Electronic musicians Daedelus and Tokimonsta to perform at Broad Art Center

Daedelus will be performing with Tokimonsta today in the Experimental Digital Arts space at UCLA’s Broad Art Center as part of Campus Events Commission’s partnership with the Design | Media Arts undergraduate exhibition. Alfred Darlington, better known as Daedelus, spoke to Daily Bruin’s Jessica McQueen about his sound and live performances.

Daily Bruin: Why did you choose the name Daedelus?

Alfred Darlington: It gives us a certain amount of freedom to pick a name that’s somewhere outside of ourselves. … It’s nice to have an aspiration in a name, I feel, and Daedelus was supposedly the greatest inventor of the Greek ancient age. And in that way, he both lived an amazingly inventive life in terms of his inventions, like the labyrinth and the wings of wax, but then also a very tragic life. He lost his son, he killed his cousin. I think it’s important in music to have some drama, some reasons to make a sound. I pull from that inspiration to make music that isn’t just dance-floor ready and (is) something that has a bit of emotion, hopefully.

DB: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

AD: I like to think that I make romantic sounds. Now, that isn’t to say that it’s romance of the swooning, swirling, doe-eyed type. It’s more like the kind where you feel like a dread in your stomach and there (are) butterflies, and sometimes it yields wonderful results, but other times it’s like a misconnection. So (my sound) is somewhere lying between that sweet and sour.

DB: Have you played with Tokimonsta before?

AD: Yeah, we did a whole huge North American tour. We both played at Coachella last year, and based around that, we both did a U.S. tour. I’ve known Toki for a long time now, and she’s amazing. When this UCLA gig came up, (the event planners) originally didn’t have the opener (figured) out yet. … We talked about a few names, and the first name that I said, if I remember correctly, was Toki. (Toki and I) have had a connection for a while now.

DB: How do you prepare for a performance?

AD: The machine I used is called a monome. It is fantastic in the sense that it is a very flexible electronic instrument. It’s a very wonderful platform to express from. I feel I actually can find a voice in my live electronic music because of this machine. And the way I generally prepare for things is that I try to imagine what could move me or what could move people. … I try to just prepare a little bit in advance and then play in that sandbox quite a bit. … I’ve learned over time that if you go into a situation and you think you have it figured out, it will surprise you, and you won’t be available and open to what kind of magic the night can have.

DB: What was your reaction to hearing your songs on the radio?

AD: To be honest, I’m not a nihilist, but when it comes to creativity, I have kind of a dark tinge. … I come from that mindset that I’m amazed it ever happened, ever. There are thousands of musicians, so why me? And so whenever I hear it on the radio, it’s insane. It’s against so many odds to hear yourself reproduced on the radio, or to see people clicking through and liking on a Facebook or listening on SoundCloud or any of this stuff. It boggles my mind, and I feel extremely honored and lucky to be in this position.

Email McQueen at [email protected].