2nd Annual Modern Funk Fest at The Echo

Featuring Egyptian Lover, XL Middleton, Moniquea, Diamond Ortiz, Reality Jonez, Brian Ellis’ Reflection, Shiro Schwarz, Hotthobo & Eddy Funkster

TIX ON SALE NOW: bit.ly/funkfestecho

The Modern Funk Fest is coming back to Los Angeles for the second time on Friday, May 13th, 2016. The first large scale event of its kind, the Modern Funk Fest pulls together the best live acts, djs and labels focusing on the modern funk sound; giving full respect and admiration to the decades of funk/boogie music that has come before, while showcasing the newest sounds and sights to emerge from that scene. This event initially started in San Diego at the Til Two Club, with amazing performances, a perfect vibe, an ideal line-up and a night with a very receptive and hungry audience. After putting other notches in the MFF belt, most recently with a large event at the Elbo Room in San Francisco and also in Los Angeles at Jewel’s Catch One, the Modern Funk Fest is now ready to attack Los Angeles again, with an event at The Echo.

Headlining the event is Los Angeles-based Electro Legend, The Egyptian Lover, performing a live DJ/MC/808 set. The Eygptian Lover is a major proponent of the current Modern Funk scene, guesting and contributing his production expertise to new releases on various labels, as well as recently dropping his brand new Electro Masterpiece, the “1984” LP on his label Egyptian Empire. The rest of the line-up represents the crème de la crème of the current up and coming “Modern Funk” scene on the west coast: Brian Ellis’ Reflection, MoFunk Records (featuring an all-star line up of XL Middleton, Moniquea, Reality Jonez, and Diamond Ortiz), and Shiro Schwarz from Mexico City…plus DJs, Hotthobo and Eddy Funkster playing vinyl in between the live sets. Additionally the labels Voltaire Records, MoFunk, Hobo Camp, and Discogs will be present, promoting, and selling merchandise.

Egyptian Lover
The Egyptian Lover started out as a D.J. in Los Angeles with Uncle Jamms Army doing dances at the L.A. Sports Arena. He began recording around Los Angeles in 1982 as a member of the Radio Crew. In the early days of hip hop, albums were rare, so most of The Egyptian Lover’s successful recordings were 12″ singles. He would eventually release some of the earliest rap LPs, which was especially unique for being west-coast based, but they were less popular than his singles. But on the strength of containing an alternate mix of his most popular single “Egypt, Egypt”, 1984’s On the Nile was moderately successful. After a break in the early 1990s, Egyptian Lover returned in 1994 with “Back from the Tomb”. His last full-length album in over ten years. Since then he has made “Platinum Pyramids” and “Electro Pharoah” (Digital MP3) and has just released a New Album entitled “1984”.

Brian Ellis’ Reflection
Hailing from Escondido, CA, Brian Ellis is set on a mission to push authentic drum machine synthesizer funk to the livest, rawest level. His gear list is strong, his output is prolific, and his work ethic is unrivaled…armed with his oberheim DX, oberheim Matrix-1000, Roland SVC-350 Vocoder, and an arsenal of various guitars, synths, and outboard effects, Brian and his group Reflection (a modern funk group founded by Brian Ellis alongside brothers Adam Chini and Jordan Chini, and drummer Andrew Satterlee) are ready to unleash an array of utterly devastating jams onto the dancefloor.

MoFunk Records (featuring XL Middleton, Moniquea, Reality Jonez, and Diamond Ortiz)
XL Middleton and Funkmosphere resident DJ Eddy Funkster are a southern California based funk production duo and founders of MoFunk records. XL Middleton can be heard as the MC on Dogg Master’s infamous “Pop Lock Funk”, and has produced albums for other artists, most recently the Modern Funk anthem “Press Play” featuring Zackey Force Funk, and the Moniquea LP “Yes, No, Maybe”. Moniquea is a MoFunk Records recording artist and one of the few in the modern funk scene who is not a keyboardist or multi-instrumentalist; her only instrument is her voice, one that can be as silky and soothing as it can be hard-edged. It was this dynamic vocal presence that made producer XL Middleton realize that the funk was a perfect fit for Moniquea – along with her own longtime love of the 80’s boogie and new wave she grew up on.

Shiro Schwarz
Shiro Schwarz is an audiovisual production and performance duo. The project was founded on 2011 by Pammela Rojas & Rafael Marfil. Pammela is a visual artist and singer and Rafael is a synthesist and music composer. When you attend to a Shiro Schwarz show, listen to their music or watch one of their videos, you will depart on an extrasensory voyage through space into a mysterious funky universe. Be careful, as there is light, but also darkness in the Shiro Schwarz Universe.

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If you’d like more information about the show, or to schedule an interview with any of the Promoters/Bands/DJs, please email randy@voltairerecords.com