Light Beams began in 2015 when Justin Moyer (Puff Pieces), influenced by 1980s-era freestyle music, and former Prince drummer Sheila E. started playing sampler and timbales with Sam Lavine, the longtime drummer of D.C. Hip Hop mainstays the Cornel West Theory. With the addition of bassist Arthur Noll, the resulting polyrhythmic mélange, sometimes called “zap-tone” or “block rock,” reinvents late-20th century dance-pop using the tools of the 21st.