Legitimate experimentalism in music can often get mistaken as hollow arty claptrap, produced in pretentious environments for the sake of it by equally pretentious protagonists.

In the case of California's Alfred Darlington, better known as Daedelus, nothing could be further from the truth – Darlington may have crossed numerous boundaries in producing electronic and hip-hop music, and gone to bed with a variety of esteemed labels all with different manifestos, but he has nevertheless retained a keen sense of warmth to both his recording and live output.

Alfred Darlington, aka Daedelus, ready to rock the Cornmarket with free gig.

While Daedelus studied jazz at University, he admits that crossing genres was always in his mind: "I just think for a long time I couldn't wrap my head around how it could be done. I'm still tinkering with the possibilities, trying for that elusive everything-heard-together / never-been-heard-before genre. I was once scared to try and marry my love of these electronic sounds with my training in classical and jazz traditions, but then along came a computer to set me free to dare."

Since his debut LP 'Portrait Of The Artist' in 2001, Daedelus has audaciously sampled everything from old show-tunes to Brazilian rhythms.

"Our lives are bombarded with sound sources; we do our best to organize them, to limit them, to restrain them. I'm always amazed that often what makes for the best sample for a song is something familiar taken out of context. The haunting refrain from a movie or popular song of yester year still lives with us even if we never heard them before," he said.

"I've taken from strange field recordings, imaginary moon music, turn of the century Cuban rhythms, to name a small few; all in the dogged pursuit of a largely electronic song. The idea, and this is where the jazz background is handy, is to really improvise in the studio, just riff the parts together. Not only does this allow me to compose in unexpected directions, but also makes the process fun."

From an early age, moving in different directions was encouraged chez Daedelus – his folks were disciplined record collectors. "I'm sure they cringed more then once when I incorrectly placed some rare John Cage recording on the floor, to make room for a Funkadelic record I had received from a neighbour. But like most genetics, the collecting bug passed from both my parents to me."

The fruits of Daedelus's labour have found homes with various labels ranging from electronic kingpins like Warp to wonderful hip-hop outlet Stones Throw to the likes of Big Dada, Plug Research, and Mush. The current residence for Daedelus is fine UK label Ninja Tune.

Moving around can have its advantages, as he explains: "I like being married in real life, but I've been pretty sleazy when it comes to my musical life. I'll sleep around, so to speak, with all kinds of labels just to get my kicks from whatever an imprint represents. My current flame, Ninjatune Recordings, is a sort of dancemusic and fun electronic label, covering a lot of styles but perhaps without repping any one genr;, pretty perfect with how I want to sound right now in my own work. So I'm ok with being monogamous for the time being."

While there have been a smattering of top-notch Daedelus releases – his next album will be number 10, and there have been a plethora of collaborations, the live Daedelus show attempts to banish the myth that electronica just has to be one man and his laptop.