Annual Red Bull Music Academy Festival Stops in Los Angeles for October.
Back for a fifth year of highly acclaimed entertainment performances, Red Bull Music Academy Festival will curate live music from the likes of St. Vincent, Arca, Uncle Jamm’s Army and a lot more. Known as being one of New York City’s most forward-thinking event series, RBMA has put together past performances by Gucci Mane, Solange, and Zaytoven. Celebrating multiple genres that have had an impact on the Los Angeles scene, the festival aims to highlight the musical and cultural diversity of the city throughout the month of October.
RBMA will feature the world premiere of technicolor direction from St. Vincent, one of music’s most distinct voices, the world’s largest synth orchestra by Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda, with the assistance of 100 powerful car sound systems and their owners; and a new audio-visual show from shapeshifting producer Arca in collaboration with Taran Allen. Even LA’s Latinx metal bands, like Todo Es Metal, as well as experimental electronic performers like SOPHIE and Yves Tumor are on the bill for the month, making for a very unique lineup.
On top of celebrating music the festival will also celebrate Japanese video game music by talking to two distinguished composers; the festival will also talk to feminist punk icon Alice Bag and pay tribute to visual composer Alice Coltrane. In a tribute to early West Coast hip hop, electro and rap innovators Uncle Jamm’s Army – whose members include the likes of Egyptian Lover, Arabian Prince and other – will grace the stage for a performance following a conversation with fellow crew member and rapper Ice-T.
RBMA also invited two film directors to come talk about their areas of expertise in a series of conversations. Edgar Wright, the brain behind films Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver, and Floria Sigismondi, whose eclectic works can be found in Marilyn Manson music videos to the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale will be in attendance. There will also be an exclusive appearance from Bollywood’s “disco king” Bappi Lahiri, who will discuss composing for Indian cinema before launching into a performance of some of his well-known hits from the past five decades at Cinefamily.
As part of its Studio Science series, RBMA will also host conversations with mixing and mastering expert Benjamin Tierney, who helped shape the sound of LA’s spiritual jazz scene with his work on albums by Flying Lotus, J Dilla and Kamasi Washington; mastering engineer Bernie Grundman, whose Midas touch helped mold Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Prince’s Purple Rain into gold records; and Sylvia Massy, the force behind the book Recording Unhinged, whose can be heard in Tool, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty and Slayer.
LA funk connoisseur Dâm-Funk will also record the October edition of his monthly Red Bull Radio show “Glydezone” live in front of a studio audience to present the past, present and future of the funkmosphere.
Red Bull Radio (www.redbullradio.com) will feature LA-focused programming throughout the month of October, including event live streams from the festival, conversations with featured artists on the station’s daily Peak Time show, and more.
Tickets for Red Bull Music Academy Los Angeles go on sale August 22.
Tickets for the St. Vincent show can be found here. Prices start at $50.
See more details on the individual events, sign up for the #RBMALA newsletter and purchase tickets at la.redbullmusicacademy.com.