In this episode of Deep Routes we travel into the resonant heart of Los Angeles. A globally recognized sound, LA’s “Beat Scene” story is one often devoid of a specific voice, singular genre, or specific neighborhood. What began as an intersectional spectrum of producers, dollar bin diggers, and avid musical explorers hunting for the hidden grooves inlaid in forgotten vinyl of scene’s past grew into internationally celebrated weekday club nights, worldwide tours, and a sound continuously referenced today across genres and generations.

Cross-communal voices, stretching from sleepy hideaways like Winnetka, Santa Monica, and Pomona, stitched together through music not meant to be played too loud or too fast, coming together on the outskirts of the city’s “flashy” neighborhoods for the antithesis of the expected experience of a night out. From the ruminations of a unified community in the side hip-hop room of Konkrete Jungle LA & the Santa Monica/Virgil intersection’s production nursery of The Little Temple – and the online radio station just up the stairs ;) – evolved a scene solely focused on the raw pursuit of something more soulful, expressive, and purposefully unrefined than the broadcasted image of LA nightlife. Join host Daedelus and guests Lealani, Kutmah, Baths, Teebs, & Anthony Valadez as they tell the story an LA sound manifested largely by native Angelenos that would become a worldwide calling card, entrancing countless luminaries to come play on a Wednesday Night at The Airliner in Lincoln Heights to a packed crowd, or its lasting inspiration found in global aesthetic movements like lo-fi.

Ride the Metro G Line out to Winnetka to get a taste of the stomping grounds of producers like Flying Lotus & Samiyam & the B Line to see where the scene was formed while you tune in.

Deep Routes is a radio series produced by dublab in partnership with Metro Art and with support from California Humanities and the Eastside Arts Initiative. Deep Routes explores the music histories embedded in the Los Angeles landscape and the transit topographies that connect them. You will hear interconnecting dialog from different music scenes, themes of identity, and civic themes that correspond to LA neighborhoods, featuring in-depth interviews with local artists, business owners, and community leaders. Fundamentally we aim to identify lesser told oral histories, and the ingredients required to allow musical cultures to prosper.

This program was made possible through support from the Eastside Arts Initiative and California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit California Humanities website for more info at: calhum.org.