Red Bull Music Academy has announced the inaugural Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles. Taking place throughout October, the month-long program will celebrate the musical and cultural diversity of Los Angeles, from conversations with creative trailblazers to concerts and club nights that showcase the ever-evolving sounds of the city.
The New York arm of the festival has been well-known among music junkies for bringing high-concept shows, lectures, and parties to legendary venues, including a specially-commissioned performance piece by Solange at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, a piano bar show with Atlanta rap godfathers Gucci Mane and Zaytoven, and a tribute to disco’s living legend, Patrick Adams.
Some of the events will include a synth orchestra powered by one hundred LA muscle cars and their sound systems and a new audio-visual show from shapeshifting producer Arca in collaboration with Taran Allen. Multi-instrumentalist St. Vincent will also be performing a concept so secret, it couldn’t be revealed at the kick-off event.
Personally, I’ll be looking forward the reunion of Uncle Jamm’s Army, a collective of funk DJs from the ’80s that included future NWA affiliates Egyptian Lover and Arabian Prince, which will be headlined by a performance and lecture from West Coast gangsta rap pioneer Ice-T.
The festival also spotlights the connection between Mexican metal bands and LA’s Latinx metal bands with the three-stage Todo Es Metal, and presents a special club night together with Rail Up, the collective regularly making LA dance floors quake with sounds from the African and Latinx musical diaspora.
Another cool high-concept event will be Diggin’ in the Carts, bringing legendary Japanese video game composers Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima to the stage to perform together for the first time ever. Although the names may not be familiar, if you’ve played Streets Of Rage or Sonic The Hedgehog, you’ll recognize their work, which has influenced both dance music and hip-hop, being extensively sampled by both.
Tickets for Red Bull Music Academy Los Angeles go on sale August 22. See more details on the individual events and purchase tickets at https://la.redbullmusicacademy.com/
