instrumental hip-hop

To some, it must seem like this young electronic producer came out of nowhere. Emancipator (Douglas Appling) played his first live show in July 2009, opening for Bonobo at the Roseland Theater (cap. 1500). Since then, he’s toured with Bassnectar, drawn crowds at festivals like Trinumeral and Symbiosis, and closed out Sound Tribe Sector 9’s late night parties in Denver at the request of the band.

Read more about Emancipator on Last.fm.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia based True Live formed in 2003. They're a unique ensemble that cross boundaries of genre and style while engaging audiences with songs of passion and meaning. With performances and recordings of musical and lyrical depth and a line-up consisting of a three-piece string section (cello, violin, double bass), percussion, keyboards and vocals, the group create a contemporary, organic sound that could only be described as monstrous.

Since signing to Sav Remzi’s Tirk label in 2007, Architeq’s deep space dub-hip hop explorations have been heating up dancefloors, radio playlists and i-pod headphones the world over. Working closely with live drummers ( Scott Donald & Jerome Tcherneyan) and a die-hard analogue production ethic gives his music an organic vitality often missing from the productions of today’s laptop generation. With plaudits from everyone from Laurent Garnier to disco deviant Blackbelt Anderson and having attracted the attention of one Mary –Ann Hobbs. Architeq’s sound is diverse, deep and deliciously dubby.

L.A. native Henry Laufer, the 21-year-old producer better known as Shlohmo, is a lo-fi beat junkie and field-recording enthusiast, whose crackling, low-BPM compositions update Boards of Canada's filmstrip-soundtrack wooziness. An LA native, Laufer grew up listening to "stuff like DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin, M83 stuff with some sort of cinematic vision." He started making beats when he was 14, but "didn't really do it with any sort of purpose until I was like 17 or 18. That was also around the time he and his friends, already fans of Flying Lotus, discovered Low End Theory.