We are excited to host Griz in Los Angeles on Saturday August 11th. More artists will be announced soon.

GRIZ

Griz is a young producer from Detroit. In his own words he is a “vinyl lover, people hugger.” 

Listen to his latest music via Soundcloud below:

Listen to his newest album via Addictech below:

* more Artists TBA * 

The Details…

Saturday August 11th 2012

9pm-2am 

Venue:

King King

6555 Hollywood Blvd., 

Los Angeles 90028

*entrance is through the parking lot in the back

This event is 21+ 

We’ll see you on the dance floor very soon! 

We are excited to announce that Phutureprimitive will be returning to Los Angeles on July 14th. He will be joined by Desert Dwellers. More artists will be announced soon. 

PHUTUREPRIMITIVE

Phutureprimitive’s music is singular and unique in its approach: Lush melodies drift across intricate rhythms, groovy heavy beats and warm, fuzzy bass lines. Often exploring a dark and dense palette, his music also manages to convey a sense of tranquility and beauty, engaging the listener into hypnotic movement and often escalating toward a full kinetic experience. Conceived and produced in a digital environment, his music manages to convey more humanity and organic warmth then typically found in an often cold and sterile genre. Shimmering with cinematic qualities, his music ultimately speaks to both the mind and the body. 

Constantly defying convention, the Phutureprimitive sound is not solidly rooted in any single genre nor easily defined, but draws influences from many sub-genres including Bass Music, Downtempo, Glitch Hop, DubStep, Breaks, Trip Hop, and more. 

Listen to Phutureprimitive’s newest albums via Soundcloud bel0w:

Get even more music on his website. 

DESERT DWELLERS

Desert Dwellers has its roots in the Southern California dance collective known as Moontribe, famous in the electronic underground for organizing tribal dance rituals at magical locations deep within the vast desert expanses of Southern California and New Mexico. Initially a collaboration in the late 1990′s between electronic music pioneers Amani Friend & Treavor Moontribe (aka Amani vs Teapot), Desert Dwellers grew to incorporate Six Degrees recording artist Rara Avis in 2005 during the creation of the DownTemple Dub Series on White Swan Records. The trio has also collaborated heavily over the years with an amazingly talented array of artists. Craig Kohland (Shaman’s Dream) has been supporting the band for years as a producer and guest percussionist. Sarah West and Meagan Chandler are often featured vocalists on their albums, and they have at times been joined in the studio by Sattva Ananda, Jonathan Grossman, Michael Kott, Ricardin, and many others.

Listen to their lacks music via Soundcloud below:

Also enjoy these full length sets via Soundcloud below: 

* more Artists TBA *

The Details…

Saturday July 14th 2012

9pm-2am

Venue:

King King

6555 Hollywood Blvd., 

Los Angeles 90028

*entrance is through the parking lot in the back

This event is 21+

We’ll see you on the dance floor very soon! 

On Thursday June 21st we are excited host Filastine’s Do LaB debut at King King in Hollywood. He is joined by Shawna. Full lineup to be announced soon. 

FILASTINE

Grey Filastine is an audio-visual artist born in Los Angeles, based in Barcelona, and often nomadic. He composes a dense transnational bass music that collides the lowest frequencies of dubstep with the highest-level beat science, acoustic strings, voices, and lofi street noises. The results are “Awesome and delicate… hybrids so fluent they defy classification.” -Pitchfork.

Performing up to a hundred concerts per year, Filastine uses percussion to control loops and synchronized video from a heap of electronics wired to an amplified shopping cart. 

Spring of 2012 Filastine delivers the LOOT, his third full length work. LOOT was made in tandem with a grip of potent videos, and launches with a year-long world tour with stops on every continent. The freshly re-tooled live set uses custom software to pull off some deep AV madness, and sees Filastine expanding to tour as a duo, always joined on stage by Indonesian vocalist Nova or one of the collaborating cellists from the album.

Watch Filastine’s newest music video via YouTube below: 

Listen to Filastine’s newest album “Loot” below:

Listen to more music from Filastine via Soundcloud below: 

SHAWNA

Shawna’s passion for music began in early childhood while attending the Winnipeg music folk festival in Manitoba, Canada, where she grew up. There, she was exposed to musical genius from all over the planet, which greatly refined her ear for the subtleties and origins of all types of music. It wasn’t until the age of 18 that she took an interest in electronic music, and began pursuing music of just about every genre, crafting the art of spinning it all together in a smooth hot mess of the dance journey, while simultaneously always searching for that same quality of depth, fun and life in the electronic realm. She’s been DJing “out” since 1999. She plays for the dancers!

