Word by: Justin Gillett | Images by: Dave Vann
1320 Records Showcase :: 04.01.10 :: Temple :: San Francisco, CA
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Six years after its inception, Sound Tribe Sector 9‘s 1320 Records has grown into a reliable source for fans of methodically produced electronica from fresh up and coming artists. The label has started holding events around the country to showcase regional acts from the 1320 family. The first of these shindigs was recently held in San Francisco and featured performances from some of 1320′s California talent.
STS9 keyboardist David Phipps started things off with a mellow solo piano performance, which provided a nice opportunity to see the musician experiment with things he might not play in STS9. Creating ethereal tones set to melodic grooves and soft percussion accompaniment (courtesy of his laptop), Phipps’ downtempo set was easily the least boisterous performance of the evening, though it was tasteful entrance music for an evening full of electro-banger style beats.
Serving as MC for the event, STS9 bassist David Murphy kept the music flowing during set breaks and helped create a schmooze friendly vibe at the club. The event definitely gave musicians and fans a chance to interact with each other, and the mixer atmosphere provided an alternative, more casual experience than a typical concert.
Showcasing some of the label’s burgeoning talent was the main goal of the evening, and this objective was quickly achieved when SoCal-based duo Virtual Boy took the stage. Comprised of Henry Allen and Preston Walker, two students in their early twenties who met while attending Chapman University’s Conservatory of Music in Orange County, Virtual Boy represent an entirely modernistic approach to electronic composition with a high energy stage show to boot. The pair’s set pitted elements of live composition (synths, keyboards and electric guitar) against pre-programmed, laptop generated tracks, which created a rather original form of cutting-edge dance music. With a fervid stage presence, both Allen and Walker fed off the collective energy of the crowd and affirmed their worth as some of 1320′s preeminent talent.
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When Virtual Boy’s set ended, both Allen and Walker stayed onstage and geared up for their performance with the Nalepa Dub Orchestra. Comprised of electronic mad scientist Steve Nalepa and students from his “Principals of Music Technology” class at Chapman, the Orchestra is a musical entity that grows and shrinks from show to show, depending on the availability of the musicians. With laptops, keyboards, electric guitar, and cello (!), the clan of musicians tore through a set that was heavy and beat driven but also melodic and ambient. Blending elements of organic composition with hard-lined electronic beats is territory a lot of musicians are venturing into these days, but Nalepa Dub Orchestra proved it’s one of the groups leading the charge. Closing out its set with “Monday (Glitch Mob Remix),” the Orchestra turned the dance floor into an amalgamation of moving bodies, and the tune undoubtedly left a strong, lasting impression on the audience.
After a set from the San Francisco-based multi-media project Savage Henry, local electro hooligans The Flying Skulls took the stage and brought some intense PA sounds to a crowd that was acting rather sprightly for 2 a.m. With two guys manning synths and keyboards, another concentrating solely on percussion (via an MCP 1000), and the group’s ringleader J. Tonal adding layers of nuance through a laptop and a few other devices, The Flying Skulls threw down an impressive set of exploratory electronic music. Playing all the music live, the four dudes in the band were able to break down tracks and reconstruct them in a drastically different form than the studio versions, all while maintaining a manic stage show that’s a helluva lot more visually engaging than watching some guy perform solo behind a laptop.
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