Teebs / Those who went to Nosaj Thing’s show last year know the young DJ from Los Angeles is carving out new spaces in electronic sound. His appearance was produced and promoted by local 20-somethings Travis Tokuyama, Annie Nguyen and Joe Gosalvez. Tokuyama says, “It was something different for Hawaii.” It’s what Tokuyama refers to as the “LA beat movement,” in which DJs are “putting it together live and re-mixing it live. Artists like Daedalus, Flying Lotus and Samiam.”

Tokuyama, Nguyen, Gosalvez and Alika Pfaltzgraff, motivated to inspire the people of Honolulu by bringing new art and sounds to the city, formed the Space & Sound art and music collective earlier this year. The group will launch its inaugural exhibit, Space & Sound, this First Friday, Aug. 6, at The ARTS at Marks Garage. The event includes a screening of Secondhand Sureshots, a film that chronicles LA beat-makers’ use of sound recycling, and a performance by Teebs.

Teebs, also known as Mtendere Mandowa, is one of the up-and-coming DJs from LA’s beat movement and he’s excited to come to Honolulu for the first time.

His take on the LA beat movement is that “a lot of kids are looking for new music or different sounds. There are a lot of producers in LA that have their own sound, own voice, focusing on instrumental music. It’s the same tempo that hip-hop has, same feelings that hip-hop gives you, but a lot of these kids are branching out into all kinds of sounds. More technically, it’s a lot of sample-based music. People have been calling it theatrical or emotional or downtempo.”

Although Teebs is constantly trying new things, he says, “Right now I’ve been digging through a lot of new-age music, almost near-ambient, people doing crazy chord progressions with really old synthesizers and harps. Usually I borrow a lot of equipment from friends. Like I’ll play mandolin, sample it. It’s always different.”

The 23-year-old Teebs is also a visual artist. His cross-genre work ties in perfectly with Space & Sound’s mission. He’s known for buying record sleeves from thrift stores in the cities he visits and creating new pieces on them, incorporating the images and conditions of each sleeve into each piece.

Teebs’ work was originally based on larger, 4-by-6-foot canvases. But his movement toward sleeves came out of participating in a group show where canvases were restricted to 12-by-12 inches. Record sleeves so happen to be that size.

“Compared to my other work that’s more loose, this is more compacted, designed. It’s a whole new process for me, working in this form. There’s collage, spray paint, paint, ink, charcoal, rust. Sometimes I shave stuff off onto the sleeve.”

Teebs is hoping to scour thrift stores on Oahu and turn out a batch of six sleeves for the Honolulu exhibit.

“I’m doing art from Hawaii for Hawaii. It’s a whole new thing,” he says. “I’m happy I’m about to be in town. If I could do back flips, I would.”

In addition to Teebs’ work, local artist Be@K-o3 (pronounced “beak oh-three”) will have his signature avian-themed graffiti-inspired work on display; Aaron Lee of My Cryptonauts will show off his plush monsters that incorporate Asian and Mexican ritualistic and pop expressionism; and Gary Saito and the aforementioned collective co-founder Pfaltzgraff will exhibit their photos.

Rich Richardson of The ARTS at Marks elaborates on the gallery’s involvement with the exhibit, and how it makes sense to have it in that particular space.

“I’m mostly intrigued by a kind of collaboration between genres or disciplines…It was an interesting crossover between performance and visual which is always happening at Marks. They always live next to each other, but are never presented as one in the same. I’m excited for them to blur the boundaries. It forms a new hybrid I’m interested in.”

As the ever-evolving marriage of art and music manifests itself in this exhibit and in what will hopefully be future ones, capture the moment of an emerging music and fine art scene with Space & Sound.

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