Take a Look Back at Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles In Pictures

The debut edition of Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles took place from October 6 to 30 at different venues throughout the city. Find more information here.

Jump straight to individual events below:

SOPHIE Live Debut
Uncle Jamm’s Army
A Conversation with Ice-T
Studio Science with Sylvia Massy
Studio Science with Bernie Grundman
Red Bull Radio Live From LA
Diggin’ In The Carts
Todo Es Metal
An Evening with Bappi Lahiri
Arca presents A Night with Alejandro
A Conversation with Edgar Wright about Music In Film
Ryoji Ikeda - A [for 100 cars]
Flying Lotus in 3D + Thundercat
Outside Insight Electric Shadows
A Conversation with Floria Sigismondi About Music In Film
Red Bull Radio Live: Dâm-Funk presents Glydezone
Studio Science with Benjamin Tierney
St. Vincent: Fear The Future
Rail Up: Mundial
A Conversation with Alice Bag

For the past few years SOPHIE has challenged and redefined ideas of pop culture and appeal with music that is harsh yet beautiful, full of familiar signifiers used in unexpected ways. This night saw SOPHIE presenting a brand-new performance and sounds, reflecting the growing diversity of a singular force in moving music into the future.

At the birth of hip-hop and electro in Los Angeles, Uncle Jamm’s Army started out playing high school parties in the mid-’70s, and went on to become LA’s most popular promoters for over a decade, throwing parties at huge venues like the Los Angeles Sports Arena. For one very special evening at Savoy Entertainment Center in Inglewood, we brought together members and affiliates of the former crew – featuring Egyptian Lover, Ice-T + The Glove, Bobcat, Arabian Prince and Dr. Funkenstein – as well as their contemporaries of the L.A. Dream Team and Alonzo Williams & Cli-N-Tel (World Class Wreckin’ Cru).

Watch our documentary on Uncle Jamm’s Army here, and read the full oral history of the party here.

The city of Los Angeles officially declared October 28th, 2017, Uncle Jamm’s Army Day. As part of the ceremony, crew members were invited to LA’s city hall to mark the momentous occasion.

Ice-T introduced himself immediately as one of the West Coast’s most electrifying rappers. He began to rap at the seminal electro and early hip-hop party Uncle Jamm’s Army and went on to record a string of classic hip-hop albums in the late ’80s, eventually broadening his palette with the infamous Body Count project, an act known primarily for the controversy caused by the track “Cop Killer.” In this rare and intimate talk, Ice-T walked us through those early days with Uncle Jamm’s Army and his artistic path as a hip-hop statesman.

As an engineer, mixer and record producer, Sylvia Massy has left her mark on three decades of music. Moving to Los Angeles in the late ’80s, Massy began her career at Larrabee Sound, where she recorded the debut EP and LP of metal icons Tool. While there she also befriended Rick Rubin, with whom she collaborated on a string of albums after moving to Sound City’s Studio B. It was at Sound City that Massy became known for creating a signature sound, with special equipment and a vintage Neve 8038 console. For this Studio Science as part of the Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles, Massy took a seat in Room B of EastWest Studios to demonstrate some of her techniques firsthand.

From an early age, Bernie Grundman knew he wanted to make sound his life. He followed this early interest throughout his time in school and the Air Force and on to Hollywood, where he became head of mastering at A&M Records in 1968. Grundman’s work at A&M helped result in hundreds of platinum and gold recordings, including Carole King’s Tapestry, Steely Dan’s Aja and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. As part of the Studio Science series of intimate lectures and workshops during the Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles, the man with the mastering Midas touch discussed his sonic philosophy and detailed his mastering approach live from his own studio.

For the duration of Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles, Red Bull Radio hosted a pop-up studio in LA’s Arts District. Every weekday at 9 AM local time, the daily Peak Time show broadcasted live from our temporary home at the Great Company, and special live-from-LA editions of shows like LAndscape and First Floor were also part of the program.

Following on from the acclaimed documentary series and Red Bull Radio show of the same name, Diggin’ In The Carts showcases Japan’s leading composers of video game music in the late ’80s and early ’90s alongside a new generation of artists who have been influenced by them. On the very first stop of the Diggin’ In The Carts world tour, Hyperdub boss Kode9 presented a new performance set to visuals by legendary animator Kōji Morimoto; Streets of Rage composers Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima collaborated live for the first time (featuring visuals by Konx-Om-Pax); and Diggin’ In The Carts producer Nick Dwyer delivered a special DITC音 set. Additional support on the LA stop of the tour came from Academy alumna TOKiMONSTA as well as Ryan Hemsworth and Qrion, who all brought sounds indebted to video game music to the stage.

Todo Es Metal turned a mirror on Los Angeles’s thriving metal scene, highlighting the creative connections and artistic overlap between bands from Mexico and Southern California. Despite the city’s voracious appetite for black metal, death metal and doom – especially amongst young Latinx fans – it remains rare for some of the most important underground metal bands in Mexico to play in LA (or the wider US). That changed on October 21, with renowned Mexican metal bands and Latinx-led groups from LA playing side-by-side in an extremely loud celebration of community. Key local artists appeared alongside some international guests at the opulent Los Angeles Theatre, including Transmetal [MX], Disgorge [MX], Thanatology [MX], Sadistic Intent [LA] and Terrorizer [LA].

In a composing career that has stretched over five decades, hundreds of films and thousands of songs, Bappi Lahiri has established himself as an unparalleled force in the world of Bollywood and beyond. The Bengali-born singer is regarded as the first artist to introduce disco to Indian cinema, a stylistic shift that had a seismic impact on the genre’s vibrant musical personality for years to come. In a rare Los Angeles appearance, the “Disco King of Bollywood” sat for an in-depth conversation with DJ Rekha. Later in the evening, Lahiri performed a few of his unforgettable hits in front of a live audience.

