French beatsmith Onra, hailing from Paris, made his stateside debut performing at The Grand Star Jazz Club in LA's own humble Chinatown. Seems like it was the perfect setting for the guy who made his album Chinoisere (which is French for "Chinese-ery") by fusing traditional Asian samples with modern beat bangin' sensibility. Some of LA's finest sound system rockers such as Kutmah, Ras G, SAMIYAM, and of course TheMotherFucking Gaslamp Killer turned up to dig Onra's first United States performance.
Before the future funk began, Computer Jay blew minds with a blast from the past by hooking up his Atari system and blasting the loudest and craziest "Not 8-bit... but 4-bit" tunes ever heard. I've been a huge fan ever since hearing Jay's collaboration with the Grey Kid on seminal classic compilation From LA With Love and was pretty pumped to see him perform at Low End Theory earlier this year. Complete with the witty on-stage banteur between Jay and his Computer, and jamming a bit on his insanely rigged synthesizer setup that I have yet to wrap my head around, Computer Jay remains one live show that I am ALWAYS stoked to see.
Onra came out next bringing the future of funk with two MPCs and two Kaossilators. It was a hypnotic and awesome set of downtempo, soulful and head-nodding soundscapes all tapped out and patterned with articulate precision. Never thought you'd be getting funky to Vietnamese mallets and flutes? Onra says think again. After the show, in the alley known for the monthly Firecracker street event, we witnessed our own CB (aka @chucksauce) hop into a casual cypher presided by Watts beat-heavyweight Mr. Dibiase with a boombox pumping his own simply amazing set of Michael Jackson Thriller album remixed beats. I have to try and track that -ish down...
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