The arrival of Echo Park’s Robert DeLong in the indie electronic dance music scene, which seems to be in stagnation, came just in the nick of time. He is salvaging what is left of everything great about electronic music and creating something fresh and so immediately appealing that you can’t help but start moving to the music as soon as he starts playing.
Tagged as EDM’s newest rising star, the 25-year-old’s multifaceted and rousing compositions are an evolution from or perhaps a sort of freak crossbreed of today’s modern sounds. DeLong takes electronic music to a whole new level by infusing it with the elements of dubstep, pop, house, and wait for it, folk music (you heard me). Every now and then, he adds some tribal and rock elements with his fantastic drumbeats. And while loud, upbeat, and at times detached on the outside, his tunes all have soft centers, thanks to his melancholy yet hopeful and perhaps a bit idealistic lyrics about change and life’s impermanence, which he sings with the optimism of youth. His brand of music fits perfectly with LA’s growing local transethnic music scene.
DeLong looks modest and very at ease on stage at Silverlake’s Los Globos, where he is playing every Monday in January, like he’s been doing this all his life. Surrounded by his sequencing and mixing equipment, a keyboard, and his drum kit, he turns into an impressive one-man show as he moves from one instrument to another. In between songs, he invites his audience of high-strung twenty-somethings to dance some more. They yell in response but it’s his music that really does the trick – the dance floor re-vibrates with energy as he starts off on his next track.
Robert DeLong is having a Monday-nights residency at the Los Globos Night Club in Silverlake all through January. His sophomore album is expected for release this year.
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