THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Nothing is ever normal in the world of
Illuminated Paths, the area’s weirdest music label. Its music roster is a seemingly endless menagerie of
left-field transmissions and its shows are oddity in motion. Besides audio strangeness of all stripe, all of IP’s showcases benefit from the
live-mixed video psychedelics of label boss Joshua Rogers.
The latest presentation (Dec. 2, Uncle Lou’s) featured notable underground acts I’ve covered before like
Ray Brazen, who is one of Orlando’s most iconic outsider visionaries, and Tampa’s
Fjshwjfe, whom I recently experienced at the
Eva O show back in October. But besides being transported to another dimension, by now I’ve come to expect an
education out of an Illuminated Paths event as well. This one introduced me to Byson and PolyKarp, two relatively new but definitely under-the-radar Orlando artists.
Whether due to its newness or its aesthetic – I suspect both –
vaporwave is a genre awash with indistinguishable acts. What producer
Byson brings to the game, however, is the structure and groove of
hip-hop. For a nebulous niche that can be impressionistic to a fault, that’s a godsend. And the results in his case are distinctive.
PolyKarp is even more of a party-starter with his warped, subterranean dance music that sounds like a
video-game rave. Even better, he jams it out like a low-tech wizard with a miniature rig that includes a Walkman and touchscreen stylus.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
This Little Underground is Orlando Weekly’s music column providing perspective, live reviews and news on the city’s music scene.
Follow Bao on Twitter (@baolehuu)
Email Bao: baolehuu@orlandoweekly.com
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2016.
Related