Listen to her latest music via Soundcloud below. 

* more Artists TBA *

The Details…

Thursday June 21st 2012

9pm-2am

Venue:

King King

6555 Hollywood Blvd., 

Los Angeles 90028

*entrance is through the parking lot in the back

This event is 21+

We’ll see you on the dance floor very soon! 

Watch our video from Weekend 2 of Coachella 2012 below.

Videos by: Matthew Smith

Pictures by: Watchara Phomicinda, Coachella and others.

Words By: @DukeDuRock

Over the last eight years, The Do LaB’s presence at Coachella has grown considerably in both size and scope. Starting out with one small installation at the edge of the field, we now having multiple, including our very own stage smack dab in the middle of the festival. Each year, thousands of people have been exposed to our creative and beautiful structures, but few realize how much work is actually involved from the initial designs to the ultimate completion. In this post we interview some of the team to get the full story.

With Coachella taking place over two consecutive weekends this year, The Do LaB team undertook its most ambitious build yet, with two large installations; the revamped Lightning in a Bottle (LIB) “Woogie” stage, which was massively expanded into a shading structure entitled “Triad” as well as our main stage area, which we dubbed “Empire Strikes Back.”

“This year is probably our most detailed project ever,” explained Jesse Flemming, one of the founding members of The Do LaB, along with his brothers Josh and Dede. “A lot of things that we usually don’t have time to do, this year we put a lot of time and attention into. This year’s build process was also a lot more intense than in previous years. We always build pretty large installations out there, but we were working 15-16 hour days for a month straight with no breaks.”

“We only had a month to build this project,” added Josh Flemming, who serves as principal designer for The Do LaB’s structures, along with Heather Shaw. “Our team came into this knowing how much work would need to be done and I have so much respect for everyone because we couldn’t do this without them. They stick through these really tough times, when we’re all exhausted and haven’t slept for days and there’s no end in sight and this team just keeps coming out and doing it. We have big visions and ideas, but it’s not about any one person. It takes all of us working together and everyone has a equal sense of ownership with this.”

“It starts at our shop at Big Art Labs and we’re staying there super late at night, so it becomes very physically demanding work and draining mentally,” recalled Travis “Jupit3r” Johnson, who is not only a longtime member of The Do LaB, but is also a talented musician who is performing on the very stage he helped to build over both weekends of Coachella this year. “It’s like an assembly line, you keep making the same thing for hours straight and you can get really tired of it. But then you keep in mind the big picture and the final phase of the build. Over the past week out here, we’ve brought all our puzzle pieces, which is literally thousands of them and we try to figure out how to put everything together in the fastest way possible. But to walk out onto the Coachella field and see our hard work in action makes it all worth it.”

Photo by Holly Fess Johnson.

The Beauty & Chaos of the Build

In order to make the massive and creatively inspiring installations at Coachella, The Do LaB gathers a team of almost 50 people, from longtime members of the family, to the many new volunteers each year who are all eager to contribute to the building process.

“The build is all about the beauty and the chaos; it’s the best of both worlds,” explained Felipe Martinez, who volunteered last year and was asked to become a member of the Coachella build team in 2012 due to his strong work ethic and passion. “We actually have more fun building than the actual festival itself! But there’s happy times and sad times as it’s a force of nature being out here. But it’s curiosity at its finest. It’s being alive as you’re living for the moment. It represents what The Do LaB have done for themselves: they build something out of nothing and that is so beautiful to me. They’ve been dedicated, open souls and they give people chances. If you do a good job and bust your butt, they’ll invite you back.”

“You start proving yourself and we’ll ask you to be a part of our next job,” offered Jupit3r. “It’s very rewarding to be able to be part of The Do LaB, I think. I get requests all the time, but it’s not for everybody. But those that are with us on the last build night, staying up working for 24 hours straight doing the final push, those are the people we want. The last man standing crew as we call it. We all break down at one point or another, but if you’re not breaking down, you’re not working hard. That’s how I look at it.”

Photo by Jesse Flemming.

 Earn the Ticket, Take The Ride 

For years, the core members of The Do LaB have taken those willing to learn under their wing and offered them the chance to become more than just festival spectators, but to actually contribute in building something special.

