EELKO - Artist Spotlight - LostinSound.org

Eelko is the moniker for Boston based musician and producer, Chris Carchedi, who’s new album, “Welcome”, has just been released to the masses. Eelko is living proof that electronic music production has allowed composers to find a sound and voice all their own, as his music is unparalleled in its uniqueness. While there is still common ground and tradition out there in the 2012 musical climate, it’s safe to say that now more than ever, no two producers will sound alike, and Eelko is one of the most developed and mature examples of this new phase in the evolution of music.

Here’s a tasty mix for y’all featuring some of Lostinsound’s favorites…

Tastefully sparse and ethereal guitars ring out over his beats like vast spans of power lines over the epic landscape that his music suggests, never sounding cliche or even that much like a guitar (a welcomed truth for this listener who enjoys hearing guitars played in NEW ways to create NEW sounds). All his instrumental selections sit in the frequency spectrum unobtrusively, proof that his years of audio engineering work have manifested well. Dig the muted and restrained guitar work on the opening track “Stoney Bones”, beautiful 2 string harmonies give way to a heavy beat, and eventually a 12/8 breakdown with a four on the floor stomp and ostinato triplet synth line. The synth continues as the kick drops out, and all of a sudden he slams you with a vintage break that superimposes itself over the beat in a different permutation of the rhythmic grid. This dude must’ve been a master drummer in Nigeria in a former life, polyrhythm for days. Eelko’s music is spacious and airy, using silence as efficiently as sound to create the interlock necessary for an emotionally moving dance track. “LostSoundDream” sounds like it could fit on the Disco Biscuits’ “They Missed the Perfume” album with its high in the sky guitar and above the clouds synth chirps, but Chris admits that they were never really an influence on him and cites Quantic and Bonobo as more relevant influences.

When I first saw him perform, it was a foggy early morning (late night) Silent Disco set at Uphoria. He was mashing up hazy rhodes samples on the pads of his Monome, with a jittery and off kilter Dilla-esque beat played with his other hand on his MPD. His double hand style was my favorite to watch as a musician myself, because his musicality and rhythmic abilities were apparent and impressive, and I was pleased to look behind me and see all my friends donning headphones and enjoying these other worldly sounds created LIVE by hand. (Dig his older One Oh Five EP to hear this phase of his style, which has evolved but still retains an “off the grid” rhythmic rub that sets him apart from most producers his age). When he is not improvising and experimenting in this manner, he mixes his production work in TRAKTOR, giving crowds a seamless taste of his masterfully organized tracks, as well as throwing in his favorite work by others, but now says that he wants to go back to remixing his stems live because DJing is a little “too boring.” The fact that he alters his set up to achieve the precision he requires is testament to his attention to detail, and the blend and simplicity of his tracks reeks of a focused ear and self-restrained musical voice. Take a journey into the mellow, mature musical world of Eelko for a taste of some next level production that concerns itself with the sound and the sound alone.

Here is a quick video of an EELKO and sTimulus claN MPD improv. at our ENVISION FESTIVAL PRE-PARTY at Wonderbar in Boston…