Lightning In A Bottle Music Line-up A-Z: Eprom, Eskmo, François K

Eprom is a San Francisco producer respected by his fellow artists.  He collaborated with Boreta from Glitch Mob.  He has recorded and released tracks on numerous labels around the world.  

Reading Eprom's bio in his press kit I was really curious if it was just creative wordsmithing or if there was something to it.  Crunchy? Mutated? Neurocrunk? Well the first word that was proved out was experimental.  This is definitely the music of the new generation.  It sounds like nothing from the past or from the current mainstream.  So many different elements piled on top of each other.  There was on track that did have the twisted flavor of something from centuries past but the emphasis is on twisted.  I'll be honest, this is not my steez at all but I have to give this artist cred for true creativity, ingenuity and innovation.  Eprom thinks way outside the box and does not allow himself to be boxed in by traditional definitions of music.  This is what art is about and so I hope there is a lot more to come.  I imagine attendees of LIB who are into electronic soundscapes or looking for something really new will be hanging out for this producer's set.

Eskmo could not have worked out better in my alphabetical run-down as Brendan Angelides has collaborated with Eprom.  Eskmo is a very prolific Los Angeles producer who has released numerous EPs, singles and LPs.  

The first tracks I listened to were the one done with Eprom.  Their styles are very complimentary.  Continuing to Brendan's solo creations, I feel his more grand, yet smooth sounds balance out Eprom's more compact and staccato ones.  I find Eskmo is more "dancey" and include some traditional instrument sounds that I like.   If we're going to talk overall creative eye and being able to pick great fine art to grace the covers of his recordings, Eskmo's choice of working with Trek Matthews art for "Languages" and "Earth and Words" is brilliant.  Thank you Brenda for adding another new fine artist to my list of favorites.   

François K according to his Wiki is a Frenchman who migrated to New York City in 1975.  He has some pretty impressive roots in the NYC scene having his name associated with Studio 54, the disco icon that will go down in history for the very, very good and worst of the worst but still iconic.  He is a bit of a patriarch in electronica.  He has been inducted into the Dance Music Hall Of Fame and remains a prolific studio recording engineer and live performer.

Francois K's top tracks on Spotify are all over 7 minutes long so you have time to really immerse yourself in them.  I definitely heard and felt the earliest elements of electronic music in these recordings.  This producer is leaving a legacy for the up and comers.  He is teaching them about their history.  Francois' also takes classic modern genres such as hip-hop, reggae and pop and intergrates them flawlessly with digital elements. Where Eprom is where 21st Century music is going, Francois K is where it came from.  For nostalgia sake I will surely drop by his performance at LIB to reclaim my own history.

Of course I'm going to remind you all to check out these artists' official websites, social network presences including places like SoundCloud.  I found all three this time on Spotify.  Drop in and woogie with the Do-ers at Coachella this weekend.  Visit LIB's site to order your tickets and buy some merch.  Let's have fun.

Round 3 of the LIB music line-up Blockhead, Cameron Angeli, Cari Lekebusch

Blockhead hails from my neck of the woods.  A real-life Manhattan guy.  His self-written bio on his Facebook proves his NYC street cred not only in the other DJ's he's worked with and music he has produced and recorded but just in his lingo.

The first track I listened to was from "Music By Cavelight" call "Insomniac Olympics" which sampled the Olympic theme.  It was an interesting combination of beats and instrumentals.  Then I switched over to his current album, "Interludes After Midnight".  I gotta say that this is more innovative than what I would think of when I hear the term hip-hop.  Blockhead does some really cool things with looped both sung and spoken vocals.  At some points it's more trip-hop.  I think I'd find myself use this more as background music for a late morning wind down before lunch.

Cameron Angeli  is part of a collective of "Music Savages, whose website peaked my curiosity the minute I got to the homepage and one of the buttons was "moustaches".  There's an official moustache archivist-Javier. But lets get to the music. Cameron is from L.A.  Went to college in Santa Barbara and majored in physics after discovering his talent for music.  But his science degree turned into a TV job back in Hollywood where he also continued his journey into the DJ world...something he was doing on the side in college.

You have to go to Reverbnation to listen to some of his tracks.  But that's ok.  There's a link from his page.  I found them all kind of ambient.  Not in a bad way just mellow.  Something to create to or have on the pod while reading.  He's right when Cameron says he doesn't spin a genre but a style.  Definitely a very signature sound.

Cari Lekebusch will be traveling to LIB from Stockholm.  His bio refers to him as a sound architect.  He has built and created these sounds with many of the big names in the Swedish techno world.  Cari heads up another collective he calls H-Productions which has a pretty lengthy roster.

Most of what I listened to is straight-up techno.  Everything is digitally created.  It's not incredibly complex but like other Scandinavian art and design what there is is very beautiful in its simplicity.  It might be something I give a few minutes I my time to just to see how it affects others that stop by to check it out.  This is the first artist so far that I appreciate the art but I'm sure there are others it speaks to more deeply.  But go listen for yourself.  Remember, all art is subjective.

As always, check them all out at their official sites and on Facebook.  Cari and Blockhead have lots of tracks on Spotify and Cameron is on Reverbnation.  And come to LIB to hear all this great music live. www.lightninginabottle.org  and http://thedolab.com/