Today's three LIB musicians - Gladkill, Goldroom, GRiZ

Gladkill is a native New Yorker who migrated to the other city-by-the-Bay, Oakland where he joined the Headtron collective. Boris Gladkikh's popularity continues to grew since he first started playing out live in 2009. He has booked slots on numerous large music festivals including Coachella.

Let's start with Gladkill's website.  I think he may be one of the many innovators that will usher the industry into new and profitable options.  Gladkill is not the first artist to give music away but in doing so, especially in the environment of a visually beautiful while being well laid out site definitely plants seeds to grow his base.  People come to the site and want to stick around.  They can click on songs in the Soundcloud widget then go read a great bio, look at tour schedules or compose an email.  There is a merch link but the store is not open yet.  It's just a very pleasant experience.  Feeling good about an artist just from their web presence already entices people to pay for a ticket to a show or buy merch and other recordings that are for sale.

As for music?  Fantastic in the fantasy sense.  It feels like a quest through a storybook from the future.  Castles, heroes and villains from some far away planet.  The compositions are "pretty".  I'd want to dress up for Boris's performances in something flowy and maybe put on a pair of wings of some sort.  Then dance the tale being created by the music.  I really like it and will try to experience it in July.

Goldroom or Josh Legg is a Los Angelan who has physically toured the world already.  He has had successful singles that charted and got mentions in major music medium.  He has collaborated with yesterday's heavy hitter, Gigamesh.  His website contains a lot of audio/visual treasures.  The homepage is filled with videos to feast your eyes and ears on.  Before going off on his own as Goldroom, Josh was part of the synth-pop trio, NightWaves.

This music has a soul full of pop.  Besides wicked electronic and instrumental hooks there are sweet vocals that people can surely sing along to, especially cruising down the highway.  This is was I classify as summer music. I imagine a lot of group and couples dancing going on to these tracks.  If its spirit is pop, its heart has an island/beachy beat, one that is most definitely one that requires heads bobbing and bare or sandaled feet doing that little moving around about a 5' circle in the grass or on the sand.  This is pop without apologies.  It is original, well written and performed. Too bad radio doesn't spin good music like this.

GRiZ is just a babe.  Only 21 years old and hailing from the Motor City, this guy is currently in the midst of a U.S. tour before doing the summer festival circuit.  According to his Facebook this is his first time at LIB and he is stoked to come.  Grant Kwiecinski is another artist building his rep by giving away his recordings.  If you visit his site you can download his current record, "Mad Liberation".  Make sure to read Grant's explanation of the album and note the fact that he is humble enough to thank you for listening.  I am impressed when he admits to not having a fancy studio.  The other thing I liked was his statement that he is a "vinyl lover and a people hugger" . Leads me to believe there is a great stripe of humbleness that runs through him.

His music really is, as GRiZ describes, a collection of noise.  But there are melodies and a solid beat working as the bread to hold these sound sandwiches together.  Grant likes to play with all the new buttons and knobs on the deck or in his computer while also throwing in some cool vocal elements that act as flavor enhancing condiments.  His songs are really fun.  I even came across little humorous add ins to make sure you are smiling or even laughing while listening.  I think I'd love some of these tracks as replacements for the ones in Mario Kart.  Especially "Yesterday's Dream" is music to game by.

To all my fellow nerds and geeks, weirdos and freaks doin' the Coachella, don't forget to boogie it at the Woogie with the DoLab crew.  Everyone, if you haven't already, get your tix for LIB and support all the really great arts and artists out there.   Peace.

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.

Lightning In A Bottle music line-up CryWolf, Eduardo Castillo, Emancipator

CryWolf is Justin Taylor Phillips who calls Denver, CO home.  He has joined the electronic music world a year and a half ago and has taken it by storm. He has be recognized by heavy hitters in the genre and been featured in both mainstream music media and better known blogs.  He has been signed by Le Castle Vania's label, Always Never and CryWolf's debut EP dropped today.

This producer mixes original vocals or samples with all manner of musical noises.  Most of the tracks I listened to are real patchwork quilts of sound that result in things you could dance to or just listen to.  Justin has remixed numerous well known pop and alt songs, from Justin Timberlake to The Killers.  There's a lot to listen to on his Soundcloud so you get a pretty clear idea of what you will hear at a live performance.  I think I will stop by his set for at least a taste as I am interested in the pieces he uses to build a track.

