Arnold & Lane get Amplified: Arnold of Los Angeles house duo Arnold & Lane says that he started playing music when he was just nine years old.

"Guitar/Bass/Drums -- I played in and out of bands throughout high school/college," he says. "I purposely steered away from electronic music, due to my naive opinionated belief at the time that rock/jazz music was the only way. I went to Hard Summer in 2012 and my whole world got rocked. The set that did it was seeing the Gaslamp Killer because he was playing Iggy Pop and Led Zeppelin in his sets. I found it hard playing in bands creatively because I played most of the instruments, and I would get frustrated with how everything was sounding. Seeing electronic music live made me realize you don’t need a band to be a performer. Shortly afterwards, I picked up a controller and taught myself how to DJ. From there the natural progression is making your own beats, so I got ableton and enrolled in a course. House music wasn’t the initial genre i started producing, I was super into LA Beat music. Things got more serious once Arnold &  Lane started. We came together as a duo through our shared connections through the recovery community where we lived. I had struggled w heroin addiction from 2011-2015 and eventually got sober, and I met taylor shortly afterwards. We connected on a musical level through our shared love of Bass House and eventually decided to start making music together.  It has been a wonderful ride thus far. "

"When I was 15 years old my friend left a janky turntable set up and mixer at my house," adds Lane. "I really didn’t have any formal concept of DJing but quickly fell in love with the method of showcasing some of my favorite tunes on something more iconic than mix CDs. It felt like having a massive set up reflected that I mean business, so listen to me I got something to say. Long story short, I got linked up with some of Santa Barbara’s best DJs, including Gavin Roy whom took me under his wing. He taught me mixing techniques and exposed me to new technology. Suddenly, 16 years old, I was a full-fledged mobile disc jockey! Playing private events, weddings, sweet sixteens, etc… After spearheading a successful business, I realized that if I wanted to take my craft to the next level I needed to learn how to produce music. I slowly became disillusioned with spinning top 40 and I wanted to explore electronic music that was more forward thinking at the time. I realized that if I wanted to take it up a notch and punch out of the local ecosystem, I needed to prioritize production and step away from the DJ business. I soon found myself gaining local respect for some of my original productions. Years later I met Arnie through the shared experience of sobriety. We began working together at an online vape store and soon discovered that we both enjoyed electronic music and music production/DJing. We ended up forging a great friendship while choosing to be roommates. After writing a record that got signed to Audiophile XXL, I proposed that we both create an electronic music duo, because we suspected that this journey would be better experienced shared with someone. The ability to create music on two fronts has been a fantastic advantage of productivity."

Arnold says that it's tough to describe their sound because it has evolved massively since they started.

"It’s hard to describe completely, as we make so many different styles of house music," he says. "We go everywhere from Tech House to Bass House to Techno etc. Lately, I feel our tracks have been more 'Focused?'  I like the term 'No Bullshit'."

"I think our sound is really interesting in the sense that it pulls sonic influences from such a broad range of music," adds Lane. "Which may be the reason why we can dance smoothly between both the jovial and serious dualities of sound. In my opinion, in today’s age, a lot of the popular dance music is quite threadbare. I’m a firm believer that our sound offers more versatility underneath the tech house umbrella."

Lane believes that we are living through a time where a lot of marketed electronic music is shallow and saturated.

"Most labels are looking for that next formulaic banger and have a difficult time seeing the value in a more unique sound," he says. "Which I totally understand, but at times it’s felt quite discouraging. I appreciate how a label like Dirtybird continues to recognize the unique side of things and what we have to offer to the music."

Arnold & Lane's latest release is the "Amplify Your Vibe" single.

"This is one of my favorite tracks we’ve done," Arnold says. "When we made this track, it screamed Dirtybird, so we knew that was where we needed to send it. We made it together at Taylor’s home studio in about 3-4 hours. The track basically wrote itself. It’s a 'No Bullshit' kind of track!"

"We wrote and recorded this song at my little home studio stuffed in the corner of my room," adds Lane. Arnie and I sat down, and it simply flowed naturally. If Prince and Tech House had a baby… Surely it would be a vibe. A smacking groove sprinkled with the iconic 707 drum machine and a live bass topline amplifies the dance floor into a new dimension. Listening to this ethereal Time Machine is like approaching a blackhole. As the listeners strut their deep descent with attitude, they are suddenly enlightened to discover a different side of popular dance music that is quite refreshing."

Looking ahead, the duo has plenty planned for the remainder of 2023.

"We have some shows lined up for Q4 2023," Arnold says. "Some upcoming music on Night Bass. We just launched a bandcamp subscription, where if subscribed you get access to 2 new exclusive edits of ours each month, pretty excited about that as we’re sitting on so many edits, so it’s cool those tracks get a platform for release. We’ve been talking about self releasing some music either this year or next year as well."

Arnold & Lane get Amplified: Arnold & Lane's "Amplify Your Vibe" is out now.


Editor's note: The disclaimer below refers to advertising posts and does not apply to this or any other editorial stories. LA Weekly editorial does not and will not sell content.