Langston Kelly Human DJ
The world is full of miracles and mysteries. And then there is Langston Kelly Human DJ. A musician and front man turned sonomancer, LKHD works with sound with the goal of reshaping reality. Utilizing music, poetry, and sound design he seeks to discover what lies behind the veil. Magic, according to LKHD, is the working of energy particularly where there is an element of mystery involved. Sound has the power to both change our perception of reality as well as to manipulate the physical world as in cymatics and acoustic levitation. Though we have some small understanding of these processes, there is much more to learn and even more unknowns to discover. LKHD creates sonic spells to transport consciousness and transform reality. Which is why he also plays games.
Imagination is a key to humanity’s success as a species. Whether in the arts, sciences, or life in general, exercising your imagination is crucial to perceiving new ideas and repurposing old ones. Storytelling, a child of imagination and one of our most ancient arts, serves as a fundamental activity in our psychological development and indeed in our ability to interact with and perceive the world and each other. Games, especially role-playing games, are essentially interactive stories. As Pamela B. Rutledge Ph.D., M.B.A states in her article “The Psychological Power of Storytelling”, “to the human brain, imagined experiences are processed the same as real experiences...through imagination, we tap into creativity that is the foundation of innovation, self-discovery, and change.” By testing ourselves through games, we can enhance our psychological development and ultimately our lives.
For this reason, LKHD has teamed up with his long-time collaborator, Rhetorical Artz, in the creation of Fantastic Adventures utilizing Dungeons and Dragons 5E. Like other tabletop role-playing games, D&D is fundamentally a theater of the mind experience. Thus, nothing happens unless you imagine it. With the aid of Rhetorical Artz’ word wizardry and LKHD’s sonomancy, you find yourself immersed in a magical experience capable of enriching your real life. Join the journey.
Extended Bio
Langston has performed for a decade with various bands most notably: The Afro Yaqui Music Collective, El Foukr R'Assembly, and Starship Mantis. He toured Algeria with El Foukr in 2016 and performed throughout the eastern US and Canada with Starship Mantis beginning the same year. Starship Mantis was the first band for which Mr. Kelly was the front man performing on both vocals and horns, and composing some of the tunes. By the time the band was retired in 2020, Starship Mantis released 2 albums the second of which, Black Hole Radio AM/FM, features the first professional recording of one of Langston’s orchestrations.
In the midst of forming and touring with bands, Langston was also traveling and performing as LKHD, the all-improv DJ-style one man band. Under this moniker he released 4 albums. LKHD was originally, at least in part, a response to a lacking prevalence of well thought out, yet fully improvised music in the industry. With his third album “Stop Being Dead”, he accomplished his goal of creating a cohesive album with tracks that seem to have been prepared and yet were fully improvised and unedited. With his 4th album “Sunset” he achieved his goal of recording a fully improvised album in one take. Since then, Langston has removed the limitation of “all-improv” from his LKHD work in order to develop his natural talent for orchestration and focus on magic.