"...ritualistic music, electronically synthesized industrial vibrations miraculously created with ordinary household objects...."—Carol Burbank, Chicago Reader
"Here you will find washes of sonic ambiance combined with compelling rhythmic soloing. Field recordings and found sound collage provide a theatrical flavor. The musical travels between mesmerizing and explosive. My guess is that he improvises locally but composes globally."—Glenn Engstrand, The Improvisor
"Eric Leonardson (USA) performs regularly on his Springboard: a plank of wood festooned with springs, wires, and other bits of scrap metal that, when heard through the piezo pickup, evoke the sound world of a Balinese Gamelan orchestra..."—Nicolas Collins, Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking
"The March features Leonardson's springboard, an electroacoustic percussion instrument made out of coil springs, rubber bands and other unlikely items, which yields the kind of insectile rubbings and scrapping that one associates with fellow instrument inventors/improvisors Hugh Davies and Hal Rammel. There's an oblique sense of humour at play on the galumphing springboard rhythms of Father Walters Anoints His Nostalgia With Frying Bacon, while a wheezy, spine-chilling presence, reminiscent of Reichel's unearthly saxophone, is invoked on The Vulture's Midwife. Intriguing stuff."—Chris Blackford, The Wire
"...highly creative sounds, like nothing you've ever heard before; you'll find yourself (often) wondering how he accomplished some of those sonic events. I especially liked the pieces that featured his Springboard."—Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation issue 57
Eric Leonardson is a composer, radio artist, sound designer, instrument inventor, and improviser. His work in the field of experimental music and sound began in Chicago, where in the mid-80s he helped found the Experimental Sound Studio and direct one of Chicago’s first internationally broadcast radio art programs. He has created sound design and music for films, video, theater, and dance, notably for South African choreographer Robyn Orlin and since 1995, for Plasticene, one of Chicago’s foremost experimental theater companies. Leonardson’s music is distinguished by the unique sounds of his self-built instrument, the “springboard”. Leonardson's music has been described
as "...ritualistic music, electronically synthesized industrial
vibrations miraculously created with ordinary household
objects...."..Carol Burbank, Chicago Reader. Leonardson also performs with experimental, creative musicians and sound artists from Chicago and the world at large, and teaches at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Thanks for the friendship. Brotzmann 2009 USA Tour begins this week. Seattle, Houston, Austin, Grinnell, Chicago, Milwaukee, Lexington, Detroit, Philadelphia, DC, New Haven, Baltimore, NYC
I am amazed by the pieces I listened to here. Especially by Blackouts and by Coil Spring Overture. What an overture! How the complete piece is? Exactly the sound I love, metallic beasts combining a sense of acoustic instrument with analog treatment. Is that a double bass actually? The result is really thrilling. Track 30 is terrifying. I love those low frequencies that taka place from time to time. Your live performances must be something special, really. I am very glad to know you here. Thank you for getting in contact.
I'll try for the end of the month. I'm in the process of moving at the moment to lincoln, ne temporarily, so I should have a clearer date in the next few days. Hows it going?
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