The idea of improvisation in an Electronic context seems slightly counterintuitive, as samples and beats that are loaded into computers and synths to be activated by a keystroke hardly seems like the domain of musicians who are making it up as they go along. Multi-instrumentalists Michael Travis and Jason Hann, drummer and percussionist respectively for String Cheese Incident, have created EOTO with an obvious love of Dance and Trance but with a singular vision as to how to achieve that end; Travis and Hann do everything, live and in the studio, in one take, with nothing composed and nothing prerecorded.
The EOTO project began four years ago when SCI decided to take a hiatus. Travis and Hann originally christened their collaboration End of Time Observatory but have since changed it to EOTO, which they learned is the Japanese word for “good sound.” The duo’s three studio albums — 2006’s Elephants Only Talk Occasionally, 2008’s Razed, last year’s Fire the Lazers!!! — and their live presentations have all been formed with the same nebulous and non-preconceived methodology.
The improvisational Dance/Trance duo performs at 20th Century Theatre Wednesday. Go here to read Brian Baker's full Sound Advice recommendation.
