one will be different because I am different,” Gaudi explained prior to his constantly changing live set. “The crowd is different. The atmosphere is different. You can’t really plan what’s going on. But I have a vague idea of what I will roughly deliver vibes wise. But I don’t know which order and if I will follow my mental plan. It’s all improvised.
He added, “Tonight I have with me a hugely talented beatbox and vocalist from the U.K., Danny Ladwa. What we’re doing is not trying to create some new things never heard before; we’re just trying to deliver live music. We’re not using the computer but, rather, analogue synthesizers, tape echoes and even just microphone.”
The two teamed up to take Gaudi’s diverse music to new heights with Ladwa lending his vocal stylings to plenty of freestyles and unbelievable beat-boxing techniques that left the crowd chanting for more. “Working with Gaudi allows me to be open and have tons of space for improvisation,” Ladwa shared. “His music is impossible to put it into a specific category. It’s hugely diverse. From one album of his to the next, they’re all super different. But they each have lots of soul and they reach out to so many people and touch them.”
Gaudi’s enthusiasm for crowd interaction, along with the cool vintage analogue machines he uses on stage makes seeing him perform a breath of fresh air in the electronic music scene. From dub to dubstep, Gaudi’s tracks actually incorporate real dub reggae into all his deep basslines. “I am naturally projected into dub reggae music,” offered Gaudi. “All my basslines – even when I’m working on different productions for other artists or doing a remix for a club-oriented act – I always go into dub music. For me, the bassline has to be female. My bass is female and my groove is masculine.”
By the time the lights finally came on, nobody wanted to go home as dub echoes continued to swirl out into the early morning Hollywood streets. The show was another example of combining different types of electronic music with a great crowd. All those elements combine to create something much more memorable than a typical club night.
“What really counts nowadays in music is not necessarily a computer,” Gaudi summed up. “You just need creativity and ideas.”
See 200 photos by Watchara, TenSquare, Chazz Gold, and Jihanne Tatanaki on Facebook.
We want to thank all the artists for sharing their creative talents and especially YOU for coming out and supporting them. We want to hear from YOU! Please tell us what you think of these artists and your memories of this show in the comment section below and you could win a pair of tickets to our next event!
There’s a lot more good music this month that we’re excited to share with you. This Friday October 21st (LA) and Saturday October 22nd (SF), mark’s the second LA installment of Woogie Nights and the debut of Woogie Nights in San Francisco. Our inaugural bash was completely sold out, so we advise you to arrive early to the King King. And in SF, Woogie Nights debut’s at Public Works. Tickets can still be purchased in advance here for LA and here to SF.
And don’t miss Welder, Sugarpill and saQi on November 10th, also at the King King in Hollywood. Pre-sale tickets are now available here.
