Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2011

Under the mainstream radar but well known to electronic music cognoscenti, Los Angeles has birthed one of the more intriguing dance music scenes of recent years.

Variously known as “glitch hop” or “avant rap,” the sound coalesced around the shape-shifting productions of Flying Lotus and the collective signed to his label Brainfeeder. The imprint takes over legendary Tokyo nightclub Eleven for its second label night in Japan at the end of the month.

Despite the esteem in which the LA scene is held by worldwide headz, it’s apparently little understood by most of the city’s residents. “There are only a few places (like event Low End Theory) that play intelligent and well-rounded music,” says Brainfeeder artist Tokimonsta, the only woman on the bill. “LA clubs are more about dancing, drinking and meeting the opposite sex. There is nothing wrong with this of course, but there should be more clubs that are not just about these things.”

Notwithstanding her Japanese-sounding stage name Tokimonsta and Japanese language ability, Jennifer Lee is in fact Korean-American. “Toki” means “rabbit” in Korean and “monsta” speaks for itself. Put together, “Tokimonsta” is intended to reflect two distinct musical impulses.

But there are also concrete connections to the Japanese music scene. Tokimonsta signed her first deal with Listen Up, a subsidiary of Japanese indie Art Union, which issued her debut outing Midnight Menu, bringing her a rush of publicity in Japan last year.

The relationship goes even further. “My first releases were with [rapper] Shing02 for vinyls that were released in Japan,” Lee explains from Los Angeles. “I have a deep love for Japan and the people’s great appreciation towards quality music.”

She arrives in Tokyo bearing her second album, the brand-new Moving Forward. Without pushing the analogy too far, Tokimonsta’s take on glitch hop on the record provides the yin to Flying Lotus’s yang. They work from a closely related template of hip-hop beats and psychedelic textures, but where Fly-Lo’s rhythms smack you upside the head, Tokimonsta’s are a pulsating substratum for delicate moods and melodies with a decade of piano lessons behind them.

Among its songs is one entitled “Stigmatizing Sex.” Fueled by a greasy backbeat, the track floats by in a haze of disjointed acoustic guitar lines and vertigo-inducing effects. “I was watching some documentary on sex addiction at the same time I was working on this song, so I decided to title it ‘stigmatizing sex,’” Lee says. “It’s just about the idea about how sex can be viewed as disgraceful and shameful.”

The album also features a number of collaborations with songstress Gavin Turek, whose unearthly voice Lee says she knew would be “perfect” for her trippy tracks. The rare female imprint on a downtempo hip-hop album raises the question of why there aren’t more women in the electronic music scene.

“I can’t say for sure,” Lee muses. “Maybe some women are intimidated with learning the technology involved with making this kind of music. However, I see more and more women making electronic music and think it’s amazing.”

Growing up in the affluent Los Angeles beach town Torrance, Lee ended up rejecting the pop punk her peers were listening too in favor of edgier hip-hop. Her encounter with electronica came through the early rave scene. “I discovered acts like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, which really expanded what I understood as music,” she recalls. “The musicality of hip hop and soul and the amazing sounds of electronic music pushed me to make my music a combination of both.”

By way of the community of likeminded DJs and producers appearing at the key night Low End Theory, Lee got to know Flying Lotus aka Steve Ellison. When it came time for her to release a disc, it was natural for Ellison to invite her into the Brainfeeder stable.

At Eleven, she’ll be joined by Martyn, Thundercat and Austin Peralta in representing the sounds of the LA underground—a highly varied group that has one thing in common: its obsession with beats.

Brainfeeder 2 @ Eleven, Oct 28 (listing).