Tag: low end theory
Low End Theory: 10 Years of Music At The Airliner Bar In L.A.
Danny Baraz
September 30, 2016
Driving up the 110 freeway past Dodger Stadium, my friend Liz turns the music down for a minute and asks, “Exactly where is Lincoln Heights?” It seemed odd to me that she didn’t know but I guess not everyone in LA. has partied at The Poor Kids Mansion for their legendary back yard punk rock/thrash metal parties. Most L.A. folks haven’t driven up Broadway on a Wednesday night to hit up the Low End Theory at it’s home at The Airliner bar and that’s how I like it. Lame free Lincoln Heights is in a part of Los Angeles that has only just begun to feel the effects of gentrification even as I begin to realize that 10 years from now, Lincoln Heights might be virtually unrecognizable. Like the face of a little old lady in Beverly Hills, you can always tell on the first glance that this ain’t the original coat of paint. In the last 10 years, Low End Theory not only restored the former glory of the beatmakers and b-boys in L.A., but it saved the starving children around the world from the lack of nutritional value in EDM. related: Low End Theory Festival Wobbles the Shrine Auditorium
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Annual Low End Theory Festival Spreads L.A. Wildfire Into Shrine Auditorium
Danny Baraz
July 25, 2016
A radioactive, orange, spherical fiery orb in the sky hung just below a thick, impenetrable blanket of ash and dust from the sand fires burning the Angeles National Forrest, just 30 miles outside of Los Angeles. The distant wild fire choked my lungs and burned my eyes as I navigated the streets of South L.A. to enter the Shrine Auditorium for the third annual Low End Theory Festival in 2016. But even with the safety of distance from the flames, the most important beat collective in the world gets LIT af everytime they get together to dance and blaze and spark the imagination by pushing the envelope of sound, rhythm and rhyme. Whether you are a regular at Low End Theory’s home base on Wednesday’s at The Airliner in Lincoln Heights or you attended the festival because Wu-tang MC’s Ghostface Killah and Raekwon were at the top of the bill, you were a part of a movement that is shaping the future of music. It was clear, immediately, that attendance was down from the previous year’s sold out festival but it is no commentary on any type of waning influence. Last year, Low End Theory booked widely respected and beloved cross
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The Gaslamp Killer Leaves Blood on Questlove’s Stage at The Globe
Danny Baraz
February 25, 2016
On Saturday night, music and cultural icon Questlove was slated to headline the Globe Theatre in Downtown L.A. Ticket sales were surely based on his name and legacy but when everything was said and done, opening DJ, Low End Theory resident and beat ambassador The Gaslamp Killer left a pool of his own blood on stage. Attendees were splattered with digital plasma and the image of the Killer’s wild mane flopping around his face in wild, rhythmic spasms and gesticulations was something to behold. Sound issues plagued the end of The Gaslamp Killer’s time and delayed and shortened Questlove’s set to the point of being anti climatic. Questlove was able to recover with most of the audience in tact. During GLK I just thought to myself maybe this wasn’t a dancing crowd but the dancing during Questlove’s set showed me it just wasn’t an experimental crowd. I have always been resistant to the idea of putting a DJ on a big stage with a big spotlight shining on him/her. In a perfect world, DJ’s would be in a dark corner and we would be looking at each other or closing our eyes during their set. As I looked up into
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Low End Theory Festival Wobbles The Shrine Auditorium
Danny Baraz
August 12, 2015
When The Gaslamp Killer commandeered the decks at The Shrine for his set at Low End Theory Festival, I instantly started peaking. The interesting thing about that is that I wasn’t on any drugs. Something about how the visuals on the screen behind him were synched to the music in his set wobbled my eyeballs and made me question reality. That is what good art is all about. When Low End Theory convened for the very first time at The Airliner in Lincoln Heights on a random Wednesday in 2006, there is no way founders could’ve predicted how far reaching it would become. Even as dreamers dream, the reality of the waking hours and empty rooms is a deterrent that slows most people into a “it wasn’t meant to be” mind frame. But even the inconceivable becomes a minor afterthought when all you care about is shaking walls and windows and the impulse to entertain yourself and your friends as much as entertaining strangers. The second annual Low End Theory Festival at The Shrine Auditorium this past Saturday was a far cry from the empty rooms of the Airliner 9 years ago. 5000 people packed The Shrine to pay homage
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