Featured Friday #010 ***Phidippus***

Eric Salazar played his first instrument, the autoharp, as a very small child. By 1985 he joined a break dancing troop and had the chance to pop-lock. Some of the break dancing tapes he listened to were instrumental and those pieces inspired him to search for a sound that was rhythm heavy and lacking in vocals. He was sated by the recordings of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and The Art of Noise.

By 1990, he got his hands on an Ensoniq EPS-16+ sampling workstation and proceeded to make his own very bad music. The 1990s would also bring about rave culture and with it some of his favorite artists such as 808 State, Orbital, Sven Vath, Enigma, The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, etc. Eric would try to emulate these artists and by 1997, he had actually started making some acceptable music, using a Power PC, Emagic Logic Audio and the Ensoniq. He sought to combine all his influences under the name Emptyhead and his efforts culminated in a CD EP entitled “Penitence” which he burned up on his computer that was then hand labeled to be sold in local record shops. The following year he did the same thing with a CD EP etitled “Voluptuous”.

Eric felt it was good enough, so he sent it out and a copy ended up in the offices of Peter Gabriel’s record label, Real World. The folks at Real World listened to it in the office while writing memos.

Still it took until the following year and remixes for New Vision Recordings and other labels in the UK to solidify his reputation. By 2000, Mercedes Automotive, Smirnoff Vodka and other companies licensed Eric’s music to promote their products. After this success, Eric launched “New Vision America”, his own record label in 2002. After three singles were released, the label died a quiet death. Despite this failure, Eric pressed on and would go on to score the best-selling video game, “Belle’s Beauty Boutique” and by 2008, Eric had released the full length CD, entitled, “ES: When I was Emptyhead – 1997-2007.”

The CD would garner airplay in major markets and commendations from the press, including publications like Knowledge and XLR8R. By 2010 Eric was riding this success and started remixing the works of major artists such as The B-52s, Summer Channel and Information Society.

Mental illness took hold in 2012 and as therapy he started producing music influenced by the drum & bass scene and a leftfield sound. Eric’s efforts culminated in the release of future albums “170.1”, “170.2” and “170.3” in the years 2019 and beyond under the name Phidippus. His new efforts are being warmly accepted and considered new kind of expression

Eric has experienced the rise of electronic music and was glad to be a part of those few who created it and paved the way for new sounds and expression. Eric’s music has been heard on radio, on television and in the clubs and he feels humbled to have found his music appreciated in so many ways.

Eric Salazar
http://www.phidippusmusic.com
“That’s why his blood tastes so good on pancakes.” – Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth