Brainfeeder

Flying Lotus's label as a world: beat music, cosmic jazz and low-end theory under one roster.

What you're really asking

You're asking about the label Flying Lotus founded and the sound it gathered: Los Angeles beat music reaching outward into jazz, soul and electronics. Brainfeeder is a roster as much as a genre, bound by low-end weight and a wide-open sense of where a beat can go.

Where it sits

Flying Lotus started Brainfeeder in Los Angeles in 2008 as a home for the city's beat scene. It grew to carry Thundercat, Ras G, Teebs, Lapalux and the Austrian producer Dorian Concept, and later made room for Kamasi Washington's expansive jazz.

The label became the clearest institutional expression of the LA beat world.

The scene

Who: Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Ras G, Teebs, Lapalux, Dorian Concept, Jameszoo, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Kamasi Washington. Label: Brainfeeder.

What: beat music opening into jazz, soul and electronics, always low-end heavy. How a record gets in: it is on Brainfeeder or made by its core circle, not any beat record.