Lightning in a Bottle is an annual festival in Southern California. It features workshops, camping, and musical acts along a beautiful lake. Produced by the DoLab—what started out as a simple art installation at Coachella, turned into a five-day romp with some very high caliber artists (who aren’t usually heard on radio stations). LIB often pushes new artists and inventive sounds, but they also have a knack for signing living legends who helped pave the way. This year storied artists: Skream, Fat Boy Slim, and M.I.A. will all perform.
Of the three artists mentioned, Skream likely the most obscure to the mainstream. But he was actually one of the most seminal forces in trailblazing the Dubstep genre in the early 2000s. Dubstep owes much of its sound to Jamaican roots. It plays into song structures of modern breakbeat, and drum & bass. Generally the bass is really heavy. In the underground scene of South London, Skream began to distort bass-line sounds that grew out of Reggae Dub. His legacy includes collaborations with John Legend, Chromeo, and La Roux. Nowadays, there are entire tents at festivals devoted to Skream’s genre (see: Thunder Stage).
Up until last year, Skream had taken a hiatus from music, but lucky us! Lightning in a Bottle will be one of of his first performances back in the circuit. As the grandfather of Dubstep, he should not to be missed.
Moving on to 1990s Big Beat House, we have Fat Boy Slim. Big Beat draws from hip-hop samples and employs syncopated breakbeats. And you know Fat Boy Slim even if you don’t think you do. Fat Boy Slim was known for remixing artists like Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, and Groove Armada. He also produced for Blur, made wild music videos featuring Spike Jonze & Christopher Walken, and is featured on the Brighton Hall of Fame next to Winston Churchill.
His song “Praise You” was a massive success at the time, winning 3 VMAs in 1999. It was featured on television shows like Sex and the City, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Beverly Hills 90210, and in the celebrated film Cruel Intentions. If you watched any content produced in the late nineties, it’s likely Big Beat was the first type of electric music that you ever heard. And In 2018, “Praise You” was remixed by Purple Disco Machine bringing Fat Boy Slim to a whole new generation of music people.
Now for M.I.A.
M.I.A. took center stage in the zeitgeist for her 2008 Diplo collaboration, “Paper Planes.” Her creative prowess is so much more than that single. Her 2005 and 2007 albums, named for her parents, Arular and Kala, respectively, are considered masterpieces. When her music first came out, nothing had ever sounded like that before. And to this day, not much else sounds like her. M.I.A. has a knack for drawing influence from all over the planet. She uses didgeridoos, children rhyming, and literal drill sounds. Her lyrics point at global injustices and are completely free in their expression. Her bass-heavy, “20 Dollar” plays off the Pixies‘ “Where is My Mind” interspersed with gunshots and drums.
M.I.A. is a true artist. Displaced as a child during the Sri Lankan Civil War, she takes in the pain of the world and creates something powerful and full of feeling with it. Her trippy play into electronic, hip-hop, and rap will be one of the most memorable performances for this years Lightning in a Bottle.
We are looking forward to seeing them all this Memorial Day Weekend. If this sounds like a show you can’t miss, buy tickets here!
The Indy Review 