Life On Planets previews “Nomad Lyfe” EP at The Virgil
Rules Don’t Apply Records lit up The Virgil Friday night to celebrate the latest EP release from artist Life On Planets, “Nomad Lyfe.” The celebration featured a lineup of performances from a few of the label’s incredibly talented artists.
The evening’s roster ended on a high with an incredible performance by Life On Planets, the stars of the evening. The night also included some underground artists that fans of dance music might not recognize, such as Baby J and the incredible Astronomar.
The Los Angeles local Marlon Lumba, better known as Astronomar, helms RDA as its label manager — and comes with receipts (as the kids say). With over 10 years of music production experience under his belt, Astronomar formed his style of dance music in resistance to mainstream EDM sounds. His previously released EP “Ya’ll Know” and track “High & Tight” are great examples of that approach and quintessential listens for any techno aficionado.
The same can be said for his new prodigy Phill Celeste, otherwise known by his stage name “Life On Planets.”
“Obviously, [Celeste’s] music is awesome,” Lumba said. “I love the tracks. These tracks were already in the pipeline before I got involved with the label, [but] it was fun to help piece stuff around … The music was already there [to] build around, and it’s super fun to have that approach.”
Lumba, while innocuous and genuine, alludes to a music production industry that can at times obfuscate a track’s source at the expense of underrepresented artists. In the case of RDA, tracks produced by label artists are celebrated for their authenticity and collaboration.
After the soundcheck and a quick stop at the bar for a drink and some popcorn, audience members got a chance to chat with Life On Planets, or “Life — that’s just my name, Life!”
“My inspiration was a lot of my father’s music, for ‘Nomad Lyfe’ in particular,” Life said. “Growing up we would listen to his mixtapes — like Cameo, Gap Band, Slave , all that funky stuff. He would have stuff sped up or slowed down, and I would hear all this insane music, all these crazy guitar solos and groovy beats.”
The influence of his crate-digging father certainly rubbed off on young Life and inspired the artist to become a professional multiinstrumentalist and DJ. But before ‘Nomad Lyfe,’ he had reserved the Life On Planets discography for strictly house music, not inspired genre fusions.
“I had never tried to incorporate any of that in my music thus far,” Life said. “I was trying to combine what I do with this house music stuff now with some of that funk stuff and sprinkle a little bit of trap and R&B soul on top.”
In 2020, Life and many other DJs turned to streaming platform Twitch to combat coronavirus shutdowns and continue to work during the pandemic. Though typically used to livestream video games, artists garnered massive audiences during live performances on the platform. Streaming on Twitch inevitably led Life to being billed on stream alongside RDA co-owners and equally badass performers Sam Walker and Gavin Royce, better known as their stage moniker Walker & Royce. The duo is best known for works like “Dance with Me” (co-produced with Chris Lake) and “Rave Grave” (co-produced with VNSSA).
“We were on the same bill, and after that my manager [said] ‘Walker & Royce heard you and want to maybe do a collab,’” Life said.
When asked why RDA was the label he chose to release his latest work, Life simply said, “the internet!” “the internet!” Life found that his ability to release music under RDA allowed him to maintain a level of artistic freedom that the proliferation of live-streaming was allowing artists now. That focus stems from his desire to keep his music globally and sonically accessible, which has been especially important during the coronavirus pandemic.
“They’re just so open,” Life said. “A lot of these other labels try to focus on one type of sound or one particular thing. ‘Nomad Lyfe,’ — It’s a record that has these housey influences and a lot of other influences, it’s not a strictly club record.”
The rest of the evening went along without a hitch as each performer took the stage, and despite coronavirus still going strong globally, fans and fellow entertainers in the crowd enjoyed the cathartic release that nothing else like a good night out dancing with friends could do.