The Man
Eric Copeland is 34% of booty-noise heroes Black Dice — he’s the one who looks like the sexy blond version of a goblin with a cap.
The Past
Generally speaking, Hermaphrodite is an adjective which designates beings both male and female, capable of impregnating themselves and giving birth to creatures probably too dumb to walk. Hermaphrodite was also the name of Eric Copeland’s first album ( Paw Tracks, 2008).
This album can take you to places where no one ever breathed:
Eric Copeland – Green Burrito
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and
Eric Copeland – La BoolyBoo
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and
Eric Copeland – Spacehead
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So ?
According to certain rumors, it took the dude two years to elaborate this record. Which is astounding and respectable.
Minimal Drones + ancient chants + effects everywhere + psych pop + unidentifiable noise + african vibes + fragments of conversations.
All this stuff accumulated goes into the sampler and becomes a personal masterpiece, wonder of binary creation.
And you don’t even feel bloated.
Plus it’s really not that snobbish. For instance you could listen to it while watching muted videos-clips of Beyoncé.
Hermaphrodite can also be accompanied with 25 centilitres of codeined cough syrup and a nice session of Resident Evil on Wii (especially the Indiana Jones tunnel level where the chainsaw psychopath is more aroused than ever). Of course, if you’re not a drug addict or if you prefer Megadrive, you may also listen to it while “going to work”.
The Present
Free Will vs Onomastic Prophecy (yes ma’am)
Let’s remind ourselves that Sexy Goblin bears the first name of Clapton and the last name of The Police’s drummer — genealogy is merciless. Although his fate is to play only in stadiums and to release nothing else but greatest hits compilations, the facetious Brooklynite is used to suiting himself and has released two new 7″ on Post Present Medium, the second one being out TODAY.
The first 7″ is plain wonderful Copeland stuff :
Eric Copeland – Car Alarm
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The second one is more, hmmm, unexpected. Eric decided that his real biological father was Prince.
Eric Copeland – Get Along
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And it works.
You can buy Hermaphrodite here and the new 7 inches here.
The Band
By some miracle of the calendar, Black Dice are back to shake our hearts and make our ears whistle with Mr. Impossible, their new album released on 10th april.
Black Dice are Eric, his brother Bjorn, and Aaron Warren. One could qualify their music as chamanic punk electronics/bad ass beats/broken bleeps/a little bit bizarre.
a picture :
Being the noisy buddies of Animal “open up, wowo, open up, wawa” Collective (same labels, same tours, obviously same drugs, top facebook friends, sincere brothership leading to upward mobility), Black Dice can be perceived as the first gate of experimental music to overcome before being able to dissolve oneself in its dephts.
Anyway. First Gates are beautiful :
Black Dice – The Jacker (from Mr. Impossible)
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First gates can also be disconcerting. Black Dice early albums (like Beaches and Canyons) can require several secluded listenings in optimal conditions (headphones/obscurity/weed) before one can UNDERSTAND and join the sect.
But since Broken ear record, they follow a more catchy/less austere path. Black Dice wearing hot shorts, polo shirts and tropical hats at the minigolf for a sunset and menthe à l’eau party.
Some tracks remain complex, they still rummage through the texture of sounds, but they inject more and more pop and groove in their weirdness.
They can even be unnerving dancefloor bitches:
Black Dice – Pigs (from Mr. Impossible)
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Their Mtv Pulse facet, meddled with abrupt noisy skids, make Black Dice a totally unassailable entity.
Here are a few older tracks, which also require a headset (grab the big one lying around at your father’s place, the one that makes you look like a brostep fan and you’re ashamed of (the headset, not the father). Because deep inside, there problably is a dormant Skrillex fan)
Black Dice – Motorcycle (from Broken Ear Record)
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Black Dice – Manoman (from the Manoman ep)
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Black Dice – Gore (from Load Blown)
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Black Dice – Things will never be the same (from Beaches & Canyons)
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Jah Rastafari