In Close Proximity To The Beat

© Proximal Records

My good friend Manny, who is a self-professed music connoisseur, once told me that one of the greatest things about electronic music is that there is always something for everyone. Proximity One: A Narrative of a City (out today on Proximal Records) provides just that.

The debut compilation out of the LA-based indie label is a showcase of the West Coast electronic, hip hop music scene.

The album navigates the listener through the electronic music underground and up-and-comers to the signature sounds of well-known beat makers – from Benedek’s groove-laced beats to the more established sounds of Dam Funk and Daedalus.

Started by Carl Madison Burgin (Sahy Uhns), who is featured on the album, and Jeff Elmassian, Proximity Records aims at promoting new local talent and Proximity One really does accomplish that task, telling a story about what is a budding scene – compared only to that of London’s electronic music. This one, however, is rooted in the West Coast’s hip hop culture.

Benedek’s “Laser Forest” sets the tone with a spacey fusion of soul, funk and jazz grooves juxtaposed to sticky beats sure to get the head bumping.

Keeping in with LA’s love affair with the funk, Dam Funk lays a synth-heavy, mid-tempo track with “A Day at The Carnival.”

But it is tracks like Sahy Uhns’ “Fire Music” that showcase electronic music’s possibilities. “Fire Music” is a concoction of sounds and musical landscapes polished and repackaged into a danceable format, taking clues from dubstep and intelligent trance.

Other gems in the compilation include Lawrence Grey's "Peaches For The Baby," which takes the listener through a deluge of tempos eventually jelling everything into one cohesive rhythm; and Daedalus’ appropriately named “Off Angeles Edges” with its perfectly molded dubstep grooves and layered synths that ooze that jazz-y instrumental hip-hop that he’s known for.

Unless you live in Los Angeles, Proximity One may not give you a full tour of the indie electronic music scene there, but it does give you a peak – one that may make you want to explore more.