“To be a part of building a festival as opposed to just attending, that has been life changing for me,” said Nick Bonin, a first year volunteer who eagerly embraced all the hard work that was required for such a massive project. “I’ve bought a ticket to Coachella before and that was fun, but going forward, this is the way to go for me as I would much rather come to help out and be part of the production of a structure for the festival. I look at the Flemming brothers, who are a generation older than me and they work twice as hard. So I see myself as young and capable of putting in the time to do hard work like that because I loved seeing our work at Coachella grow from Monday morning when I showed up where it was almost an empty field to what it is now. Every second of the build process has been really incredible for me. What’s been really special about this time though is the family vibe that I get from The Do LaB. I was totally taken under their wing and not just by one specific person but the entire crew from day one.”

“Our core guys have been around for many years now and we’re all getting tired because this is exhausting,” added Josh Flemming. “But guys like Felipe and Nick, they come in and have this fresh energy and it helps keep things going because they aren’t burned out. Not to say the older guys aren’t working as hard, but it really helps to have new energy involved because it keeps the excitement and spirits of everybody up. Plus, I like to show them stuff and teach them how to do things so they can learn. Some of these guys are going out on tour now with big artists like Skrillex and Amon Tobin and I have no doubt that it’s because of a lot of the skills that we’ve learned together.”

Photo by Angela Marshall.

The Do LaB Team Bonds Through Hard Work to Become Family

The build process for Coachella takes a tremendous amount of planning and hard work, but it also serves as a very special time for The Do LaB team to come together as a true family.

“Coachella is always our time to reconnect and bond because when we get to LIB, there’s so many things going on in all the different departments because it’s our festival,” explained Holly Fess Johnson, who is a longtime member of The Do LaB team and is also married to Jupit3r.  “But here it’s our core family that’s out working together. It’s a great bonding time because you could come to Coachella and just party, but you’ll never get the experience of having the pride in what you’ve created. You look around over the weekend at anyone who was part of this build and there’s just a knowing smile of ‘We made this.’”

“I love our time at Coachella because I can look at our soundboard structure and it’s like, ‘Holly and I painted that together,’” added Cristina Urioste, another longtime member of The Do LaB team. “Everybody contributes little bits to make the overall project what it is and every little detail is so vitally important. We all leave our mark here and there. If something breaks during the festival, we all come to the rescue. It’s like this baby that we’re all nurturing together.”

Photo by Nicole Smith.

Teamwork at its Finest

The initial Coachella concepts comes from The Do LaB’s principle designers, Josh Flemming and Heather Shaw. However, in order to make their vision become a reality, each and every member of the team is counted on. They put in the most time on the field building and the team was still going strong right up until the gates opened. Despite the many challenges that arose, there was never any dissension and everyone worked together to keep spirits high.

“Over the years we’ve been very fortunate enough to assemble a great team of people that are very skilled in their specific areas of expertise,” said Jesse Flemming. “They all know the quality of work that we intend to deliver in the end. They know if they don’t do it right the first time around, we’re going to say ‘Take it down and redo it.’ Everybody knows to do the best job possible and it’s pretty amazing to me that we don’t need to run around and micro-manage and yell at people. Everybody wants to deliver the best end result just like we do, so that goes a long way.”

“We are all parts and I’m proud to be an important cog in the wheel of The Do LaB,” said Urioste. “It’s not like there’s a boss. It’s about building a community and the sharing of ideas to really come to a conclusion of what works the best. We are a team that brings all of our skills together and that’s why there’s no real conflict because we’re all open to each other’s ideas. At the same time, they’ve believed in me and given me the freedom to create the Lumi Cafe at LIB, so they put people in the positions where they can shine brightest. They’re encouraging all of us to accentuate our skills and we’ve all worn many creative hats.”

“A lot of things during the build process you’ve never done before,” explained Holly. “Last year I was rigging and up on a harness. But that’s the fun of it because you get to do and learn things you might never get to otherwise. It’s all about getting things done as safely and as quickly as possible. It’s great because the guys are really willing to teach us too. They need a hand and ours are as good as anybody else’s. We all want each other to excel and be proud of what we do.”

“When one sets their mind to something, you can really do anything,” added Aaron Gautschi, who has been a part of The Do LaB since the very beginning. “To me in this group what I find so beautiful is that it’s a very unified community where we all come together to make this happen. But it takes serious dedication and a lot of hard work.”

8 Great Years At Coachella

Over the course of our relationship with Coachella, The Do LaB has grown considerably as a company due to the unwavering trust that the festival has instilled in us to continue to push creative boundaries. No matter what happens in the future, it is a bond that The Do LaB will cherish as the learning experience accrued during these builds has been directly carried over to LIB.

