Blogarhythms

Although I grew up on the East Coast and reside in New England, I was in-fact born on the West Coast. The hospital where I drew my first breath was actuality not too far from the city of Los Angeles. Over the years since my auspicious birth I’ve been lucky enough to spend time in-and-around the City of Angels now-and-again, giving me the opportunity to develop something of an affinity for it. And while it doesn’t hold the place in my heart that New York does, Los Angeles isn’t too far below Manhattan on my list of favorite American cities.

Underground promoter Andrew Lojero has an affinity for LA too. And in an effort to make you love the city as much as he does he’s collaborated with 16 different LA-based musicians (Madlib, Aloe Blacc, Daedelus, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Flying Lotus, Carlos Niño, Exile, and Free Moral Agents among them) to craft a collection of new-and-unreleased music called From LA With Love. Each track was intended to reflect a different facet of Los Angeles’ underground music scene, and after choosing the tracks Lojero gave them to visual artists who created pieces of art (which appear in the accompanying CD booklet) inspired by the songs. Sadly, the promo-copy of the CD I have only has a single-sheet cover, not the fancy retail packaging. So I can’t say much about the art, but I can tell you about the music.

Fittingly enough for a record dedicated to the City of Angels, my favorite track comes courtesy of a group called A Race of Angels. I became acquainted with them, and their brand of soulful, electronic Folk music, through their self-released 2005 LP Broadcast No. 1, which happened to be one of my favorite albums that year. Their entry here is a somber Jazz ballad called “Just Begin,” which evokes a more orchestral take on the early work of Gil Scott-Heron, and has me anticipating their sophomore album Eusebea even more.

Georgia Anne Muldrow offers another noteworthy cut, a vocoder-laden Futuresoul number called “Killa Peach” with skull-crushing drums and robotic blips and bleeps. While Daedelus (billed as Adventure Time) surprises with a freaky sample-collage turned trippy minimal House jam on “This Dome is Our Home.” Following that is a baroque beatbox-constructed dirge called “Goodbye” from Nathan Yell, alias Aloe Blacc. Elsewhere, producer Computer Jay and vocalist The Gray Kid deliver “1000 Fold,” a smooth-but-robotic Soultronica track decked-out with kaleidoscopic synths, sputtering drum-machine beats and heavy bass.

Additionally, beatsmiths Flying Lotus and Exile contribute glitchy, neck-snap-inducing instrumentals, while Take (featuring vocalist Gaby Hernandez), Free Moral Agents (featuring Mars Volta’s Ikey Owens) and Nobody (featuring Blank Blue) dispense soulful, downtempo Electronica, progressive Rock, and Psyche/Soul fusion respectively. But the disc as a whole, which encompasses the entirety of the urban musical diaspora, is fantastic from beginning-to-end, without a bit of filler. And if I wasn’t already yearning to visit the City of Angels again, this snapshot of the city’s musical underground might go a long way towards convincing me I should.

-El Keter