Shlohmo
Taking his cues from dubstep and the seemingly sudden resurgence of electronic music in indie culture, with dubstep hanging out in the charts and chillwave riding the blogs late 2009 seemed the perfect time for Shlohmo to starting getting on with his latest musical project. At the time the producer was just 19 and had traced his musical path back to his 90's upbringing stating that "Growin up in the 90′s was fuckin raw" and holding the soundtracks of skateboard videos he'd watch as a kid in high esteem as they introduced to hip hop and artists such as Amon Tobin, DJ Shadow and Mos Def. Hearing these songs provoked Laufer to dig deeper into hip hop's past and led him to fall head over heels with the heady late 80's early 90's world that rap music had built for itself. With a new found adoration for these beats and having already been proactive musically in his youth by learning bass and guitar, Shlohmo began to involve himself in the LA music scene, DJ'ing around town and keeping his ears open for new artististic and musical worlds.
In the summer of 2009 the producer started the wedidit collective and released his first extended player onto the world wide web. Keeping in line with his DJ past 'Shlomoshun' was seven seperate tracks all mixed into one mix just under half an hour long - the record was deemed an instant classic by the few who initially stumbled across it and upon release Shlomo had already been scheduled to further its content, leaving fans waiting 'til January 2010 for the Shlohmoshun Deluxe edition.
In the mean time German label Error Broadcast reached out offered the producer another release, and it was in October 2009 that Shlohmo dropped his second EP. The download only 9 tracker relied heavily on the hip hop he'd grown up with - but early elements of a more glitchy, electronic and imaginative style were certainly there with the producer paying keen attention to its textural balance, use of obscure samples and undefiniable sounds. Early comparisions to Flying Lotus and Burial started being made and Shlohmo had now become an invaluable member of LA's beat scene which at the time had Daedlus, Nosaj Thing and Fly Lo all calling it home.
Shlo-fi EP teaser by Error Broadcast
2010 was the year of perhaps the most important meeting of Shlohmo's career. The producer had already made plans to drop the deluxe version of his debut EP early in the year, but it was a meet with Leeor Brown, who had just started a new label called Friend Of Friend Records, that changed the game for the now twenty year old beat maker. Friend Of Friend was an innovative an exciting label coming out the LA scene with people paying close attention to its split releases of the most promising producers going. Shlohmo was the label's first standalone release, and the two were the perfect partners.
The producer followed up the Friends Of Friends release by putting out his first 7" on the Tall Corn label - things were beginning to move fast and Shlohmo soon found himself on West Coast tours. The shows were highly celebrated and Shlohmo's ability as a DJ to feel the mood of the room and adjust and vibe with it meant there would either be "completely ambient sets...or sets where girls are dancing on the table next to my computer. It depends heavily on the mood I'm in and the mood or general vibe I get from the venue/audience." Another record, 'Camping' was released by Friend Of Friends, again as a free download and this time found itself in the spin of critical acclaim and buzz. The producer and the label had become the hottest property in the LA beat scene and many other were also starting to pick up on the movement particularly over in the UK with record stores such as Boomkat and Red Eye aligning the artists with the future r&b movement that was also emerging in the US and finding its way over here via blogs and editoral sites.
Birthday Beat - Shlohmo - Camping EP by FoFMusic
With all the buzz many were anxious to hear a Shlohmo full length record, and whilst the producer was up front with his plans for the LP, one more record was dropped beforehand that was set to blow up entirely and send the hype into overload. 'Places' was again put out through Shlohmo's home team Friend Of Friends, this time on limited 7" - it quickly took over the blogosphere and stopped many in their tracks - Shlohmo's crossover potential was now recognised and his hazy, blissed out jams were perfect to follow up what had been a marked shift away from more traditional guitar based artists.