“This relationship with Coachella goes back eight years, so it’s a pretty strong bond that we have together,” said Dede Flemming. “They’ve put a lot of trust and faith in what we do and provide for them. They know what structure we’re going to build and that’s the extent of it. They don’t know what else we’re going to do but they trust that we’re going to do it well. The experience building out here has really launched our company to where it is today. It’s given Josh the creative freedom to really shine as a designer as there’s no limit to what he can do, because we can make it happen for Coachella and they support us in that venture. It’s given Jesse an amazing opportunity to book a music lineup inside one of the world’s best festivals. It’s given me an opportunity to work with the producers of one of the biggest festivals in the world and learn from those guys. So we’ve taken these new skills that we’ve picked up and put them right back into LIB. Although our festivals are very different, a lot of the same skillsets that we needed to produce LIB have come from the knowledge we’ve absorbed from having done Coachella over the last eight years.”

“Coachella has really been a great opportunity for us,” added Jesse Flemming. “It’s brought a lot of us closer together and given us all an amazing project to work on and show people that come to the festival what is possible if you work hard and put your mind to something. We’ve been really fortunate to be able to show a lot of younger kids a more creative lifestyle and way of living. Over the years, we’ve seen that inspire a ton of people to start living their lives in a different way. In the beginning and still now, that’s why we do this.”

The Do LaB would like to thank everyone on our team who helped to make our eighth build at Coachella so special! We’d also want to thank the festival for continuing to allow us to express our creativity in exciting new ways as well as all those beautiful people who have attended over the years! Be sure to stop by our areas this weekend, and enjoy the space, the music, and even get cooled off by our giant misting canons.

Big LOVE to our crew, we did it!

Have you spent time at our structures and music stage at Coachella over the years? Please share your favorite memories in the comment section below!

More photos from Week 1: 

More photos from Week 2:

Check out all the photos in our Facebook album from Week 1 and Week 2 and be sure to tag your friends! 

Want more Do LaB & Coachella stories? Check our blog for last year’s story and a full year by year recap since 2005, along with 2 videos from last year below:

Photos by: Watchara

Words by: @DukeDuRock

Alex “Paper Diamond” Botwin has been on a meteoric rise since he stormed our Coachella stage last year, and the Colorado-based producer has been captivating crowds while touring non-stop ever since. He recently embarked on his first West Coast headlining tour, “Tiger Style,” and brought his brand-new, visual-heavy live show to a sold-out King King in Hollywood alongside touring partner and budding star Minnesota, plus Los Angeles favorite DJ Rad!

“This is my first time headlining on the West Coast,” Botwin said shortly before the show. “We’re really glad to be back here in L.A., but to come to a place like King King with The Do LaB and sell it out is unbelievable. I’m very grateful to be able to come here and play the music that I’ve been working so hard on.

“I know it’s going to be an amazing night because we got my boy Minnesota with me and he’s absolutely killing it out there right now,” Botwin added. “I believe the reason people are coming out in full-force is that we have a proper show for everybody. But this is a big one for us, so we’re pulling out all the stops for tonight!”

Minnesota Turns Heads During Los Angels Debut

Kicking off the night were the roaring beats of DJ Rad! who wasted no time in showing the packed dance floor that they were in for some serious bass music. After DJ Rad! properly got the party started, he gave way to Christian Bauhofer, better known by his production alias, Minnesota, much to the crowd’s delight. The Santa Cruz-based producer/DJ may have only started producing his own music a mere two years ago, but his melodic, hip-hop infused style of booming bass music has drawn comparisons to his musical inspirations MartyParty, Bassnectar and MiM0SA.

“A lot of his earlier stuff is very psychedelic and melodic and that’s kinda what I latched onto,” said Bauhofer of the apt comparisons to his good friend Tigran MiM0SA. “He’s probably been one of my biggest influences. I just try to play a good balance of the really melodic stuff but also some super heavy stuff as well so you can party.”

Minnesota delivered a standout set that melded musical genres into a bass-heavy brew that included a particularly nasty remix of Notorious B.I.G’s classic “Gimme the Loot” that had the at capacity dance floor worked into a sweaty, chanting frenzy. Bauhofer has quickly found a style all his own in a relatively short amount of time, but by taking part in the Paper Diamond tour, he has been learning a lot from a producer who was in a similar position only a year ago.

“When Alex did the whole transition to Paper Diamond it was cool to see because he did it perfectly,” Bauhofer explained. “During the last year he’s really got his name out there and it’s definitely been inspiring for me. To be on tour with him and see his new live sets, he really takes the crowd to another level, so I’m learning a lot from doing this.”