Alejandro Ghersi, AKA Arca, is an artist that continually sheds skins, leaving behind the comfortable and familiar in search of alluring and challenging new forms. Taking place in the OPEN BETA space created in collaboration with Taran Allen, this specially-created performance provided a rare opportunity to witness the singular talent premiere new material.

Edgar Wright is a director, screenwriter, producer and actor hailing from Poole in Dorset, England, known for his fast-paced editing style, wry sense of humor and parodying cinematic tropes. A fan of action movies, Wright likes to synchronize music to the kinetic movement he depicts on screen, and his best-loved films – all of which have more than a few moments of rousing musical impact – include 2004’s zombie horror mash-up Shaun of the Dead, 2010’s bittersweet Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and 2013’s The World’s End. Wright’s latest movie, the star-studded Baby Driver, sees him once again flipping familiar tropes, and it became the surprise summer blockbuster of 2017, propelled by the protagonist’s beloved iPod. This talk, moderated by composer, producer, and music supervisor Brian Reitzell and presented as part of Red Bull Music Academy’s Director’s Series, touched on Wright’s ideas about music in film and his longstanding creative partnerships.

Renowned artist Ryoji Ikeda presented a brand-new composition, in collaboration with 100 automobile owners, that constituted the world’s largest synth orchestra. The piece, entitled A [for 100 cars], continued Ikeda’s long-running series investigating the frequencies of note A. Before the world settled on the general tuning standard of A=440Hz, there were historically many different standards. A [for 100 cars], performed by emitting sine waves at all these diverse (yet specific) frequencies, created an immersive soundscape. RBMA’s Tatsuya Takahashi worked with Ikeda to create a device, especially for this performance, that helped guide the composition from start to finish.

Over the last decade, the collective of artists who belong to the Brainfeeder label have mapped out a musical movement that has resonated around the globe, articulating a creative vision that is intrinsically linked to the city of Los Angeles. This show, taking place at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, featured two of the label’s most prominent artists: Flying Lotus, performing his incredible 3D live show, and bassist extraordinaire Thundercat. In addition to the two headlining artists, there was a special guest appearance by comedian Hannibal Buress.

The custom-built OPEN BETA environment in East Los Angeles opened its doors for the first time on October 12 for a collaboration with LA-based label Outside Insight and creative director Taran Allen. Boundary-pushing artists from across different genres – ranging from the mutated psychedelic music of Eartheater to the fiery dancehall of Bad Gyal, the DIY-pop of Sneaks, SADAF’s thunderous sound collages, Amnesia Scanner’s cybernetic electronics, John Carroll Kirby’s meditative soundscapes and Yves Tumor’s confrontational noise blasts – gave a series of electrifying performances.

With a lifelong interest in the visual and fine arts, Floria Sigismondi found her ideal medium in moving images. It was the place where the artist could bring together all her interests, as well as communicate the strange experience of growing up in a Canadian factory town within an Italian household headed by opera singers. For the past two decades, Sigismondi has brought her keen eye and unique style to music videos for David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Rihanna and, most recently, Perfume Genius and Alice Glass. In 2010, she released her first movie, The Runaways, and most recently directed episodes for Daredevil and The Handmaid’s Tale. As part of RBMA’s Director Series, Sigismondi sat down for a chat with Molly Lambert at USC’s Brain and Creativity Insitute.

Every third Friday of the month, Dâm-Funk presents Glydezone on Red Bull Radio, featuring the best of modern funk, boogie, cosmic, soul and beyond. As part of Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles, Dâm hosted the first-ever Red Bull Radio show in front of a live audience: a special edition of Glydezone celebrating the sounds of LA at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center in the Leimert Park neighborhood. He invited Matt Martians of The Internet, Leimert Park’s own rap hero Dom Kennedy and R&B veteran Leon Sylvers III for a kind of panel discussion on the sounds that shaped them and the current state of the music industry.

Benjamin Tierney is the go-to studio whiz for LA’s spiritual jazz and beats scene. Whether it’s mixing, recording, mastering or producing, he has worked closely with the likes of Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, Hiatus Kaiyote, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Gaslamp Killer and Deantoni Parks. As part of our Studio Science series, Tierney invited us to the storied United Recording Studios on Sunset Boulevard to give an insight into his working method – including a live session with in-demand musicians Jamire Williams and Kris Bowers. The demonstration was hosted by Carlos Niño.

For the official start of her Fear The Future tour, St. Vincent got as close to literally bringing New York to Los Angeles as it gets. In the New York Street backlot at the iconic Paramount Pictures Studios, the celebrated rock artist gave a larger-than-life performance of songs from her new album MASSEDUCTION, in collaboration with designer and director Willo Perron.

The opening night of Red Bull Music Academy Festival Los Angeles featured a special edition of LA’s trailblazing Rail Up party. In an East LA warehouse, a diverse lineup of artists – ranging from Trinidad & Tobago’s Laventille Rhythm Section to Lisbon’s DJ Firmeza, New York’s Tygapaw and bi-coastal duo NGUZUNGUZU – brought the sounds of the African and Latinx diaspora to life in pulsating fashion. A surprise appearance by Kelela provided one of the many highlights of the night.

A pioneering figure of LA’s punk scene, Alice Bag has been fighting for justice and equality through her art since the 1970s. At MOCA Los Angeles, the Chicana artist sat down for a conversation with RBMA alumni Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes, sharing her hard-earned wisdom on feminism, resilience and empathy.