California genre-bending band Elevaters is the new hope for people craving unconventional hip-hop. The racially diverse group manages to push their musical experiment to new heights, all the while never loosing their populist appeal. The six-member crew’s sound is as original as it is intoxicating. Sam Golzari, Miles Ellington Gregley, and Benjamin Hall front the band with fresh verses, uplifting melodies, a dash of humor, and musicianship. Andre Morton, David Noily and Itai Shapira, drums, guitar, and bass respectively, explore grooves heard on the avenues where funk, rock, pop, and hip-hop intersect. The group’s dynamic live presentation, warm audio-production and compelling lyrical commentary on daily life will delight even the most objective and discerning ears. Amidst all the worldly challenges their music confronts, Elevaters strive to discover the hope and positivity in all of us. After years of touring and playing for packed local clubs, this underground staple is emerging as a leading voice of a new urban music movement. .. .. Elevaters have been enticing fans on the Los Angeles circuit for years with brilliant songs that uplift and tug at the heartstrings with playful dexterity. Their charismatic, touching and comedic stage performances employ deep grooves and moody melodies with sensitive arrangements in every composition. This product is extracted from a truly collaborative process. ”When we sit down and workshop a song- nothing moves forward until every individual in the group is satisfied,” says Shapira. “Everyone in the group is very honest and direct. We all listen to each other and respect the collective process.” .. .. The lush-soulful vocals, clever lyrics and shimmering keyboards of Golzari, lick laden guitar grooves of Noily, the pocket of cutting drums of Morton, the urban philosophies of Gregley, the percussion and beat box aptitude of Hall, and punchy bass of Shapira negotiate one another into dope melodic grooves that are original and pop-savvy. .. .. So how did this body of diverse artistic souls come together? Elevaters came together as students at UCLA, studying theater, music history, and ethno-musicology. One class and one teacher in particular, Art as Social Action, taught by renowned American theater director, Peter Sellars, greatly influenced the forming of what was to become Elevaters. The art as action they chose was to use their generation’s most potent medium, popular music, to empower and uplift. Morton joined the band after seeing them live minus rhythm section, and moved them from coffeehouses to at-capacity clubs and venues. Elevaters’ diversity, Black and White, Persian and Israeli, make up what could be the poster children for America’s great melting pot. Their eclectic musical influences combine Outkast, Bob Marley, The Roots, Bjork, Earth Wind & Fire, Bill Withers, Jamiroquai, Prince, The Time, Led Zeppelin, Sly & the Family Stone, Bell Biv Devoe, A Tribe Called Quest, Hendrix, Bonnie Raitt, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Wu-Tang Clan, Paul Simon, and Brazilian national-treasure Caetano Veloso