Eric Copeland - Waco Taco Combo

(Escho, 2011)

We talk about Eric Copeland, about his band, Black Dice, and about the pop/noise marriage/dichotomy whenever we talk about Eric Copeland, about his band, Black Dice. And that’s useful to an extent, I suppose, but in reality, really, when I listen to Black Dice, when I listen to Eric Copeland, when I listen to Waco Taco Combo, I don’t think, even remotely, of it as noise, as noise music, as gravel, as spit, as mulch. And, on the same hand, the music isn’t really pop music of any kind, isn’t really Britney, isn’t really Tiffany, isn’t really pony in rainbow colors that’s not smeared, that’s not broken-boned, that’s not double-headed (as much that I/we might pretend that, to us, it is (can it not be?)). But, while it skirts electronics, beats, samples, skronking bursts, glitches, dances, intelligence, it’s kind of a realm all its own. Not that people haven’t jumped aboard since, not that people haven’t aped them since, not that people haven’t ripped them since. Still, they’re singular (Black Dice, Eric Copeland). They are Black Dice music. They are Eric Copeland music. Or I can call them collage punk. The important thing is that they are important. And the important thing about importance is that it’s always really really good. And the important thing about Waco Taco Combo is that it’s really really good. Really. Which is how we, by standard methods, talk about Eric Copeland, about his band, Black Dice.

Also, thank you Altered Zones for upping this to SoundCloud. I go looking for it today, this very day, and--BLAMO--there it is!

Eric Copeland: Waco Taco Combo by alteredzones

Eric Copeland - Hermaphrodite

Eric Copeland
Hermaphrodite
(08.2007, Paw Tracks)
8.5/10

Eric Copeland makes weird music. This has probably already been evidenced with his membership in NY experimental bands Black Dice and Terrestrial Tones; so, yeah, unarguably weird. On his horrifically packaged solo debut, Hermaphrodite, Copeland employs familiar freak-fest electronic soundscapes that fit snuggly between the works of his other bands. The "music" tends to disorient, confuse, excite, baffle, belittle, question, confuse again and then oddly satisfy (albeit confusingly). Hermaphrodite stays true to its title and cover art: never betraying a particular gender and most commonly achieving a whole new alien sexuality in its meanderings. Outer-space synthesizers, deep jungle percussion, manipulated vocal chants; these, among various other unidentifiable components, structure the looping madness. It all reminds me of the kind of music you might find at a rave in Mos Eisley (of Star Wars, duh). Copeland manages to avoid the potential pitfalls of the boredom/insanity that his experiments could potentially inhabit by packaging them in happy pop-sized scoops. Hermaphrodite is a terrific debut and deserves attention for its individual merits and not just for its musical relatives.

-Mr. Thistle

Eric Copeland - "Hermaphrodite"