OWEN TAYLOR: TONIGHT AT THE NEW FRONTIER >>>

The first time I saw Eliot Lipp play we were about halfway through our first Word Life hip-hop series at the China Clipper when DJ Brown, aka Equestrian, (see: killing it in Portland) told me she had a friend in town from Tacoma who was just passing through and wanted to see if he could get maybe 20 minutes to play some beats. We had a full bill, but told him he could go on, but it would be first, and the earlier he played the more he could play. I showed up around 7:30 to set up, and here’s this very handsome young gentleman drinking red wine and smoking a cigarette, already on stage doing a sound check. He had an array of drum machines, samplers, and synthesizers all synced and playing some of the illest beats I had heard at the time. After running through a few, he got up and actually started performing, switching drum loops on his dual 202s while playing the synths and chain-smoking. An extremely rare show for an electronic musician. After he was done he passed out a bunch of promos for his debut LP, which was picked up by the very aware Scott Herren (see: Prefuse 73) and put out on his stellar label Eastern Development.

Tonight, Eliot Lipp returns to his hometown Tacoma to a hero’s welcome.

[New Frontier Lounge, with Michna, E-Team, 9 p.m., $10, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]