Leeds Hip Hop Scene

Damn that Flying Lotus set last night was good, wasn’t it? What do you mean you missed it? I hope you had a decent reason for your non-attendance at one of the busiest New Bohemia nights this year.

New Bo regular Eliphino was on the decks as I arrived dropping some bass heavy hip hop to get the crowd in gear as Testament helped whip the crowd up a little more, tonights line up included one of the most talked about producers in the guise of Flying Lotus and the living legend that is DJ Derek. Flying Lotus burst onto the scene with his debut LP “1983″ on Plug Research in 2006, from a family synonymous with the world of jazz (Alice Coltrane’s great Nephew and the cousin of Ravi Coltrane) he has been likened to the modern great’s such as Dilla and Madlib. His recent Reset EP on Warp is also going down a treat and well worth anyone’s hard earned cash.

Testament introduced Flying Lotus as a legend in the making and based on his set last night his live show was full of energy and enjoyment and he fully lived up to his monica. He started off playing his trademark spacy keyboards over bass-heavy beats using a 16 Pad M-Audio surface control and Ableton Live on his macbook, hailing from LA, Lotus’ sound is heavily influenced by the free jazz-based electronica and hip-hop sound eminating from his local scene.

The tracks he was re-creating live were bouncy and coursing with dark synth lines and if you’re a fan of Ammoncontact, Dabrye & Shape Of Broad Minds you will love this guy’s work. After the serious dublab/dubstep beats were dropped Lotus switched things up with a techno infused set droppping dancefloor classics such as Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and the seriously twisted Aphex Twin’s “Come to Daddy” whilst re-mastering 180bpm drum patterns on his M-Audio pads, before bringing a close to his set.

DJ Derek was then introduced to the stage to drop a reggae/dancehall set of well known party hits, the Bristol-based DJ is an icon for many in the industry, including a host of Jamaican producers and Massive Attack.He has played popular sets at many major festivals, including Glastonbury and The Big Chill. Having seen and met DJ Derek in the past it was quite funny to see alot of the crowds reaction when a 65year old former accountant starts toasting in Jamaican “Patois”, I think it was the first time half of them had ever heard half of those phrases judging to many people’s reactions. All the crowd were skanking and singing along as DJ Derek spun some of the tracks he has begun well renowned for playing over the years and had us all partying into the early hours of Saturday morning followed by a return to the decks from Leeds DJ/Producer Eliphino for a Jungle tinged set to sap the last remaining remnants of energy the crowd had left.

Future European Flying Lotus Gigs:

Nov 17 UK, London - Cargo
Nov 21 Norway, Oslo - Café Mono
Nov 22 UK, Nottingham, Dogma (FREE!)
Nov 23 UK, Glasgow - Numbers @ Sub Club