The LA duo currently on tour will be playing a secret warehouse party in East London next week
Impressively, Daedelus and Tokimonsta have released on almost 20 different record labels between them. That’s quite a lot seeing that they both continue to hammer out startlingly fresh funk from the cosmic realms of beaty, meaty, Los Angeles and supposedly no-one buys records anymore. Ninja Tune, Ramp Recordings, All City, Plug Research, Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder and Daedelus’s own Magical Properties are just a handful of the independents slanging their quality sonic wares. Daedelus’s latest opus “Bespoke”, is out in April with Tokimonsta’s remix of his “Tailor-Made” (out now), an awesome mash of skittery, almost DnB drums and sublimely, floaty chorals. The LA duo land in London for a secret East London warehouse party, alongside Lazer Sword and Starkey, on Wednesday 23rd February.
Dazed Digital: Toki, how did you approach your remix for Daedelus?
Tokimonsta: I Wanted to bring a different dimension to the song and flip it. It's quite fun to see how much you can change a song while still incorporating some of the original ideas.
DD: And Daedelus, what do you think about Toki’s remix?
Daedelus: Toki has proven herself to be quite the chameleon. Mellow on one production, banging the next, all moods convincingly. The willing to go without that steady genre has both Los Angeles and I loving her for it. The “Tailor-Made” remix is a perfect example, it is all sunshine streaming thru drawn venetian blinds to me. Full of noir character!
DD: What’s next with Magical Properties?
Daedelus: Truth be told, no distributor is asking for yet another label to try and sell them product. Suits aren't exactly clamoring for yet another outlet outside the mainstream musics. Yet, it seems people have a hunger for new sounds, and certainly so many talented artists are left without a bridge to cross them over out of the morass of blog-ness. So Magical Properties is its own little desert island to try for taking music that deserves ears and ears that ask for something more. Next up is an EP by an awesome lesser know LDFD who by a CDR demo in hand at an event in Dallas caught my attention, and I believe needed to be heard.
DD: And how about Brainfeeder?
Tokimonsta: I really love how diverse everyone is, we have a sense of artistic openness and respect for each other. My EP is coming out mid May, so I'm pretty excited.
Daedelus: Brainfeeder is on something cosmic, straight-up. Very de-focused, talented people making art, not caring about genre or what's next, is quite amazing. It is also very LA in it's scope, '50 Central Avenue jazz scene as much as it's gangster rap (Samiyam I'm thinking of you). It is more holistic for what this city represents.
DD: With Fashion Weeks coming up, and both of your diverse interests in fashion, what creative inspirations do you pull from it?
Tokimonsta: I've always loved the idea of texture in fashion, the use of different fabrics, cuts and patterns. It's very tactile and visual. I think I enjoy translating that idea sonically to music.
Daedelus: Not naturally a cynic, but I've been a bit underwhelmed by the current revisionism for the 80’s and 90’s. Thankfully, there are designers who are really doing interesting, bespoke fashions that don't owe everything to bygone, or nearly gone, and if they are reinventing the past, then why not us then too?
Daedelus and Tokimonsta play in London alongside Lazer Sword and Starkey on Wednesday 23rd February 2011. Tickets here.
