I’ll be the first to admit that, as much as I adore the genre, electronic music isn’t always the most stimulating thing to watch live. Sure, there are artists and DJs (Deadmau5 and Bonobo) that have the money to throw down on huge sets, live bands, and amazing light shows. Most producers, however, get left to playing in between day jobs and other ventures. What it does have going for it though is the unique opportunity to sit in a room with a bunch of like-minded folks and hear the music you love on a sound system, and at a volume, that trumps anything you have in your house.

Little People has one of my absolute favorite ambient hip-hop albums. Mickey Mouse Operation is, in my humble opinion, the greatest piece of instrumental beat making since DJ Shadow’s Entroducing. Instrumental hip-hop is often built off of samples, but Little People likes to limit that and focus more on original instrumentation. Hearing it live, even if it was just a guy fiddling with effects, was cathartic. To just sit back and listen—and watch others listen and appreciate—felt good. Upstairs at The Trocadero, there had to be less than 40 people in attendance, but we were all in it together. Opener Yppah had a solid set of his own brand of bass and drum heavy hip hop—a lot of melodic undertones, similar to Little People, but grungier. The first set by Lost Midas was a far more dance-able affair that would not have been out of place on Ninja Tune