From base camp CONDUIT, they are engineering an exquisitely underground level of dance music. The imprint and experience brand, led by Los Angeles’ Left/Right, is all in this year with returns to their nods in LA, San Francisco, and Dallas, with more cities on the storyboard. Catching Chris on a call following our previous interview around his ‘Big Rave Energy’, a signifying EP to the whole CONDUIT concept, we discovered there is an event at a warehouse in DTLA on September 13th.
Curious on what he had done for the event’s ‘side quests’ in the past we discovered about his Mineral Missions, i.e. scavenger hunts based on the intentions behind particular natural gems. People would pick up the line to a telephone and be told the story of the intentions behind the stones, then be asked to complete a quest of sorts, funny at times, yet also with agency, diving deeper into what the spiritual world has to offer. Equipped with the immersive art to bring the rooms alive, the adventures at the CONDUIT parties have been one of the best kept secrets.
miido from San Francisco has played a hand in the development of CONDUIT, shining in the darkest corners of the underground with her seasoned break beat and house music. ‘Damn Boi‘ is a good one of her’s to sample as well as her mix with Left/Right, ‘Memory’.
Jbarr is the team’s go to out of Dallas, where he can be found at It’ll Do, the choice venue for CONDUIT, and playing in spots such as Joshua Tree channeling galactic sets with a smooth tone, and always keeping the crowd up to speed on the latest. While DAVDCASE is also a name out of Dallas, you will have to try his rework of Jigitz‘s ‘Let me go‘.
To showcase this dance music family’s sound experience we also nod to pricklypears, and essentially the various sets available from CONDUIT’s collaborations with the Boiler Room or at Monarch San Francisco with Niall Augustine, then of course their latest release ‘When I Go’ by Choopsie.
Living up to their moto, “how we shape the world is what the world becomes,” CONDUIT is innovating VR and immersive art installations. Fresh out of the lab with new capabilities Chris is able to spin his own creativity into interactive rooms, thanks to the to the help of Joep Art “for helping me get Touch Designer talk to MadMapper” and Boston Kassidy “for helping me get touch working with Ableton,” shared Chris.
Each show is a new concept, and often people helping the events get to take the art home, leaving Chris and his creative team with a fresh take each time. We asked about the art he must have laying around, and yes, there is a nice collection. Before the art overflows his place, he wonders what he should do with it all…
The collection is clearly fueling his creativity as decor in the studio as there was word from his darker side, Left/Right, is coming out with 5 new releases soon and how more time is being spent on his You Us We Them project, which already led him to scoring films and UFC sizzle reels. The explosive storytelling from You Us We Them touches dream pop, downtempo, ambient, as he has gain inspiration from artists such as John Hopkins, Max Cooper and Lorn, among others. Lets allow the Sound Engineer explain the artistic direction of the first album,
“‘Build’, is deep, chaotic, and unapologetically beautiful. It is a relaxed but intricate collage of intimate and organic textures, contrasted by expansive reverbs, and futuristic soundscapes.”
While enjoying You Us We Them’s fresh releases, ‘Everything’, and ‘in delicate code’, explore the lineup for the upcoming warehouse CONDUIT night with Joint Function artists QRTR and Next to Blue alongside the label residents, Choopsie, L E F T / R I G H T, Canary Yellow, then get the full feels by watching the short film Chris scored, Whiskey River.
