Eliot Lipp

Initially known as a producer of dusty instrumental hip-hop, American producer Eliot Lipp's sound expanded to include electro-funk, disco, and glitchy techno. Originally from Tacoma, Washington, Lipp spent time in San Francisco and Chicago, absorbing a wide variety of music, including hip-hop, jazz fusion, post-rock, and techno. He worked on tracks using a basic setup of an old sampler and sequencer, and his work eventually caught the attention of Scott Herren (Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas). Lipp's self-titled debut album appeared on Herren's Eastern Developments label in November of 2004.

Soon after, Lipp signed to Hefty Records, which released his Immediate Action #10 and Rap Tight EPs in 2005, followed by the full-length Tacoma Mockingbird in 2006. Showcasing a wider musical scope than his debut, the album received positive reviews, and Lipp became increasingly more productive. He moved to Brooklyn, and two more releases (The Days and Steele Street Scraps) appeared on Hefty during the year. City Synthesis appeared on the Miami label Metatronix in 2007. Lipp teamed up with Willie Burns for a lo-fi cosmic disco project called Galaxy Toobin'; their self-titled debut LP was released by Crème Organization in 2008, and was later reissued on cassette by Not Not Fun. As a solo artist, Lipp's typically eclectic full-length The Outside appeared on Mush Records that year. He also collaborated with abstract MC Vyle on an EP titled Neonstrider Bit Rate.

Preceded by the 2008 EP Beamrider, Lipp's video game-inspired full-length Peace Love Weed 3D was released on his own Old Tacoma Records in early 2009. The album was more dance-friendly than past Lipp releases, and he expanded on this direction with Dark Party, his collaboration with Leo 123. Their full-length Light Years appeared on Old Tacoma in 2010. The following year, Lipp released the digital album Brolabs, which featured remixes by friends and tourmates such as Pretty Lights, Mux Mool, and Big Gigantic. Lipp's Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake was issued by Pretty Lights Music in 2012; like Pretty Lights, Lipp had become popular on the EDM festival circuit, particularly among audiences more into downtempo, dubstep, and glitch-hop than big-room dance music. Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake Remixes appeared in 2013, followed by Lipp's electro-funk full-length Watch the Shadows.

Lipp moved back to Washington and recorded the full-length Come to Life, which was released by Detroit-based Young Heavy Souls in April of 2016. The label also reissued Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake later in the year. Lipp relocated again, this time to Austin, although he regularly made trips back to his home state. Young Heavy Souls issued the prolific artist's Skywave album in June of 2017. ~ Paul Simpson