Exploded Drawing
7 Years
Reviewed by Dan Gentile, Fri., Dec. 22, 2017
Since 2010, Exploded Drawing parties have enticed off-kilter electronic producers out of their bedrooms and into dark warehouses. Their signature "beat music" mixes of J Dilla, Flying Lotus, and DJ Shadow drop everything in a lo-fi blender and result in playful synth noodle sessions over cobwebbed samples and head-nodding kicks. Their seventh-anniversary comp on splattered white vinyl sounds like a game of instrumental hip-hop H-O-R-S-E played at a family reunion, with a lingering scent of sativa in the air. Each of the fire emoji-breathing alumni wears their influences and most do their heroes justice. Vegetable Kingdom's "Behave Yourself" saw-waves into funk's future, Butcher Bear's "As the World Turns" combines the best of Def Jux and Stones Throw, and BoomBaptist's "Sapphire" transcends Ableton button-pushing for a jittery, outer-space G-funk opus. Aside from the standouts, individual tracks get lost like coconut water in a smoothie from JuiceLand (ED's record shop operates out of the Duval and 45th Street location), but close your eyes and you're at Low End Theory, the L.A. party that birthed beat music.
