Eric Shans
and guest female vocalist Niabi Caldwell
Influences
everything from Kraftwerk to Slowdive to Depeche Mode and the spaces between those bands...
Sounds Like
A digital catalog of the human condition. Emotions, feelings, and thoughts that go through us on a daily basis put to atmospheric, melodic, beat driven music.
Phenotract was started in 1999 as a means of experimenting with electronic sounds, textures, and rhythms to create synthetic workouts geared for both the dancefloor and the mind. Since it's inception, founder Eric Shans has drawn influences from both older and newer techno, house, trance, and industrial to create and instill lasting impressions on the listener. At the project's start, a lot of songs were recorded over a period of a few years that consisted of pulsing beats, racing synths, catchy melodies, and aggressive vocals. A full length demo entitled "Fallout" was finally released in 2001 which was well received. From that LP, the song - "Paralax-On" was remixed and appeared on the ToneDeaf Records Compilation "Taking Notes 01", and was the first song to be released on a label.
As the project's sound grew and time passed, the tracks that were being written morphed into more formidable structures, which became more melody laden and carried an evolved and distinct sound and groove. Another album was written and consisted of a myriad of anthemic hooks, funky beats, and both clean and treated vocals. The LP "Within A Second" was released at the end of 2003 on the now defunct Tinman Records label. It was well received and was described as using a myriad of anthemic hooks, funky oddly house-like beats, and otherworldly sounding vocals . It's available at the link below the bio.
Now out is the follow up "Transient Messages" which is out on Souvenir Records. More ethereal and melodically driven than the previous effort, it takes "Within A Second's sound and expands on it greatly. Soundtrack-esque atmospheres, driving beats, and male and female vocals now permeate the aural canvas. Niabi Caldwell has contributed her vocal talents and her voice adds both an angelic and romantic quality to the music which was only hinted at before. The sound has been described as "neo-pop"
Also in this duration, Eric has also written and produced tracks that are more meant for towards a tech house/club oriented crowd and for DJs of that music. Rhythmic percussive elements, funky basslines, and a sci fi atmosphere play an integral role in these songs. Productions under his own name can be found here on beatport.com under artist "Eric Shans" and samples can be heard there. Thanks for the stopping by! Niabi's bio is below as well
Niabi Caldwell (doing guest vocals on "Transient Messages")
Niabi is a girl who lives in Brooklyn who was asked one sunny day to add some vocal melodies to Eric Shans's musical project Phenotract. It seemed as though the stars were perfectly aligned at that rehearsal as Niabi and Eric decided to continue to keep collaborating after this first meeting. While working, they discovered that this duality worked all too well together and that Eric's breathy understated style coupled with Niabi's dreamy ethereal voice made for a truly winning formula. Niabi's influences harken back to her roots in the mid 90's dance/rave scene of DC / Baltimore and her love of shoegazer / dreampop music. On "Transient Messages", she has celestially catapaulted Eric's songs into areas never reached by him on his own.
Also, I have another profile under
http://www.myspace.com/ericshans if you want to know more about "me" ..
If you want to get in touch via AIM = send a message to morphlux
Below the reviews - you can purchase the CD directly from CD Baby and preview all of the songs as well. Thanks
WRAPPED IN WIRE
"All of the songs here are very well crafted with meticulous sound layering, texturing and clean production. There are elements of EBM, techno, trance and synth-pop. It's futuristic technological electro music with sci-fi sounds, heavy beats, airy melodies and altered vocals.....With club beats and an experimental sensibility,this Phenotract "Within A Second" album is something to check out"
CHAIN DLK
"..the overall tightness of his music shows real talent that will likely make some serious advancements .. Phenotract has an otherworldly and dreamy quality to it's sound while maintaining the energy required for good dance music."
"Phenotract's second full length album TRANSIENT MESSAGES brings to the attention of electronic music lovers eleven tracks which are deeply influenced by modern synthpop, techno, ambient as well as 80's electro"
WETWORKSEZINE
"Within A Second" is a solid album .. I would definitely recommend this album to those that like mid tempo Electro that is well programmed and produced. "
SIDE LINE
"Within a second” is an interesting debut, revealing a modern approach of electronic music. Production wise, I’m getting wild of the vocal production. The vocals are like a whispering ghost in a sensual mood and the electronic structures are based on EBM influences while recovered with a flavor of pop.There’s definitely a lot to experience on this debut, which is auspicious for the coming chapter of Phenotract!"
"Phenotract
Transient Messages
(cd Souvenir Records)
More or less 3 years after the debut-cd “Within A Second” (released on the
now defunct Tinman Records) the New York based Phenotract strikes back with
a new and refreshing release. A female vocalist joined the project, but more
than a change in the line-up, the sound has considerably evolved. “Transient
Messages” is a quite minimal sounding release of low tempo rhythms and
techno-space electronics. I really like the global sphere running through
the songs, which sounds like coming from another galaxy. The production of
the vocals is also quite space like, which totally fits to the global sound.
This album sounds as a relief in the electronic underground too often
dominated by dark electronic emulations. The sound of Phenotract is refined,
delicate, but damned efficient! Songs like “Connections Missed”, “A Million
Colors” and especially “Heightened” are real great pieces of music. This is
a band to discover!"
MORBID OUTLOOK
"...Tracks that hit the solar plexus with a dreamy, droning melody..."
