TEEBS Shares New Song “Mirror Memory” via Adult Swim Singles

Back in 2010, I was working in a coffee shop/roastery here in Seattle.  Our lunch area, which also doubled as the cupping (tasting) room, had large windows that allowed folks to see in, while offering us a prime location to witness patrons exiting the bathrooms, as we were trying to eat.  One day, I noticed a figure strolling past and out the front doors of the cafe.  Those sideburns were unmistakable; it was Los Angeles electronic producer, Afred Darling aka Daedelus.  We had already posted our interview with him on the site, by that point, and, although it had been conducted by a good friend/writer based in San Francisco, I’d briefly met Alfred prior to this, and set up the whole thing up with him via the internet.  I went outside to catch him real quick.  He was in the middle of a tour for his Magical Properties label with a lineup that included names like The Gaslamp Killer, 12th Planet, and Free The Robots.  With him outside was the opener, a quiet skinny young man named Teebs, who looked like he’s been skateboarding in his loose slumped over stocking cap.  He must have been about 23 at the time, but I definitely would have believed it if I was told he was still in his late teens  Daedelus is a coffee guy, so we went back inside so that I could make him a pour over of some crazy Ethiopian Nekisse shit that we had at the time.  It was clear that coffee wasn’t Teebs‘s thing, but he humored us, anyway.  I didn’t think much about this unassuming character until I looked him up later that night and discovered his music.  He was really good.

Born Mtendere Mandowa, the producer had only just recently released his debut album, Ardour, on the Flying Lotus run Brainfeeder label.  There were elements to his sound that clearly connected him to that Flylo / Daedelus Low End Theory Los Angeles scene — primarily, in the shuffling beats — but the LP also possessed a fully formed identity of his own.  These were beautifully layered, often delicate tracks with shimmering flourishes that blossomed and shifted momentum.  I was even more impressed to discover that the abstract cover art, which possessed an engaging tension and incredible energy to it, was also painted by Mandowa.  A mutli-talented creator, he doesn’t always devote 100% of his energy toward the craft of music, so it can take a little while before a full-on studio album is released.  Rather, his work is spread across mediums, as with his clothing collaborations with Obey and Ron Herman Japan, as well as gallery exhibits for his paintings.  He’s giving the remix treatment to tracks by such artists as Hundred Waters, Shlomo, Jaga Jazzist, and the Orb, and even collaborated on an EP with Prefuse 73 in a project called Sons Of The Morning, back in 2013.

Today Adult Swim Singles releases their latest offering and handing the duties for the “48th installment of the current program” is Teebs with a track titled “Mirror Memory.”  For anyone patiently awaiting his next studio album to drop, here’s a little something to tied you over in the meantime.  For those who are more unfamiliar what he does, it’s also not a bad idea to go and delve deeper into that, after checking out the brand new tune below.