Artist description The Earshot sound is difficult to describe. I suppose practically every musician is eager to take this non-committed stance for fear of misleading potential audiences. Most pieces are based upon an initial sample or two, be it from an obscure 50's LP, a cassette recording of armenian clarinets, the coffee grinder in my kitchen, or a Norelco rayzor (http://www.figureground.com/earshot/ray.ram). These sounds, time-stretched, pitch-shifted, and deeply effected, act as springboards to sample-based compositions varying from (I really hate to categorize in any way) hip-hop to industrial.I have always been in love with sci-fi and a good deal of the vocals in my stuff is lifted from early B movies (a sample-clearance nightmare in some circumstances, I'm sure). After having finished my last late-night Newport, I've decided that Earshot is all about trial and error, experimentation, and the almighty breakbeat...The sound continues to progress positively.

Music Style Sci-fi flavored big beats

Musical Influences Coldcut, Square Root of Negative One, DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, Frank Zappa, Mr Bungle, Ministry

Similar Artists Coldcut, Consolidated, Meat Beat Manifesto

Artist History The Earshot project (http://www.figureground.com/earshot/earshot.html) came together as the first solo work created myself, Ryan Herrold. I had worked together with several live musicians / beathead programmers for a few years prior, and accomplished some work that had potential, but lacked focus. Nothing was ever completed due to a lack of group consensus/participation. I bought all the gear I could afford and began to sit alone with a sampler and sequencer about 3 years ago.

Group Members Ryan Herrold

Instruments Emu-esi-32, roland s-220, roland bd1, roland mc-303, korg electribe, alesis nanoverb, alesis midiverb, dbx 262 compressor, digitech rds 8000 delay, boss ds1 distortion, samson pl-1602mixer, numark dm1260x mixer, technics sl-1200, vestax pdt-5000, gemeni d

Press Reviews From raw42.com 11/5/99"What impresses me about earshot is their mutating and unrepetitive way of composing, which is somewhat rare in electronic music these days. that, along with good production adds up to a wide range of tracks of varying quality. you might find yourself looking for a bit more consistency of theme or unity in earshot's work, but they are a very interesting act indeed. Armenia is a classic in my book. this track has a totally organic feel to it, constantly morphing and exciting to listen to. the blend of booming bass, as frequently found in dn'b, with spooked vocal samples and ethnic melodic themes is amazingly fresh. it's very hard to accurately describe what armenia sounds like, but it's warmly recommended for download regardless of what genre you're into. the raw42 mp3 top list welcomes it too.

Location Brooklyn, NY - USA

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