Hidden away up on Chicago’s north side there’s a place called the Morseland. It’s right in the middle of Rogers Park, one of the city’s more ethnically diverse neighborhoods. They’ve got a kitchen that stays open late, a pool table, and this fellow who masquerades under the name of Lokua putting together the musical program on Wednesday evenings. Different selectors and performers drop in from week to week, and artists from all over are pulled in, with a noteworthy appearance from the likes of Hakim Murphy and others solidifying the event’s slowly building reputation as a secret sweet spot for interesting live techno-oriented performance in Chicago. The event is called Heartbeats and what I haven’t yet mentioned is how Lokua is bringing some of the city’s most serious techno beats himself with his weekly live sets which are largely improvised and filled with fresh patterns masterfully shuffled like any pro DJ who knows his records. Except he doesn’t DJ, instead he showcases his latest creations to an unassuming crowd who will at times and without warning turn the restaurant/bar into a straight up dance club. Lokua demonstrates how easily his beats can roll, pulling influences from various electronic dance music genres. Last fall Lokua called me in, along with Dormilón from LA, for an evening of fine grooves. Dormilón started things off. His live set was excellent and at one point involved him passing a hacked Nintendo 3DS MIDI controller to an audience member, who started playing right along. I followed up with a DJ set, and this is a recording of it. More info and complete playlist can be found over at Soundcloud.