Much like Paper Diamond last year, Bauhofer is looking forward to making his Coachella debut at The Do LaB stage as well as playing this year’s Lightning in a Bottle Festival.

“I’m really excited for Coachella because I know a lot of people are going to roll into The Do LaB’s stage setup with no idea about this kind of music because that was me in 2009,” said Bauhofer. “But just the chance to play for the crowd that The Do LaB brings out is an honor. If it wasn’t for this community I probably wouldn’t be making the kind of music that I am.”

Paper Diamond Returns with Eye-Popping Live Set

Artists like Paper Diamond and Minnesota are part of a core group of young producers who know how to properly build a set from start to finish, relying on ample melody without playing non-stop bangers. Paper Diamond came armed with a set of all-new music and exclusive remixes, where each track offered a different twist and tempo. The constant was speaker-shaking bass lines and shimmering melodies that run rampant throughout the set, while seamlessly synching up to a spellbinding new light display to make for a powerful audio and visual assault on the dance floor.

“I’m gonna be at every BPM and doing something different, so it’s cool to not stick to those rules that are put upon so many different artists,” Botwin shared. “I’m really doing me right now and that’s exciting. I want people to get real fired up and then I’m going to take them elsewhere into something more ethereal. All of my music is made with the intention to evoke emotion. Different parts of my set I’m trying to evoke different emotions from the dance floor and take people on a journey that’s not just banger after banger.”

New Projects in 2012

Despite his busy year, Paper Diamond doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. His live show will continue to evolve as work with designers and illustrators is underway. He’s also preparing 2 new EPs, plus he recently shot a music video in New Orleans and even has hit the recording studio with hip-hop icon Manny Fresh. It’s all a massive change from this same time last year, but Botwin is embracing all his exciting new endeavors.

“I’m still developing as an artist in many ways but I feel like I have experience in certain things now and I’m using that to really hone in on a sound which is general enough that I can make any genre of music,” Botwin shared. Right now with what I’m making, I’m just getting so much enjoyment out of it. The fans are reacting positively and I feel like everything is coming together. I’ve been a musician for my entire life, but I’ve only been doing this Paper Diamond thing since January of last year and it’s been more fun and the craziest progression since then.”

“I want to thank The Do LaB and anyone who comes out to support these shows,” added Botwin. “The Do LaB has always been very supportive of me and all my musical endeavors. They are a great group of people helping artists achieve their dreams. I feel like I’m living my dream life and The Do LaB has helped me get there, so I’m very grateful for that.”

The Do LaB would like to thank Paper Diamond, Minnesota and DJ Rad! for a big-time night of bass music, along with everyone who came out and made the energy so strong. Be sure to catch Paper Diamond on tour and don’t miss seeing Minnesota perform on The Do LaB’s stage at Coachella and at this year’s Lightning in a Bottle as well!

See all the photos from the show in our Facebook album.

Did you attend this sold-out show? Tell us your favorite part of the night in the comment section below!

Stream, download and share the news about this music below!

Bassnectar – Vava Voom

Bassnectar’s new offering has already hit the top of the iTunes charts, and we are very excited for our dear friend, and long time music mastermind for having such a successful album release. Besides being one of the hardest working artists we’ve met, he’s also dedicated much of his energy towards important social causes, and we’re proud to help him spread the message!

Stream the new album on his website!

Check out Bassnectar’s new video below.

Jupit3r – Capitol Rhino

Jupit3r has been our friend and a part of The Do LaB for years, and in fact he has performed at Lightning in a Bottle since the beginning. He continues to forge new ground in defining his unique sound. You can see Jupit3r at our stage at Coachella and at Lightning in a Bottle.

We invite you to dive into his new album available exclusively here. 

The Human Experience - The Art of the Way

This new offering from The Human Experience is surely to satisfy fans of the talented composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. We recommend you keep your hears tuned to what this young artist is doing and along with Bassnectar and Jupit3r, catch him at Lightning in a Bottle.

Pay what you want for his new album here or stream it below.

The Do LaB and Pocket Underground present the final Woogie Nights before Lightning in a Bottle featuring Pumpkin, Wobs, Whiskey & Tequila (Joplin & Erik Nelson) and Ryan Orey at King King on Friday, April 27th. Discount tickets are now on sale. 

