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Lowpro Lounge Press Area
For high res photos click here.
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SF Chronicle
Pop Beat 4/30/06
Congratulations to DJ-producers J. Tonal and James Christopher, founders of San Francisco's Lowpro Lounge collective. The duo's remix of Sound Tribe Sector Nine's "Peoples," which appeared on STS9's "Artifact" album last year, was featured in a recent episode of the CBS show "CSI: New York." The track features vocals by Audio Angel, lyrics by ill45 and scratching by Citizen Ten. Catch J. Tonal and Christopher at the Lowpro Lounge Stage at next Sunday's seventh annual How Weird Street Faire. Go to www.howweird.org for details.
-Bill Picture
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SF Bay Guardian
Eight Days a Week editor pick 1/14/04
Subterranean homesickness Where did the underground go? Seems like as electronic music drifts further into the mainstream, it gets harder to find that inspired edge the San Francisco scene once straddled. If you're looking for mind-twisting innovation and a grin-inducing vibe, one place where you can consistently kick your feet up is the Lowpro Lounge. For over two years the club night has broken barriers and moved asses in an effort to build a unique and enduring musical community. Combining on-the-fly P.A. production, turntablism, and instrumental improvisation, the LowPro experience is never predictable and always stimulating. This is the only free electronic music weekly in the Richmond District, and it offers alternative beverages (organic juices and yerba maté) and tech-heavy live video mixing. Tonight's gig features Jtonal, scratchmaster Citizen Ten, and guitarist Peter D'Elia dropping experimental hip-hop, James Christopher mixing dub and drum 'n' bass, Majitope blending house and breakbeat, and D7's Ben Sheppee on visual design. 9:30 p.m., 540 Club, 540 Clement, S.F. Free. (415) 414-4795, www.lowprolounge.com.
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SF STATION
Arts Review 3/17/04
Some may think that local Electronica, and perhaps even the community it fosters, seem to have lost their momentum; however, in a city as culturally caffeinated as San Francisco there's always a jumpstart waiting to happen. As usual, visionary music leads the way into fresh, untested directions of cultural synthesis. If you want a deep immersion into the latest local artistic underground, dive into the currents of San Francisco's Lowpro Lounge.
In the years since the Lowpro collective first originated, word-of-mouth promotion coupled with a tight-knit fan base have carried the club night from one unorthodox venue to the next, always bringing mind-twisting innovation and a grin-inducing vibe. Lowpro masterminds Jeff Wareham (J.Tonal) and Chris Lacek (DJ James Christopher) are two young Electronic music impresarios intent on mining the rich talent reserves amassed throughout Northern California. By combining exotic forms of dance music and visual art in an all-inclusive setting, these two have developed a loyal following of devotees more akin to a family than fans.
Musically Wareham and Lacek keep things fresh by combining cutting-edge DJ sets with live instrumentation, on-the-fly PA production and dancehall and hip-hop vocals. Wareham is a musician's knob-twiddler, working a complex set of laptops and sequencers the lay down the dirty dark beats. In Lacek's scorching DJ sets, Dub, Drum n' Bass, Roots Reggae and Hip-Hop are all fair game, but are usually preceded by a more experimental brand of glitch-tech that might catch listeners off guard. "We feel that experimental music creates a more show-like environiment," says Lacek. "Short sets of obscure or experimental music grabs the listeners' ears and gives them an alternative to marathon house sets." Musical collaborations are regular coincidences at the Lounge. When scratchmaster Citizen Ten caught a J.Tonal set featuring guitarist Peter D'elia, he asked to sit in on the following week. The result: a completely improvised, tweak-jazz guitar breakbeat scratchfest that was totally unprecedented and absolutely brilliant.
In the long run, the Lowpro mission is to build a unique and enduring musical community through continued artistic collaboration.
- Jonathan Zwickle
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