From Baltimore warehouses to the vocal throughline of Dirtybird’s Flock Tapes Vol. 1, Life On Planets talks Flight Week, “Spiraling,” and closing out Campout x Northern Nights.
Written by Eric B. Thornton
Before Life On Planets was a voice threading through Dirtybird’s compilations, he was Phill Celeste, an art school kid in Baltimore sneaking into warehouses, lofts, and whatever fringe room had a show that night. “I gained an appreciation for clashes of worlds that not many get to experience,” he tells me. That appreciation is still the whole engine of Life On Planets; soul, house, R&B, and guitar, refusing to sit in one lane.
LA changed the equation. “Playing in bands and making art I mostly kept my creative to myself before,” he says. “But in LA, with so much talent around and passing through, it’s been fun to open that up in all sorts of different arenas, from writing to making skits and choreography.” It’s also where he found his way onto Dirtybird, a label built around DJs and drum machines, where a singer-guitarist by all logic shouldn’t fit. He does anyway.
“The cool thing about the guys at Dirtybird is they have never tried to make me feel like I had to change my sound or style to fit in. At these festivals I offer a breather to groove and experience a different vibration.”
— Life On Planets
That breather became the backbone of something bigger this year. Dirtybird’s inaugural Flight Week writing camp turned Life On Planets and his L.O.P. LIFE alias into the vocal throughline of Flock Tapes Vol. 1, the label’s 17-track compilation — “Drip Drop (Handle That)” with Black V Neck, “Bell Ringer,” “Smoke Show” with Mz Worthy and Clayton William.
“The aim was to get as much music done as possible, so it was refreshing to just flow and go with my first instinct,” he says. “Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in questioning — is this deep enough, will people get it, yadda yadda. But all of that was out of the window. We serve the music.” L.O.P. LIFE itself was born out of practicality as much as art: “The all mighty algorithm can only push an artist so much, so I made another alias to keep things rolling when the schedule was full.”
“Spiraling,” the four-way credit with Black V Neck, Ardalan, and SHADED, came out of that same camp logic. “The beautiful thing is that it’s a conversation,” he says. “A groove here, a bassline, some drums. No real attachment, just seeing what happens in the experiment.” That experiment kept playing out live at Dirtybird Campout x Northern Nights last month, where he popped up in Ardalan’s set for unreleased jams, sang atop DJ Minx’s set on their collaboration, and traded a back-to-back with Empire’s Moody Jones at the Octopus Garden. Last year he played the River stage in the afternoon sun, live and loose. This time he closed the Grove stage at midnight, reaching past soul-house into techno and bass, still clashing worlds together, just on a set list now.
He arrived at Campout fresh off “This Is The Place,” a Desert Hearts Records collaboration with Mikey Lion and Marbs, released the same month the label threw its own Thursday takeover at the festival.
“It’s such a privilege to be able to work with people who have a mission of bringing people together and celebrating our differences. I never expected to be on this path, coming from bands and art school, and it’s been a blessing to be surrounded by so many talented, hard-working people.”
— Life On Planets
Ask him the Frank151 question — dream festival, any three headliners, dead or alive — and Life On Planets doesn’t reach for the expected picks. Miles Davis. Prince. Blaze, the original Jersey house group. “It would be my dream to team live musicians with DJs for jams that groove nonstop,” he says. It’s the same idea he’s been chasing since the warehouses of Baltimore — just with a bigger room now.
Life On Planets — “This Is The Place” out now on Desert Hearts Records · Flock Tapes Vol. 1 out now on Dirtybird
Stream via Bandcamp · Follow on Instagram · Dirtybird · Dirtybird Campout x Northern Nights
The Full Interview: Life On Planets x FRANK151
1. Let’s start with the FRANK151 tradition: you’re curating your dream festival, who are your top three headliners, dead or alive?
Miles Davis, Prince, Blaze (the OG group from Jersey). It would be my dream to team live musicians with DJs for jams that groove nonstop.
2. You came up in Baltimore and now call LA home. Two cities with very different relationships to dance music. What did Baltimore put into Life On Planets that’s never leaving, and what has LA rewired?
Baltimore gave LoP a taste for the avant garde. I went to art school there and partied in warehouses, lofts and all kinds of fringe places in a very diverse yet small scene. From underground plays to Bmore club music, I gained an appreciation for clashes of worlds that not many get to experience. LA has made me much more collaborative. Playing in bands and making art I mostly kept my creative to myself before. But in LA with so much talent around and passing through its been fun to open that up in all sorts of different arenas from writing to making skits and choreography.
3. You’re a singer and guitarist operating in a scene built around DJs and drum machines. When you’re on a Dirtybird bill between tech house sets, how do you think about where the guitar and the voice fit, and have you ever felt like the odd bird out?
The cool thing about the guys at Dirtybird is they have never tried to make me feel like I had to change my sound or style to fit in. At these festivals I offer a breather to groove and experience a different vibration. While it sometimes makes me a bit self-conscious, it’s usually a welcome change and we get down.
4. Flight Week is Dirtybird’s first-ever writing camp, which basically turned you and your L.O.P. LIFE alias into the vocal throughline of the Flock Tapes, from “Drip Drop (Handle That)” to “Bell Ringer” to “Smoke Show.” What was that week actually like inside the room, and where did L.O.P. LIFE come from?
It was a blast! The aim was to get as much music done as possible so it was refreshing to just flow and go with my first instinct. Sometimes its easy to get lost in questioning — is this deep enough, will people get it, yadda yadda. But all of that was out of the window. We serve the music. As for LOP Life: over the last few years I’ve been doing a lot more collabs and have a tight schedule of releases. The all mighty algorithm can only push an artist so much so I made another alias to keep things rolling when the schedule was full.
5. “Spiraling” put four names on one record: you, Black V Neck, Ardalan, and SHADED. How does a track like that come together without turning into too many cooks? Who usually does what?
The beautiful thing is that its a conversation. Everyone has something that they contribute. A groove here, a bassline, some drums. The fun thing about the writing camp is everyone can just throw a piece of something in and see what happens. No real attachment, just seeing what happens in the experiment.
6. A lot of your Flock Tapes collaborators — Black V Neck, Ardalan, SHADED, and Mz Worthy — played with you at Campout lineup this weekend. Were there any b2bs or surprise cameos at the festival?
I popped up on Ardy’s set when he played some of our unreleased jams, and when DJ Minx, dance music royalty, asked me to sing on our collab during her set I had to oblige. Also got down with Empire all star Moody Jones on the Octopus Garden for a tidy b2b.
7. This is the second edition of Campout x Northern Nights. Soul-house hits differently at 2 p.m. next to a river than at 2 a.m. in a warehouse. How much does a setting like that rewrite the set you bring?
Last year I played the River in the afternoon and brought the funk, mostly playing live and unreleased jams with plenty of sunshine. This year I got to close out the Grove stage at midnight so I brought the heat. Of course, many of the Flock Tapes jams but also took the opportunity to play some grooves out of the usual — reaching into techno and even bass.
8. You also recently released “This Is The Place” with Desert Hearts, who also hosted a Thursday takeover at Campout x Northern Nights. What does it mean to be part of two communities that have become such important pillars of dance music culture?
Its such a privilege to be about to work with people who have a mission of bringing people together and celebrating our differences. I never expected to be on this path coming from bands and art school and its been a blessing to be surrounded by so many talented, hard-working people!