Eduardo Castillo is originally from Venezuela but now lives in Los Angeles.  There's not much biographic information on him on his official site or on his Facebook.  However, his SoundCloud is stocked fairly well with music.  Most of what I took quick listens to was very ambient which was nice.  It's soothing and I found piano used a good deal.  Eduardo is another one of those artists that I think anyone would use his music as more of a soundtrack for some activity other than dancing and yet in the same breath, I could see someone doing an intricate hula hoop number to more than one track.

  









Emancipator (Doug Appling) lists both Vienna, VA and Portland, OR as hometowns.  His recorded music was first released in Japan but people who heard it and liked it passed it on to enough other people that the album was released in the U.S. in September of 2009.  His latest LP, "Dusk To Dawn" was released at the end of January of this year.  He is currently touring in Europe and has a full summer schedule, hitting numerous music festivals. Emancipator lists trip-hop, downbeat and electronica as his prominent genres.

My experience listening to the selections posted in the player on his site was very "visual".  These compositions paint very distinct pictures of landscapes, seasons, architecture or will create a "video" in your mind of some scenario.  I found myself wandering through Manhattan or watching a time-lapse of a full year in a deep part of an old forest.  This music is almost tactile.  Smooth and rough, sharp and soft.  For me Doug's music is more inspirational than meditational.  I could see it sparking the creation of other arts, from clothing design to modern ballet.  He is on my must-see list for sure.

Please do you own research on these and all the artists scheduled to be part of LIB. I'm only fourteen artists in to a list of sixty-five and already it has been a journey that has something for just about any taste.  Don't forget to hit up the LIB and DoLab websites along with following them on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest info.  DoLab is hangin' with the desert homies at Coachella this weekend so go find them and Lucent Dossier if you're attending.

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/

LIB music - Andreilien, Black 22s, Blackbird Blackbird

Andreilien (Heyoka) is the first U.S. artist in the A-Z listing for LIB. Andrei Olenev comes from the San Francisco underground first using the moniker HEYOKA.  Andrei was using 'traditional' bass as his jump-off but was distinguishing himself from the production pack by doing a great deal of sonic exploration. His extensive tour schedule involves most of the well known electronica fests along with arts festivals such as Burning Man.

Andreilien will be bringing his magical mixture of digital sounds to LIB where they should induce a lot of movement of the bodies that participate in his sets.  I think I might swing by if I can just to pick out all the great mash-ups of everything from Eastern Indian influences to Reggae to just totally futuristic elements.

Black 22s are L.A. homeboys  J*Labs and Lou E. Bagels.  These guys mix up some seriously fun shit.  Break, electro, NuReggae and NeFunk and with a few pinches of dubstep. Each DJ has their own aesthetic which they combine into dance music infectious and innovative.  They are always striving for the latest and greatest so no two sets are the same.

The second track I listened to, "Strictly Savage" samples Queen in the best way possible.  Black 22s definitely rocked me and rolled me and had me moving.  I really had to fight to move on to listening to other artists I need to be writing about today. I highly recommend following the directions at the beginning this track-"turn it up really loud.  Preferably in a residential area".  By the way, you have to either go to their Facebook or Soundcloud as their tracks are not on Spotify.

Blackbird Blackbird complete today's "three" in A-Z and Mikey Maramag is also a Cali artist, another one from the City by the Bay.  His Facebook page describes the flavor of his music as "folktronica" and it really is.  Being a child of the 60's this has a 21st Century Woodstock sound especially the guitar lines.  It truly is a modern throwback to psychedelic pop.  I tend to classify my music by season and this is really great Summer music.  You could take it for a top-down cruise to the beach or the mountains or have it pumping out of speakers for a surf day followed by a bonfire.

I'd say I'd like to either do my afternoon writing sessions to this music or chilling out after sundown with friends at LIB.  This is such mellow music and without being meditation music, something to destress to.  Definitely something that will also be on my iPod before during and after Lightning In A Bottle.

As always-Google is your friend.  Look up these artists, visit their official sites, Facebooks, Soundclouds and Twitters.  And don't forget to bookmark Lightning In A Bottle for all the latest information on the festival.  For those of you venturing out to Coachella remember to find DoLab and Lucent Dossier.