PUMPKIN

Pumpkin isn’t bound by genre, tempo or playing the latest, hottest tracks. Instead, he finds a familiar thread in songs from multiple genres, styles, and eras, weaving them into a sound that is all his own. Equally at home in a dark warehouse, a packed nightclub, or sunrise at an outdoor festival, Pumpkin is a master at reading the crowd and adjusting his unique selection to turn any dance floor into a big ol’ puddle of lovesauce.

Listen to Pumpkin’s latest music on Soundcloud below:

WOBS

Never one to fall prey to the trends of the day, Wobs has forged a name for himself by sticking true to the formula of playing music that he loves. His signature blend of deep and funky tech house have earned him a well respected reputation in Southern California.

Listen to Wobs live at LIB 2011 below:

WHISKEY & TEQUILA (Joplin & Erik Nelson)

With an unusual and intriguing musical upbringing– spanning Bluegrass to Rock, Classical to Jazz and Punk to modern day Electronic, Joplin’s musical style can truly be called eclectic. For the last 12 years, she has been mainly recognized for her deep and funky House grooves, but her more recent repertoire extends far beyond to include Afro-Latin-jazz and Blues influenced Downtempo, Nu Disco, Broken Beat and Funk.

Starting in the misty past of the last century, Erik Nelson was taken to a party that he rather enjoyed, which started a habit of having way too much fun dancing to really loud music in unlikely places. More than a decade after first getting behind the decks, he’s still at it, now as part of F.A.M.I.L.Y., and as a frequent guest of the Shade day parties. Most of what he plays now falls somewhere in the giant and wonderful family tree of House music, and while exactly which branch depends on where and when, basslines are always key, funk is essential, and a little melody now and then never hurt anyone.

Listen to Joplin live at LIB 2011 below:

Listen to Eric’s latest music and mixes on Soundcloud below: 

RYAN OREY

Being musically influenced is an understatement when it comes to San Diego native Ryan Orey; it’s a lifestyle. His sound can be closely related to the likes of Subb-an, No Artificial Colours, and Gorge. Ryan is at the forefront of deep and tech house in San Diego, and there’s no telling what the future holds for this determined Jungle animal.

Listen to a recent mix from Ryan on Soundcloud below:

The Details…

Friday, April 27th, 2012

9pm-3am

Venue: King King

6555 Hollywood Blvd., 

Los Angeles 90028

*entrance is through the parking lot in the back

This event is 21+

We’ll see you on the dance floor very soon!

Photos by: Watchara Phomicinda 

Words by: @DukeDuRock

Nobody does live electronic music quite like EOTO, who once again reminded us of this fact during their recent standout show at the El Rey Theater. The immensely talented duo of Jason Hann and Michael Travis were joined by the equally progressive sounds of Bluetech and Pumpkin, plus beautiful live painting from Radhika Hersey and Tony Koehl, to make for a full sensory concert experience that won’t be forgotten by those who attended anytime soon.

“We’ve been anticipating this one for awhile,” shared Hann shortly before the band took to the stage. “Its been about 1 1/2 years since we played our own show in L.A and I’ve been thinking about the El Rey for awhile now because I really like this theater. But man, the lineup that The Do LaB put together is unbelievable. It’s great to have a night with a lot of variety in it because you don’t get that all the time.”

Pumpkin Gets the Party Started

Nick “Pumpkin” Alvarado continues to show that he’s one of the most adaptable producers in the game as his opening set offered further proof that he can be slotted anywhere on a lineup and sequence a sublime set from start to finish.

“I had an absolute blast,” Pumpkin said after arguably playing one of his finest DJ sets since last year’s Lightning in a Bottle Festival. “It was great how quickly the room filled up, and I feel proud of the set I delivered. Plus, I was so honored to open for Bluetech, who played an amazing set with a bunch of new material.”

Bluetech Premieres New Music

Following Pumpkin’s genre-smashing opening salvo, Bluetech stepped up and delivered a standout set of all original music, including 45 minutes of fresh material that had previously never been heard before. His trademark deep, intoxicating melodies, bass and beats made it seem as though you were submerged in the deepest part of the ocean.

“I feel like it went really well and I definitely played a bunch of new stuff that I’m really proud of,” proclaimed Bluetech shortly after his live set concluded. “If I’m doing my job right, I’m bringing the audience to a new place. The more diverse the crowd is, the more I feel that I have room to spread my creative wings and touch people.”

EOTO Takes Live Improvisation to the Next Level 

By the time EOTO took their place in a custom-built, Lotus stage, the crowd was roaring in anticipation. They were left awe-struck once the band began playing and the stage became illuminated by beautiful video-mapped images that seamlessly synched up to EOTO’s ever-changing sounds.

