- It's clear where the beat scene lives in Los Angeles. Storied eastside club Airliner, on the outskirts of downtown LA, is pretty much the center of the universe if you're into electronic bass, experimental or futuristic hip-hop. It's been well documented that people line up for hours in Lincoln Heights every Wednesday night for Low End Theory to absorb these sounds through the club's 10,000-watt sound system.
Africa Hitech's recent LA show could have been at the Airliner, or at the very least, the electronic-sympathetic Echo/Echoplex. But, for whatever reason, somebody chose Bardot, a Hollywood club that tends to host swanky, ultra-exclusive hipster parties that often require a secret password or a celeb co-sign to enter. It was immediately evident that the vibe would be quite different from the relaxed atmosphere of the Airliner, where a sea of nodding baseball caps is the norm. As a Low End regular, I felt fairly uneasy walking past the slick bow-tie wearing doorman to enter the venue. So maybe it wasn't that surprising after all that no one showed up for the L.A. stop on Africa Hitech's Surefire Sound tour.
When up-and-coming Alpha Pup rapper/producer JonWayne started his hour-long set, there were seven people in the room. Half an hour later, there were ten, including Flying Lotus. By the end of his slot, roughly 15 people were in the building, most of whom seemed like they were dozing off to sleep, as the venue was lined with plush couches and the lights were so low you could barely see what was happening on the miniature stage.
"It feels like I'm playing to the frozen food section," Wayne said, clearly frustrated. "Get off the sofas, man. You pay to sit on the sofa?" Awkward silence. No one budged. Visual artist OICHO temporarily lightened the mood by integrating the words "Nod Your Heads Ya Sofa Monkys" into his swirling abstract projections. A few people laughed and a couple even clapped, which encouraged Wayne to soldier on.
Africa Hitech—longtime electronic fixtures Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek—hit the stage around midnight, but due to extensive technical difficulties their set was delayed a good twenty minutes. It was all for the best, though. By the time they got started, the space finally started to fill out. (Though, even at the height of the evening, only about forty people were inside at the same time.)
Pritchard and Spacek seemed entirely unaffected by their strange surroundings. For two hours, they seamlessly blended slices from their Warp debut 93 Million Miles with their eclectic influences, paying respects to nearly every innovation in electronic music from London to Detroit in the last several decades. When Hitech got to "Out in the Streets," an audible "MUUUUURDAAAAA" rose from the lips of almost every person standing before them. As with Jonwayne, OICHO took the audio cue as an opportunity to experiment with his visual show and the word appeared in large lettering across the walls of the venue. All in all, it was a great show—too bad no one was there to see it.