Earnest Endeavours present Lazer Sword, Tokimonsta, Daedelus and Starkey

Earnest Endeavours present Lazer Sword, Tokimonsta, Daedelus and Starkey

24 February, 2011
by: Lowri

This is the future.

What a line-up. Thanks to Earnest Endeavours, we're collected to hear the work of four incredible American producers: West Coast flavours from the LA-San Francisco family that is Tokimonsta, Daedelus and Lazer Sword – plus Phillidelphia badman Starkey. And it's only a Wednesday.

Tokimonsta's insistent, ethereal, instrumental hip hop is stroking the thighs of the dancefloor. Already it's packed. Gathered in the basement tonight are a collection of music lovers, the riff raff having been cleanly edited by the mid-week reality of tonight's party. Yes, it would be nice to have the option to party all night, but dancing to this kind of futurism among so many appreciative clubbers on a Wednesday feels like it should be a new resolution. You can feel the unanimous sense of good fortune – we know we're lucky to be treated to such world class artists performing in a small, anonymous basement. Intimate to say the least; there's no bravado, no superstar DJ hero worship, just incredible artists performing their works to a crowd who genuinely appreciate it. There is a family atmosphere. It's cosy even.

Tokimonsta is a master at creating an atmosphere, weaving a casual spell. Her layered, tanglible hip hop infused with sexy little synthetic RnB moans and snips is exciting the crowd. She finishes up with a pop, hip hop mash-up which fuses Jimmy Hendrix, 50 Cent and Dr Dre with her own beats. She looks so unlikely behind the decks, dropping massive gangster rap tunes, both coquettish and nonchalent, nodding her head at the crowd's appreciation and flicking the switches in every sense.

Next up are the duo I'm most excited about: an LA-based act who are not just pushing boundaries, but soaring far above them in a bright sky where they have no bearing. Lazer Sword is Lando Kal and Low Limit. They're playing all their own work completely live, as always, and watching the way they bounce, and confer and create this totally futuristic city is incredible. The set they play is unexpected. When they started out their material was much more rude and glitchy – classic West Coast. But the direction they're now going in is massive and undefinable. Their sound switches abruptly, chopping between tempos – giant hip hop to searing electro-discoid subs, crunky as hell club sounds to future garage, with elements of techno slowly worked in until the crowd really don't know what to do with themselves. They both get on the mic often, Low Limit after 10 minutes; “What does it sound like? Is it cool?” This, I suspect, is as much to try and enthuse the crowd as it is to see how it actually sounds. They don't seem quite ready for this. There is a lot of observation, not a great deal of dancing. But then, the majority of tonight's artists are here to perform their art, rather than to indulge the mainstream demands of a club dancefloor.

It's interesting seeing the differences and contrasts between the two producers. Low Limit is much more hip hop and rap, while Lando Kal brings the rave, future garage, electronica. There are so many elements to their set, so many changes in tempo and style, lurching suddenly into stabbing, angular ascending beats, dissolving then reconstructing the framework, adding breaks and bounces, getting bigger and ruder and then bringing it right back to hip hop. It's actually hypnotic.

Daedelus is up next and it's obvious that many of the people are here for this set. It's dark, intense and heavy but suffused with underlying blissful melodies, like distant water. But for me it's Starkey who seals the deal. After the almost IDM nature of the last two hours, some upfront, brutal hip hop and dubstep is so welcome. Gangster samples dropping all over the shop, gunshots, bitches and money making us feel cool. It's a shame the crowd thins, but the people who remain are here to dance, and finally the floor unites and people start letting go. Epic dubstep, real hip hop crunch, bursts of smattering, rowdy jungle, lazers, glacial melodies woven with building strings, and so many enormous drops. The man behind the noise absolutely having it. Starkey. You killed it.

At the request of the promoter Alex Stevenson, he finishes with 'Millenia'.

Enjoy....

Images by Kieran Pharaoh

Lowri