Mupps

Until yesterday, I'd never really wondered what sounds would link, say, Organized Noize's hip-hop swing, King Tubby's dub technique and Daft Punk's filtered dancefloor propulsion. Maybe Jason Chung had. At any rate, the L.A. performer, known as Nosaj Thing, produced just such sounds during an impressive show upstairs at Amsterdam's Paradiso. Using a Macbook and an Akai MPD32 controller, Chung was constantly dropping beats and mixing samples, filtering FX and generally laying out some dope music.

Unlike experimental beat scientists of the recent past, like Funkstörung and Prefuse 73, Nosaj Thing is ready for the dancefloor. At least when performing live. He is a product of the fertile beat scene centered in L.A.'s weekly Low End Theory club. His excellent debut album, Drift, came out this Summer. A new US tour starts this week.