Little Club, Lot of Noise: LA’S LOW END THEORY CELEBRATES 5 BASS-BUMPING YEARS
LA Weekly just profiled my hometown favorite Low End Theory now celebrating its fifth anniversary:
Low End Theory is located deep in the barrio at the Airliner Club, far removed from the glitzy Sunset Strip. The cover has always been $10. Tallboy PBRs sell for $5. Guys outnumber the girls 5-1. This isn’t a pickup spot. No one cares about your shoes. It is and remains all about the music.
I first attended Low End Theory shortly after it opened its doors in 2006. Every time I walked up those narrow creaky stairs into the main room, a sonic boom bitch-slapped my ego. Everyone there knew this place was special. The music trumped anything I was hearing at $65 megaraves. The sound was new, different, other-worldly. One smoky night, edIT introduced to me this new sound called dubstep. “What the $@%& is this?” I wondered. Soon enough, that same wobbly sound would dominate clubs and Beatport charts.
What’s remarkable about Low End Theory is that it is for LA hood rats by LA hood rats. These kids with bottomless talent are now getting massive exposure internationally thanks to Mary Anne Hobbs at BBC. Now this tiny club in the hood is a premiere destination for beat freaks. Flying Lotus got his break here and now uses LET as a farm league for his Brainfeeder label. Thom Yorke has even surprise DJ’ed here a few times. Some artists that have come out of this scene:
AUSTIN PERALTA
BEEPLE
DAEDELUS
JEREMIAH JAE
LAPALUX
LORN
MARTYN
MATTHEW DAVID
MONO/POLY
MR. OIZO
QUES
RAS_G
SAMIYAM
STRANGELOOP
TAYLOR MCFERRIN
TEEBS
THE GASLAMP KILLER
THEO JEMISON
THUNDERCAT
TOKIMONSTA
It’s a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing you were there for something legendary. The people who saw the Velvet Underground play at Andy Warhol’s Factory claim the same self-aggrandizing nostalgia. My mom saw The Doors at the Roxy in the mid-60’s. Even my dad claims to have been at Woodstock, total BS by the way. Every generation has their spot. I was lucky enough to be there for mine.
