(Artists similar to Emancipator: Little People, Bonobo, Nightmares on Wax)
Emancipator – Oasis
Emancipator – First Snow
Emancipator – Nevergreen
Chillax on the couch, sip on a warm cup of green tea and immerse your mind in Emancipator’s clean production of mellow break-beat rhythms. Emancipator’s music has a unique style of combining triphop roots with jazz, classical, and electronic influences. Emancipator is best known for his subtle buildup/breakdown, headnodic beats, hypnotizing bass and extended harmonic patterns with the use of tonal harmonies. The naturesque soundscapes of Emancipator’s music provides lucid imagery to the listener while supporting the compact layers of violins, electric/acoustic guitar, choirs, horns, banjos, bass, drums and piano.
Emancipator (Doug Appling) is a producer/musician from Portland, Oregon. Emancipator started violin lessons when he was 4 years old and later picked up the guitar, drums and bass. Growing up, he played in a few bands. When Appling was in high school, he started experimenting with music production software such as Acid Pro and Reason which really opened up new opportunities for him to create his own music and sounds. At the age of 19, he self-released his first album, “Soon it Will Be Cold Enough,” in 2006. A Japanese producer by the name of Nujabes found interest in the “Soon it Will Be Cold Enough” album and was able to press and sell 5,000 copies in the first six months of release. The album blends violin strings with artful piano lines that resonate before the drum beat responds to set the perfect tempo, allowing the listener to discover the wintry setting that Emancipator has cleverly created. He played his first live show in 2009, opening for Bonobo, Eskmo, and Gigantic. Doug Appling said in a Lost in Sound interview,
“It’s been a thrill to play with so many artists I respect and have been listening to for years, and to discover a great number of new artists at the same time.” -Emancipator
Emancipator has recently received a Puma sponsorship and one of his songs titled “Maps” was played at the Bejing Olympics. His latest album “Safe In The Steep Cliffs” blends his signature sound with new instruments (banjo, horns, mandolin). Emancipator is distinguished in his ability to combine different sounds and layer them so smoothly. Tremolo strings start it off, which fade into a plucked guitar pattern accompanied with a strong bassline that follows the piano. Emancipator is able to lay down subtle break-beat rhythms without disrupting the solid groove that is already in place. Doug Appling describes “Safe In The Steep Cliffs” on his website,
“This album has a new palette of sounds and samples from around the world, including more original recordings (guitar/violin/mandolin/banjo) and new guest artists including Japanese jazz musician Uyama Hiroto. It’s ominous and overgrown, dense and ethereal. And epic. Always epic.” -Emancipator
Appling seems to follow his signature formula for this album by creating electric guitar riffs that are thrown over the piano line. The guitar and piano fade out after a slight pause which leads to a mellow synth rhythm for a break, until it reappears and fades again into the darkness of a forestry landscape that has been painted for the listener. Emancipator’s ability to make the music flow naturally by layering different sound elements on top of a cadent drumbeat makes for a truly intriguing listen for any instrumentalist or triphop fan.
Resources:
Emancipator Interview by Lost in Sound
I love the music that you posted! Please keep it up!
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Thank you for opening my eyes to something I hadn’t heard of before. Very good music and it goes well with the reading. This has a calming sound and as a matter fact off I go to ITunes to find this! Love that Puma used this as it shows they have truly creative minds in their marketing department. Nice job and I hope to hear more from you that I hadn’t heard before. Thanks!!!
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Awesome blog. Love the music. Thanks..
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@Carey, Andy, & Shannon – Thank you for the feedback and taking the time to read my blog! 🙂
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Extremely thoughtful and well-written piece on Emancipator and his music. Even if the players weren’t right there, handy, you made me want to hear his work and hear it right now! And you are right, it is really innovative stuff.
I really like the players with the album cover attached. How did you do that, Man?
I’m following. I will be checking you out in the future.
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Thanks you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the music. 😀
I was able to embed the music players through Emancipator‘s website as he hosts all of his songs there with the option to embed the html code on your own site.
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I haven’t heard this guy before, he’s great. Perfectly chilled for a Sunday night.
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Love it. Smooth as ice.
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That gets right into the frequency that I prefer to inhabit. We are clearly in the same battalion of inter- dimensional warriors. Thanks
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Smooth, complex, and funky. Thanks for sharing!
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Nice! Glad you like it, he is personally one of my favorite artists of all time. 🙂
He released an amazing downloadable album where all of the instrumentation in his music is played live if you want to check it out:
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