kaipora

Live electronic instrument hip hop bass jam - San Diego, CA

kaipora artist card

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Think about the last time you saw a hip hop set of all live electronic bass music. If you haven't seen any in a while Kaipora is here for you. 

Kaipora was one of my most sought after sets of Hydroponics for its simple complexity; all live electronic instrument hip hop bass jam. During the evening hours by the Animas river in northern NM when one might be having a beverage in their favorite camp chair, the Kaipora waterside experience started with a close knit group of complete strangers and ended like a neighborhood block party. Groupies set up a viewing gallery, truly a peanut gallery, just two feet in front of the instrument table, as if they were guests invited into the viewing of a live painting. Something so engaging happened, the crowd that came to surround it could have been mistaken for a paparazzi storm on a Hollywood street. Lights, cameras, beats baby.

It’s a sticky affair to play a dynamic live set, even more so when the band is using instruments they have programmed themselves. A multi instrumentalist MPD Beat Pad, bass womp LFO footpedal slayer on one side and a uniquely high pitched slick like rick rapper playing the keys on the other intertwine new and nostalgia in a single set on one stage. The show is reminiscent of an old school hip hop show though very much in synergy with crunchy bass, and crisp in its  presentation beloved samples. It’s like getting an offhanded afternoon invite from the crew to see a jam sesh, but in this jam sesh the level of professionality and musicianship eclipses previously understood meanings of a “jam sesh with the friends”. 

Beyond the genius usage of modern electronic production tools (I would guess at least Ableton, and potentially some sort of mixer program), the duo is musically talented at a professional level and in their own practiced way of playing their instruments. They float a stream of coordination, communication, and continuity through key changes, tempo adjustments, and fat, o so fat, beat drops between themselves through some sort of voodoo. The full 45 caliber of Kaipora is realized through their crowd involvement. Like a seasoned traffic cop, the MC coordinates, records, and mixes garbled raps, poems, and general bullshit from the crowd into the next set's next step, like it was all pre planned and prerecorded. A goosebumping Fugees, Ready or Not cover so well developed it could have come from the studio at once solidified for me the true charisma of Kaipora. 

I'm based west of the Mississippi and I know Kaipora is not alone in the world of undervalued talent at the standard clubs and “boutique” music festivals in the western US. Live electronic music is a step forward in music and we should embrace these absolute monsters of their machines that are laying it down fresh.