Dance Dance with Tristan Eckerson

As 2013 draws to a close, Electronic Composer/Producer Tristan Eckerson is self- releasing his debut EP, aptly entitled Dance Craze. The three song EP, clocking in at just under twenty minutes, takes listeners on a journey through multiple moods, emotions, and musical styles, but the ultimate goal of the EP always remains clear, and that is the desire to get people moving. Throughout his lifetime as a musician, Tristan has always loved music's ability to evoke a physical, energetic, and cathartic response, while at the same time providing a more internal, emotional, and soulful experience for the listener. It is this love that has inspired Tristan to produce this rollicking, highly expressive and unique debut EP, inviting the listener to take this simultaneously emotional and physical ride through the exciting musical worlds that he has created.

Classically trained on the Piano as a child, Tristan grew up writing songs and playing piano and keyboards in various bands, spanning genres from Jazz, Blues, and Funk to Indie Rock, Punk, and Pop. Tristan's ever voracious and eclectic sensibility pushed him towards any and every style of music, but he always opted for music that had the ability to make people move. Tristan himself moved around as well, leaving his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio and spending time living and performing in Charleston, South Carolina, San Sebastian, Spain, and San Francisco, California, before eventually settling, at least for the moment, in Seattle, Washington. During his time in San Francisco Tristan enrolled in a Master's program for Music Production and Sound Design for visual media, and it was this education that drove Tristan towards the world of Electronic Music. Tristan explains, "I had spent my entire life playing keyboards and writing music with a pencil and paper, and suddenly I was introduced to this crazy world of electronic music production, and suddenly I could write for an entire orchestra! It changed everything for me." Since enrolling in the program Tristan has written music for multiple award winning films and commercials, but what the program really did for Tristan was to open him up to the possibility of creating music electronically, and of the limitless creative potential that came with this new discovery.

It wasn't long before Tristan had taken his love for Dance Music from various parts of the world and combined it with his lifetime of musical experience and his newfound production abilities. What resulted was a completely unique, thought provoking, and danceable set of songs. Dance Craze combines the worlds of EDM, House, Techno, Trance, and Moombahton with Tristan's long standing and every expanding influences of Afro Beat, Latin, Hip Hop, Funk, Pop, and Jazz to create a sound that is completely original, and equally accessible to fans and non fans of more traditional Electronic Dance Music. Tristan explains, "Having spent most of my life playing keyboards in bands and listening to all kinds of Dance Music, it wasn't until after college that I really started to get into Electronic Music at all. Once I did, I got hooked, and then when I learned how to produce music electronically, it was all over for me. Ever since then I've been on a mission to create Electronic Dance Music that's full of energy and is danceable, but at the same time is filled with musicality. I want to create Electronic Dance Music that is accessible to people that don't necessarily like EDM. There is so much "Dance Music" out there, created in different ways, from all over the world. I want to broaden the sense of what Electronic Dance Music really is, and incorporate more original ideas, influences, and emotions into my songs."

And the three songs on Tristan's Dance Craze EP do exactly that. From the frenetic, trance inducing beats and harmonies of "Life" to the dirty, pounding beats and catchy synth and vocal melodies of the title track "Dance Craze," and finally the incredibly unique, Afro and Latin influenced, psychedelic, Moombahton meets Techno journey that is "POLY," Tristan's debut EP definitely achieves the goals of musicality, danceable rhythms, uniqueness, and accessibility. As Tristan dives deeper into the world of electronic music production and continues to expand his musical horizons, it undoubtedly won't be long before we have another exciting set of songs that break the boundaries of traditional electronic dance music.

Title track from Tristan's new Dance Craze EP. 
Buy the EP on iTunes Now:
http://tinyurl.com/Dance-Craze-Itunes