Meet Eli Barker of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eli Barker

Hi Eli, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, and i’ve been a musician since a young age. I performed in bands and wrote and recorded myself for years before losing interest in music and focusing on a career in the film industry. My work was part of what propelled me to the south, and I’ve lived and worked in the southeast making movies full time since 2017. All along I kept up playing guitar and writing short little melodies that never matured into bigger arrangements. I didn’t realize until afterwards, but I was searching for a creative outlet and not finding it at work.
After feeling lost for a while, and tired of strumming a guitar in my living room, I had a lucky listening experience when I was traveling to visit family back home and was stuck on the plane with only my downloaded tracks to keep me company, and of course I hadn’t downloaded anything in ages. I selected LCD Soudsystem’s “This is Happening” and drifted into a whole world that had me nostalgic and hopeful. I’d heard all this before of course, when I was younger and in a different mindset. Now in my 30’s the sardonic musings of James Murphy and that ever present beat moved me. The hope came in that I felt I could see myself making this music and getting behind it to find what makes it tick. My passion for artists usually extends immediately to their influences, and that began a continuing journey into dance music, the rave scene, and if we’re being totally honest, myself.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think the biggest struggle I had to face was overcoming myself. When I was younger I lived in a small town where my precocious energy and performative nature made me stand out. The attention I got was something I craved and I was so focused on receiving it that I didn’t pay any attention to what it really took to be good at making music. By the time my ego outpaced my skills, I was discouraged and barely even wanted to make music.
I had sought love from an audience without finding love for myself first, as cheesy as that sounds. Returning to music for me has meant learning, studying, and being earnest in my efforts. These days, I’ve come to a place where I want to create good music, if nothing else for myself to listen to and know that i did the best job I could do at that time. Moving away from the ego and toward the joy I get from the act itself was the key to creating from a place of fulfillment and not from a place of emptiness.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in electronic dance music, I think what I do is mostly called electro. I use explorative techniques for sound design that involve using random note generation and sequence looping to create sounds and textures that are unique and evolving over time. Through the use of modular synthesis, I create sounds and compositional parts that I record and then apply editing and effects through a digital audio workstation.
I think what sets my work apart from others in the same space is my ability to produce music that can provide an emotional background to the upbeat rhythms and dancing that’s (hopefully) going on. I think that dance music is a way for people to experience each other in space together, without talking, which is something that we rarely do. But when a group of people get together to dance, they’re all communicating with their bodies and the music is a backdrop to that. The music that I play is a space where that conversation can happen freely, and i hope deeply. For me at least, when the music hits just right, I can go to a place where I know I’m safe but I can explore beyond myself, and when I open my eyes, everyone around me is there too.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Books, I would say any well researched non-fiction is always worth it. Learning and absorbing about the world is the best resource we have, and books have a way of giving us information in detail that can’t be beat. Everyone should read more books. Musicians especially, rick Snowman’s “dance Music Manual Vol.4” has been open on my desk for the better part of two years now. fiction though I love anything Kurt Vonnegut, most Thomas Pynchon, and a I’ve read Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe series twice during covid, because of course.
anything written by Alan Watts is a great read. Don’t let the bookstore trick you to thinking self help and spiritual exploration are for the weak, it’s actually the thing that made all those people as strong as they are.
Radiolab is a desert island listen, all twenty years of it or so, but especially the Robert and Jad years (IYKYK). Also love the Criminal podcast, and Stuff you should know.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/eastsouthdisco
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastsouthdisco/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@eastsouthdisco
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/cSVFjUwaDaSA6Hav5