"Brooklyn-based like Digital Geist, Phenotract also consists largely of the efforts of one person. In this case it is Eric Shans; his sometime collaborator being female vocalist Niabi Caldwell. In the current release, we find Eric’s tradition of airy instrumental intro giving forth to songs constructed of many layers over drum and bass, with the textures of the intro weaving into the mix in various ways. As usual, the work is very well crafted with dreamy melodies, novel twists where you don’t expect them, thematic inversions and mutations carrying over from track to track... and, of course, you can dance to it."
GRAVE CONCERNS EZINE
"Bound together by themes of ice, snow, and altitude, it cuts through you like a chill windfrom the north, with rhythms and synth sweeps geared as much towards cool introspection as the physicality of the dance floor. ... Shans has put out a wonderful disc, straddling the line between aggression and contemplation and with a style that's already recognizable on his first release."
"Eric Shans is Phenotract, and his second LP “Transient Messages” features the dreamy and fluid vocals of Niabi Caldwell. The LP is pure electronic excitement, juiced up beautifully with Eric’s echoey and handsome voice that seems to liquefy into a streaming pool of gleaming prismatic electronic pulses, synth-pop heavenly awakenings, and sweat-slamming techno-heavy beats---like two-thousand treadmills in perfect unity.
Phenotract feeds your brain with the fantastic, the futuristic, and the extraordinary. A bunch of those favorites for me are, “Connections Missed”, “In Another Life”, “A Million Colors”, “Heightened”, “At The Sign” and “Smoothflow”.
Phenotract’s LP “Transient Messages” is 11-tracks drenched in all that is blisteringly good in the worlds where electronica, synth-pop, and techno bring the uniqueness of each style of music to the front of the line, and through the merging of those styles, create a spectacular birth of sounds."
RE:GEN MAGAZINE (ONLINE)
.."..shows the promise of someone who could be a great new talent in American electro"
"Transient Messages" Purchase!--
"Within A Second" Purchase!---
Κυριακή 2 Αυγούστου Star Beach (Χερσόνησσος - Ηράκλειο Κρήτης) Ώρα Έναρξης: 17.00 - 00.00
Ο κορυφαίος Ολλανδός μουσικός παραγωγός και dj, Armin Van Buuren, έρχεται για πρώτη φορά στην Κρήτη, προσκεκλημένος του μεγαλύτερου dance οργανισμού, F.S.I. Dance+Concert. Ο Νο1 dj του κόσμου, σύμφωνα με τις δύο τελευταίες ψηφοφορίες του δημοφιλούς DJ Mag (2007 και 2008), διαθέτει πιστό κοινό και εκατομμύρια ακροατές σε κάθε ζωντανή και ραδιοφωνική του εμφάνιση, σαγηνεύοντας με ατμοσφαιρικούς ήχους και μαγευτικές μελωδίες. Ερωτευμένος με την trance και παθιασμένος με την ηλεκτρονική μουσική παραγωγή, έχει στο βιογραφικό του μια ατελείωτη σειρά από μουσικά βραβεία, εκπληκτικά albums και ραδιοφωνικούς μαραθώνιους, ενώ δεν λείπουν τα sold-out live gigs σε clubs, συναυλιακούς χώρους και φεστιβάλ που άφησαν ιστορία. Στο απόγειο της καριέρας του και παραγωγικός όσο ποτέ, επιστρέφει στο ελληνικό κοινό, έτοιμος για μια ανεπανάληπτη εμφάνιση που κυριολεκτικά θα ταράξει τα νερά της Μεσογείου. Μαζί του στο μεγαλύτερο απογευματινό dance event στο Star Beach, ο δημοφιλής Καναδός μουσικός παραγωγός και dj, Glenn Morrison, ο αεικίνητος και ακούραστος ιδιοκτήτης της Morrison Recordings που δεν παύει να τροφοδοτεί την μουσική βιομηχανία με ήχους που φτάνουν μέχρι το Νο1 του Beatport sales chart, μιξάροντας από Pet Shop Boys μέχρι Craig Armstrong και λαμβάνοντας συγχαρητήρια από djs όπως ο Sasha, ο Tiesto, o Nick Warren, o John Digweed, o Laurent Garnier και ο Sven Vath Το εκρηκτικό event θα ανοίξει ο σημαντικότερος resident dj της Κρήτης, Dj Magros.
Thank you for your friendship. Please check out the my flyer for the great lineup of musicians I’m going to be working with at the Iridium Jazz Club on June 16th. I am so excited! Peace and love, Pat Holley
please help us with this myspace contest we entered. listen to our song and post the widget on your profile. just click on "grab this", copy the code, paste it in your "about me" section, and leave it up on your page until the contest is over (until september). please ask all your friends to help out as well. (you can also facebook it) thanks for your support...sinphonics
you can get the widget below, find it on our profile, or go to this link:
1. Spencer & Hill :: House Beat :: Space Hookers Edit :: CDR 2. F-Word :: Killer Funk :: Farace Mix :: CDR 3. Chunk N Atack :: Rocka Revolution :: Twocker Mix :: Punkae Edit :: Real Hype 4. Salme Dahlstrom :: Hello California :: Quadrat Beat Mix :: Real Hype 5. Chunk N Attack :: Dirty Bass Line :: Real Hype 6. Discoveri :: Just Cant Take It :: DJ Punkae Mix :: Kick It! 7. Huda Hudia :: System Overload :: Farace Mix :: CDR 8. Stereo Chillaz :: Blow Ya Speekaz :: Real Hype 9. Farace & J2K :: Along For The Ride :: DJ Phunkae Mix :: Kick It! 10. Dope Tito ft. Suzi Rawn :: All I Know :: Journeymann & BARRcode Mix :: CDR 11. Josh Money & MC Flipside :: Wave Over Me :: Curtis B Mix :: DNF Music
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