“When we were building it, my idea was that it needs to look beautiful whether there’s video mapping on it or not,” explained Zebbler, EOTO’s exceptional VJ. “I’m pretty proud of it on that level and it also makes it feel like the band is floating in a spaceship with magical musical capabilities.”

“I really love and admire these guys,“ Zebbler added of working with EOTO. “Just the fact that they improvise every time out is so meaningful to me and they are such nasty musicians being from The String Cheese Incident. They are probably one of the hardest working bands in show business.

EOTO captivated the El Rey audience with their trademark improvised performance style, weaving through a dizzying array of different music genres in the process. The band were so fired up by the crowd, they continued to jam out even after the lights came on.

“They play 300 shows a year and never cease to surprise me,” shared the band’s production and current tour manager, Megan Sabella. “EOTO’s sound is constantly evolving and it’s kind of hard to put your finger on it. Seeing EOTO perform is a nonstop dance party and the fact that each show is always different makes it something truly special.”

The Do LaB would like to thank EOTO, Bluetech and Pumpkin for a remarkable night of live music, along with everyone who came out to support it, plus the inspired painting of Radhika Hersey and Tony Koehl.

Click here to download EOTO’s incredible live set from this show.

What did YOU think of this show? Share your personal highlights from this special night in the comment section below!

See all the photos from the event in our Facebook album.

Join us for our upcoming events:

Week 1

LUCENT DOSSIER EXPERIENCE / CHRISB. / CHRISTIAN MARTIN / DAVID STARFIRE / DERU / GLADKILL / GOLDRUSH / HOPSCOTCH / IDIOT SAVANT / INSPIRED FLIGHT / JOBOT / JUPIT3R / KRADDY / MACHINEDRUM / NASTYNASTY / NIT GRIT / PATRICIO / PUMPKIN / R/D / RUSS LIQUID / SALVA / SAMMY BLISS / STEPHAN JACOBS / SUGARPILL / TWO FINGERS / WORTHY

Set Times (Weekend 1)

Friday, April 13th

11:30  Patricio

1:05     jobot

2:05     ChrisB.

3:05     GoldRush

4:05     Russ Liquid

5:05     Gladkill

6:05     Jupit3r

7:05     Sugarpill                              

8:05     Lucent Dossier Experience

11:00   Stephan Jacobs

12:15    Lucent Dossier Experience

Saturday, April 14th 

11:30   Sammy Bliss

1:15     idiot Savant

2:30     Worthy

3:45     Christian Martin

5:00     Pumpkin

6:45     Machinedrum

8:00     Lucent Dossier Experience

8:45     Two Fingers

10:20   Lucent Dossier Experience

12:30   Patricio

Sunday, April 15th

11:55   Hopscotch     

12:55   Inspired Flight           

1:55     Deru

2:55     Salva

3:55     NitGriT

4:55     David Starfire

5:55     R/D

7:40     NastyNasty

8:40     KRADDY

9:40     Lucent Dossier Experience

11:50   Empire Strikes Back!

Week 2

LUCENT DOSSIER EXPERIENCE / DAVID SATORI / DOV / EL PAPACHANGO / GENO COCHINO / GRIZ / ILL-ESHA / IMAGIKA / JEREMY SOLE / JUPIT3R / LOVE & LIGHT / LOWRIDERZ (AN-TEN-NAE & DJ LAURA) / LYNX / MARLEY CARROLL / MINNESOTA / NATASHA KMETO / OSCURE / PATRICIO / QUADE / RUFF HAUSER / SAQI / SHAWNA / SIDECAR TOMMY

Set Times (Weekend 2)

Friday, April 20th

12:00   Quade

1:20     Natasha Kmeto

2:35     Geno Cochino

3:50     Marley Carroll

5:05     David Satori

6:35     Patricio           

8:05     Lucent Dossier Experience

11:00   Jupit3r           

12:15   Lucent Dossier Experience

Saturday, April 21st     

1:15     ill-esha

2:30     SaQi

3:45     Jeremy Sole

5:00     Shawna

6:15     Sidecar Tommy

8:00     Lucent Dossier Experience

8:45     Lowriderz

10:20   Lucent Dossier Experience

12:30   Empire Strikes Back!

Sunday, April 22nd

12:00   Ruff Hauser   

1:15     Dov    

2:25     Oscure

3:35     Imagika

4:45     Griz

5:55     LYNX

7:40     Love & Light

8:45     Minnesota

9:50     Lucent Dossier Experience

Get to know the artists by subscribing to our playlist on Spotify.

