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"Cloudsplitter" EP review

Thursday, February 28, 2013

This past October I released an EP called "Cloudsplitter", that blends elements of old-time music and hip hop. I was first exposed to the idea of these two musical worlds coming together back in 2002, when a friend gave me a tape of a one-time collaboration hosted by Appalshop arts center in Whitesburg, KY. My friend, being from Eastern Kentucky, asked if I might be interested in producing some hip hop beats that used old-time banjo for him to rap over. A couple of years later, I made my first track along these lines, based on samples from Frank Proffitt. Last year, in May 2012, I bought my first banjo as I prepared to write for it in a totally different context (a mini-opera to be performed on a forest trail). As I began to teach myself how to play, I became interested again in the idea of fusing old-time and hip hop while now being able to record my own samples on the banjo. "Cloudsplitter" emerged from two sources: samples from the mini-opera I was writing as well as samples referencing a 1940 educational film called "The Children Must Learn", portraying the daily life, education and food issues of mountain people at the time. The same friend who introduced me to the Appalshop experiments in "hill hop" is currently making a documentary that examines this 1940 film and the untold stories surrounding it. He asked me to score his documentary,  which led to a few of the tracks on "Cloudsplitter".

Read a review of the EP in the Baltimore City Paper here:

http://citypaper.com/music/holler-to-the-hood-1.1396261

 

Listen to Cloudsplitter:

http://erikspangler.bandcamp.com/album/cloudsplitter

 

Also check out my continuing experiments in this area, which I hope might overcome people's prejudices about both old-time music and hip hop:

http://erikspangler.bandcamp.com/track/the-banjo-and-the-boom-bap

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dubble8productions.com
Playing Since: 2012
Experience Level: Novice

Interests:
[Jamming] [Socializing] [Helping]

Occupation: composer/dj and teacher

Gender: Male
Age: 48

My Instruments:
Resonator banjo, gourd banjo, turntables and electronics

Favorite Bands/Musicians:
Roscoe Holcomb, Dock Boggs, Mike Seeger, DJ /rupture, Madlib, DJ Krush

Classified Rating: not rated
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Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 2/26/2013
Last Visit 5/17/2013

Doctor of music composition, adjunct faculty member at Maryland Institute College of Art (sound art and electronic music). Self-taught banjo player and stay-at-home dad residing in Baltimore, MD

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