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PREFIXAUDIOFILEEliot LippA Tacoma bird TAKES flightto Chicago, LA, and beyond.words: vivian hostOn the cover of Tacoma Mockingbird, a photo of Eliot Lipp issuperimposed on a shot of an industrial Los Angeles skyline,his body bisected by a thick yellow line that busts a serious’80s graphic design move. While not my favorite albumsleeve ever, it does a lot to suggest the influence that movingto LA has had on this 25-year-old producer’s second album.G-funk keyboards mob all over this record, swinging through“Glasspipe,” kicking back and squelching on “Check Weight.”Meanwhile, the electro touches of “Last Night” and “BrandNew” beg for an uprock or five, while the album’s languid,liquid BPMs would be a great soundtrack to a smoke-filledlowrider slowly tippin’ to the side.In actuality, Tacoma Mockingbird equally reflects everywhereLipp has lived (which is a lot of places). Songs “The People”and “Mashin on Em” channel the melancholy mood ofhis hometown: rainy, working-class Tacoma, Washington.“Vallejo” finds him under the influence of Bay Area gangsterrap producer Khayree, whose underrated beats for Mac Malland Ray Love informed Lipp’s years in San Francisco. Andthe Dabrye-esque feel of the record–where instrumental hiphoptempos rub up against plenty of techno touches–reflectsa recent two-year stint in Chicago, one that had him listeningto Pantytec, Luciano, and Cylob alongside Kool G Rap andColtrane.“I make different styles of music based on whatenvironment I’m in,” says Lipp, whose self-titled first albumwas released on Prefuse 73’s Eastern Developments label.“My newer stuff has been getting less beat-oriented, but I’vealso been making beats for MCs. For MCs, I’ll try to makesomething really minimal so that it doesn’t crowd in with thelyrics, but on Tacoma Mockingbird, I was trying to take up thespace of where the MC would be with synth lines.” Thougheach track contains five or six different synths, the majorityof sounds on the record originated from Lipp’s beloved KorgMS-20 and the Sequential Circuits Six-Trak, a 1984 analogrelic. “All the sounds that I ever really need to use are inthose two keyboards,” he enthuses.While most producers are busy trying to give theirproductions a more organic feel, Lipp is wisely ahead of thecurve–he plans to take his next record in a more machinedrivendirection. “I played a lot of Tacoma Mockingbird live,”he explains. “I didn’t really sequence anything. [For my nextalbum], I want to get the human element a bit more out ofit and make it more computer-y. I want to do a lot moresequencing to keep it fresh and keep a lot of thought putinto it, rather than just going with the flow.”Tacoma Mockingbird is out now on Hefty. www.heftyrecords.com30