“…a mind expanding synthesis of jazz and electronics.” – Tom Zillich, Westender

“Intelligent music, with a touch of flash, and a lot of flair” – The Georgia Straight

After an almost 20 year hiatus, the sensational pioneering, live instrument sampling and electronic dance improvisation band, Lappelectro, from Victoria, BC, lead by Daniel Lapp, is back. Reformed for a main stage performance at last year’s Rifflandia festival, the new Lappelectro lineup delivers more of the magic that catapulted them into their own echelon of electronic/jazz/improvisation. The new lineup features DJ Mole playing an original 808 drum machine and original members Danuel Tate (Cobblestone Jazz, Wagon Repair) and Rick May (Michael Jackson) along with Lapp on a myriad of instruments, building layers of sound bytes.

Lappelectro had it’s early beginnings in 2001 at Steamer’s Pub in Victoria, BC. The band was created initially to fill in for local faves, Velvet for a few months during their regular Sunday night series. The first band members had cut their teeth experimenting with live looping and improvised jamming over DJ beats and samples for a few years already at the infamous Steamers sessions, but it was the formation of Lappelectro when the improvisations took very deliberate steps toward jazz and early electro pioneers. Influences such as 1970’s Miles Davis and the 1980’s Egyptian Lover were evident in the first series of 20 live recordings that the band released during their Steamer’s residency.

Lappelectro continued to pioneer the then new frontier of live sampling and looping of acoustic instruments while playing with electronic instruments. Drum machines, DJ turntables, early midi keyboards and the usual array of effects processors were married with fiddles, trumpets, flutes and guitars. Always the music was experimental, usually completely improvised and the band built compositions while the audience danced or stood staring in amazement.

The band toured widely in it’s first few years including performances at many Canadian Jazz Festivals including Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax and the Calgary and Vancouver Folk Festivals. Invitations to a wide array of festivals were strong indications of the band’s diversity. After a sensational performance at the Seattle WOMAD Festival the band followed up with a tour of Seattle and Portland and more Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria and CBC Radio shows. The last tour of Lappelectro’s 1st ‘era’ was in 2004 in Australia with club dates in Sidney and a performance at an electronic music showcase in Brisbane.

Lappelectro released one studio EP, Closer Than They Appear on Diversity Records with the title track appearing as Track 1 on Maximum Jazz for the Vancouver Jazz Festival compilation album. Besides the initial array of live albums from Steamers Pub, the band released a live album from the Seattle WOMAD performance that was released on a Los Angeles label. There also exists an unreleased live recording from the Brisbane, Australia concert in 2004. Lappelectro had a song (This Dream) added to a Vancouver Indie horror movie and the band composed music for a short film entitled, “Home”.