Eric Copeland

Eric Copeland's output, encompassing his tenure in Black Dice alongside a wide-ranging solo discography and assorted side ventures, has encompassed abrasive hardcore textures as well as whimsical lo-fi electronic dance sounds. He first aligned with Black Dice in the late '90s while the group operated as a thrash-influenced noise-core outfit, then stayed on board through its evolution toward expansive psychedelia on 2002's Beaches and Canyons and toward more groove-oriented material such as 2005's Broken Ear Record. Following a collaboration with Animal Collective's Dave Portner under the Terrestrial Tones name, Copeland issued his initial solo statement, the free-form 2007 album Hermaphrodite, even as he continued participating in Black Dice. Later solo releases examined distorted perspectives on both dance music and pop composition, culminating in 2020's Dumb It Down, which integrated airy vocals amid his characteristic cartoonish loops and electronic scramble.

Copeland entered Black Dice while still attending high school; the group had been established in 1997 by his brother together with fellow Rhode Island School of Design students. He supplied vocals and electronics during the band's formative phase and remained integral through its sequence of abrupt stylistic pivots. Concurrent with his primary commitment to Black Dice, he launched the Terrestrial Tones project in 2004 alongside roommate Dave Portner of Animal Collective, capitalizing on a temporary hiatus for both acts to record together. His debut solo album, Hermaphrodite, appeared on the Paw Tracks label in 2007; the largely instrumental set occupied a space between Black Dice's electronic explorations and the hazier Terrestrial Tones aesthetic, inaugurating an intensive schedule of releases.

A steady stream of 7" singles, CD-Rs, and limited editions surfaced on assorted independent imprints between full-length projects. Alien in a Garbage Dump followed on Paw Tracks in 2009, then Strange Days arrived via Post Present Medium the subsequent year. Waco Taco Combo, issued by Escho in 2011, marked a turn toward greater rhythmic emphasis through fractured samples that introduced relatively direct beats to his persistently unsteady constructions. That direction persisted on 2012's Limbo (Underwater Peoples) and reached a clearer focus on 2013's Joke in the Hole (DFA), yielding his most lucid solo material to date. Additional singles and EPs continued on DFA, while the mini-albums Logo My Ego (2014) and Jesus Freak (2015) surfaced on Ron Morelli's L.I.E.S. imprint.

DFA put out the mutated pop album Black Bubblegum in 2016. Two experimental techno sets came next: Brooklyn Banks (Palmetto Arts) and the double-LP Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect (L.I.E.S.). DFA also released Black Bubblegum Remixed in 2017 along with the full-length Goofballs, another survey of playful abstract club music. The spontaneously recorded Trogg Modal, Vol. 1 surfaced in October 2018, with Vol. 2 following in early 2019. For the 2020 album Dumb It Down, Copeland adopted pop frameworks, foregrounded guitar, and delivered melodic vocals on nearly every track while retaining his signature fried electronics at the center of the arrangements.