Premiere: DJ Nobody's new 'Beaches' featuring Nocando and Baths

Premiere: DJ Nobody’s new ‘Beaches’ featuring Nocando and Baths

By Randall Roberts

July 10, 2013 7 AM PT

Los Angeles-born producer DJ Nobody is anything but, as a quick run through his resume confirms. One of the resident DJs of the influential weekly beat club the Low End Theory, the producer born Elvin Estela has been dropping essential tracks since the mid-’00s.

As DJ Nobody, he’s responsible for the foundational, influential 2005 full L.A. beat album “And Everything Else” and countless productions and residencies since. As half of the bass-heavy hip-hop killers Bomb Zombies with the rapper Nocando, he’s produced some of truly thick L.A. beats.

There’s much more: He co-founded peaceful jazz-funk duo Blank Blue and has collaborated with or produced acts including Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of the Mars Volta, chanteuse Mia Doi Todd, rapper Busdriver and psych-mantra masters Mystic Chords of Memory. Combined, Estela has made a big dent on the Southern California beat scene in the past decade.

PHOTOS: Concerts by The Times

The producer has just finished a new album called “Vivid Green,” and Pop & Hiss is premiering a cut called “Beaches.” The track, a pure, easy summer jam about life on the Pacific coast, is a collaboration with fellow Angeleno artists Nocando and Baths, both of whom have released fascinating music in recent years.

Nocando, in fact, has been on fire for the last few -- even if he hasn’t received as much attention as some of his peers. His toasting and rapping during the Low End Theory has kept the party moving, and on record he’s proved himself through the fiercely focused 2011 collaboration with fellow lyricist Busdriver as Flash Bang Grenada. If there’s justice, both Flash Bang and the Bomb Zombies’ “Sincerely Yours” will get their due in time.

For his part, Baths -- born Will Wiesenfeld -- is on tour in support of his well-received second album, “Obsidian.” (A few of these dates will be as an opener for spiritual godfathers the Postal Service.) The record features Wiesenfeld’s intimate, wavering voice within beats just as delicate. Released by the resurgent indie beat label Anticon, “Obsidian” earned Baths a coveted Best New Music slot at Pitchfork.

Combined, the trio of Nobody’s beat, Nocando’s rhymes and Baths’ swirling vocal hook braid into a thick jam that captures carefree California in the summer -- one that name-checks TV on the Radio, no less, and in true L.A. fashion, strongly advocates many stress-reducing doses of medicinal marijuana.

PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times

“It’s hot as hellfire, let’s head to the beaches,” raps Nocando. Good idea: Once there, he finds a message in a bottle that leads him to love, and Baths’ voice rejoices in harmony.
Stream or download the cuss-free version of “Beaches” below.