The Loop: Soundfounder
Over the years, Austin has become known for psychedelic rock, progressive country, punk, and indie. Yet a new sound has grown up in our very own backyard that is different from a lot of Austin’s musical narrative while still fitting in with the city’s culture. It’s a new sound that we can embrace as our own: beat music.
Beat music is a form that has grown out of various strains of electronic music, but the beat artists aren’t just DJs. They construct their own original songs using samples, laptops, synthesizers, drum loops—the possibilities are endless. Many of the artists give away their music for free, but the emphasis is on live performance.
Several local collectives are going strong with monthly showcases and online compilations, and Texas Music Matters wants to shine a light on the scene. Each week, we’ll highlight a different artist and their music, and we’ll let them tell their own stories in order to put beat music into a Texas perspective—we’re calling it The Loop.
For the first installment, we invited Andrew Brown—otherwise known as Soundfounder—into our studios. True to his performance name, he helped create Exploded Drawing, a collective that aims to stimulate conversation among electronic artists and listeners. Exploded Drawing hosts monthly “sessions” where six new beat makers, sound collectors, and electronic composers perform live in front of an audience. Brown talks about the collective, his own music, and the story behind his name in our first feature. Take a listen below!
