Eric Copeland has been perturbing audiences in Black Dice since their beginnings as an art-damaged hardcore band. He developed his own style vocal&electronics-based noise-making as the band evolved into the preeminent power-trio of the American weirdo/noise scene. On his solo recordings he melts down various styles into kaleidoscopic new forms, with garbled vocals and squelchy blurts of feedback layered over hypnotic, syncopated beats. The well-chosen samples are mangled and sliced into warbly grooves that seem salvaged from eroded memories of early-90’s highschool dances. Under the murk and scree you’ll find elements of old-school hip-hop, chop’n’screw, kraut-rock, and funk; there’s even some tracks that wouldn’t sound out of place on one of those MTV’s Amp compilation CD’s. Don’t be fooled, however: whichever corner of music he worms himself into, it’s unmistakably him. His recent single “Get Along” finds him in a barbiturate haze somewhere between Prince and Arthur Russell, creeping around a bouncy beat and entreating you to dance. It’s catchy as hell in spite of (or because) just how strange the whole affair seems to be. Get into it and get out of your head at Day 2 of Homegrown for his early-bird set!
– Will Mayo