Breakbeat / House / IDM – California and Colorado)
EOTO is a 100% improvised dubstep/breakbeat/house/drum & bass/trip-hop duo, the child of String Cheese Incident percussionists Michael Travis and Jason Hann, born out of their shared love of electronic dance music and a serious passion to take the free-wheeling party vibe of a DJ set to the next level by using organic instruments, innovative performance technology, and uncharted musical exploration. For the last 16 years, Travis has been the drumming octopus in SCI, morphing to melodic multi-instrumentalist in EOTO by providing the raw basslines and harmonic tapestry that fill out the soundscape of the duo. Hann plays a hyper EQ’d drumkit, chock full of multi-touch screens and MIDI controllers, and throws a number of effects on his otherworldly vocal styles, occasionally picking up guitar or a bass, and showing off his proficiency with instruments of all shapes and sizes. He has also collaborated, toured, and recorded with the likes of Youssou N’Dour, Isaac Hayes, Dr. Dre, Loreena McKinnett, SCI, and a slew of other established artists, allowing him to move fluidly between many genres, including a fascination for African and Latin drumming traditions.
Although the pair have managed to put out 3 albums, their true heart lies with the live experience, playing almost 200 shows a year and have played more than seven hundred unique sessions in Canada and 48 different states in the five years since the project’s inception, many recorded on LiveDownloads for repeated listening pleasure.