LEE BANNON with TRASH TALK and RATKING at Studio Bar (824 Dundas West), Friday (March 6), 7 pm. $16. ticketweb.com.
Don’t expect to hear many of the hip-hop beats Lee Bannon wrote for Joey Bada$$ and the Pro Era crew when he opens for California hardcore punk band Trash Talk and NYC rap group Ratking. Instead, Bannon is focusing on the experimental drum ‘n’ bass beats of his 2014 solo album, Alternate/Endings (Ninja Tune), and the breakcore-influenced sounds of his upcoming record.
“It’s funny because it actually kind of blends in with what [Trash Talk and Ratking] are doing,” Bannon says from a tour stop in Virginia. “My last EP [Main/Flex] had Charlie Benante from Anthrax playing drums on it, and it’s pretty brutal. It’s like Nine Inch Nails but without the cheesy vocals.”
Some of Bannon’s fans are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that the experimental IDM breakbeats of his solo career are coming from the same guy who produced 95 Til Infinity for Joey Bada$$. Anyone coming to see him and expecting a traditional hip-hop DJ set will be disappointed.
“There are no computers in my show, and a lot of analog gear. There’s no DJing. It’s just me playing live, 100 per cent. I don’t even really know how to DJ. When I was DJing for Joey Bada$$ I was literally just hitting play on Ableton to trigger some beats I’d made for him, so I guess that’s why a lot of people think I’m a DJ.”
To help clarify this identity shift, he’s pulled back from writing beats for rappers unless it’s a full-on collaboration. Instead of hip-hop influences, he name-drops 90s IDM heroes like Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, Autechre, Plaid and Venetian Snares, most of whom made their mark on the world before he even hit puberty.
“It’s like Drake referencing Nas. In the world I’m doing music in now, those producers are my Nas.”
His second album is finished and scheduled for release later this year. He sees it as a continuation of some of the ideas established on Alternate/Endings, but with a different sonic fingerprint.
“It’s cleaner, and there’s a rounder low end. Alternate/Endings was a gritty, headphone drum ‘n’ bass album for listening to in your room while you’re hacking – like a punk album. This one is vast, with more powerful sounds.”
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @benjaminboles