The Do ArT Foundation will also be featuring live art by Codak during both weekends.

Can’t wait for Coachella? Enjoy these awesome videos from our adventures last year and get ready to do it bigger than ever this April!

Click here to get the full story about The Do LaB at Coachella in 2011.

Click here for a brief history of The Do LaB’s work at Coachella from 2005-2010.

Video by: Smash LeFunk

Photos by: Wobs and Smash LeFunk

Words By: @DukeDuRock

Last week The Do LaB welcomed back one of our favorite music producers, Doug “Emancipator” Appling, who brought his current West Coast tour to town for a sold-out show at King King. Appling couldn’t have hand-picked two better producers to bring along for the ride with Shigeto and Marley Carroll, who both captivated the crowd by combining electronic music with live instrumentation.

“These guys are great,” said Shigeto shortly before his set. “I enjoy being paired with groups that are incorporating different sounds, especially more organic elements like how Marley has his live vocals, Emancipator has Ilya Goldberg on violin and then I’ve got my drums.”

He added, “I get labeled as a DJ a lot. I’ll be playing a laptop set one night when I don’t have my drum kit and somebody will be like, ‘Hey, do you have any of this…’ so it gets pretty tiring after awhile. But when I’m with Emancipator and Marley, the crowd can see that we’re bringing something extra to the stage.”

Marley Carroll & Shigeto Impress With Live Performances

Marley Carroll started the night by turning a lot of heads with his beautiful original music, where his pleasant vocals combine with well-produced IDM beats to make for a sound that’s all his own.

Shigeto’s set offered up a much different vibe then those heard on his records for Ghostly International. The New Yorker raised the collective energy level of the King King up by infusing his music with his impressive live percussion skills, as hip-hop beats gave way to jazzy flourishes and each passing song offered the audience something distinctly different from what had just preceded it.

“Tonight’s cool because I feel that electronic music in general is almost headed in reverse,” explained Shigeto. “At the beginning we were trying to mimic acoustic instruments with electronics and then we were trying to make alien-esque sounds that were impossible to create with organic instruments. Now we’re taking organic instruments and trying to re-interpret those back into the electronics.”

Inviting Audience Welcomes New Sounds

The capacity crowd proved eager to hear some proper downtempo music as they came out to support these three exceptional artists in enthusiastic fashion.

“This show is great because I love downtempo and more chill kind of music,” shared concert attendee Jed Justin Gumiran. “It’s more listenable to me throughout the day. I can’t cook my eggs to Dubstep.”

“I feel like I’m painting about dreaming tonight,” shared the evening’s live painter, Ceci Castelblanco. “We’re all going to be experiencing something beautiful together.”

“I love breaks, funk and booty bass for my party music,” added concertgoer Dub Steph. “But what I love about shows from The Do LaB is that they book artists like Emancipator where there’s just a different element because they’re taking it to the next level with live music.”

Emancipator Entrances With Visual Show & Latest Songs

Emancipator closed out the night by teaming with his frequent collaborator, Ilya Goldberg, who’s live violin stylings added extra emotional resonance to each track. Together they served up for a seamlessly sequenced set which saw plenty of crowd favorites peppered in amongst plenty of fresh tracks from his forthcoming third album. Emancipator’s songs have never sounded better, especially when paired with a stunning new light show, which serves as the perfect visual accompaniment to his sublime sounds.

“It’s always been something that I’ve been thinking about adding,” shared Appling. “I’ve seen other electronic music shows where I’ve really enjoyed the visual element and thought that it added a lot. I knew I could do something like that to compliment my music and the day finally came where we met the right person who was ready to work with us and he’s delivered a lot of dope stuff.”

“For me personally, playing a sold-out show in Los Angeles is really living my dream,” added Goldberg. “These are the sacred moments that keep me going in life. Here it’s the highest energy with the friendliest people, which makes it so much easier to open up and play my music for them. So thanks to all those who come out and support us and those who give us a stage to play on. It’s one of the most important things in my life and I’m very grateful.”

The Do LaB would like to thank Emancipator, Shigeto and Marley Carroll for a magical night of live music, along with the exquisite painting of Ceci Castelblanco and of course all those who attended.

What did YOU think of this show? Share with us your favorite moments from the night in the comment section below!

See all the photos by Wobsarazzi and Smash LeFunk in our Facebook album.

Want to hear more music from these artists? Subscribe to our Spotify playlist:

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