About
Erik Spangler - composer, producer, dj, electroacoustic improviser
Erik Spangler (DJ Dubble8) is a composer and electronic musician living in Baltimore, Maryland. Engaged equally with ensemble improvisation, live electronics, studio production, and notated music, Spangler aims to dissolve cultural boundaries while drawing all corners of inspiration into evocative soundscapes. His compositions have been performed across the United States and internationally by ensembles including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Rhymes With Opera, and International Contemporary Ensemble. Founder of The Vigil all-night music festival at Maryland Institute College of Art (2010-present), he is also co-founder of Mobtown Modern music series (2008-12) and Baltimore Boom Bap Society live improvised hip hop collective/music series (2011-present). Spangler holds degrees from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (B.M., Music Composition, 1999) and Harvard University (Ph.D., Music Composition, 2004). He has taught sound art, music production, live electronic music, and composition at Maryland Institute College of Art, Towson University, Ithaca College, and K-12 schools in Baltimore, with additional work as a musical accompanist for modern dance classes at Towson University, Goucher College, Baltimore School For The Arts, and University of Maryland.
Compositions for voices and instruments
Erik has been writing for solo instruments and voices, chamber ensembles, and orchestras since 1993. From music written for the concert hall to site-specific pieces and projects connecting different geographic locations, Erik's music has evolved in the direction of shaping the listening context in unique ways. In recent years, while singing professionally as a bass vocalist in the Mount Calvary Choir in Baltimore, he has written many liturgical pieces for SATB choir, unaccompanied or with organ, and individual singers from the group. Other notated composition projects since 2001 often feature acoustic instruments in combination with live electronics or recorded audio. View list of works here.
Music for dance
Regularly providing improvised musical accompaniment for modern dance and ballet classes at various schools, Erik also composes fixed scores and live electronic systems for choreography. In live accompaniment for dance classes, a pad controller is used to trigger layered samples. Scoring for choreography has included:
- Time In The Unconscious Mind (2016) score for choreography and film by Jezie Zhunio. Existing in a fixed recorded version and live performance in Cuenca, Ecuador
- The space between (us) (2019) - composition for choreography by Lisa Dillin and Nicole Martinell for Deep Vision Dance Company, Baltimore
- Veiled (2020) - dance for the camera, choreography by Amber Daniels and Becky Hill, University of Maryland
- Step-A-Tune Soundweb (2021-22) - collaborative composition with percussive dancer Becky Hill, for modular synthesizer connected to a dance board. Performed in extended version at Strathmore, North Bethesda, MD; final version premiered at Becky Hill’s MFA dance thesis concert at the University of Maryland, College Park
- Underground Intelligence (2022) - composition for choreography by Nicole Martinell, performed by Towson University Dance Company
Listen to scores for choreography here.
Baltimore Boom Bap Society
Baltimore Baltimore Boom Bap Society is a collaboration between producers Erik Spangler (DJ Dubble8) and Wendel Patrick. Their monthly improvised hip hop series is conceived as a forum for experimentation and collaboration between local hip hop artists, while placing hip hop in dialogue with other forms of music. Wendel Patrick & DJ Dubble8 invite special guests from Baltimore and beyond to perform with them in diverse combinations, to explore a hybrid of free improvisation and beat-based composition. BBBS began in 2011 with an 8-year residency at The Windup Space, building a continually growing collective of performers from different musical backgrounds. Beyond their monthly series, now based at Le Mondo, BBBS has performed at Goucher College, Salisbury University, Johns Hopkins University (Racial Justice Concert Series), Peabody Conservatory of JHU (Peabody Hip Hop Ensemble), Maryland Institute College of Art, University of Baltimore (Artscape - Worlds in Collusion), Artscape 2016, Baltimore Rhythm Festival, Keystone Korner, Baltimore Museum of Art, Reginald F. Lewis Museum (“For Whom It Stands” - reinterpretations of the national anthem), Creative Alliance, Parkway Theatre, Kennedy Center REACH Opening Festival, and two concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. BBBS has also directed numerous workshops and residencies in Baltimore City Public Schools through Arts Every Day. For this educational outreach work, they have received grants from MECU Credit Union (“MECU Music Ed Remix”) and National Endowment for the Arts.
Audio tours & installations
Music and soundscapes created for audio tours and installations, often mixed with narration, including:
- The Story of This Place: Charm City Remix (2008) - score for an interactive audio walking tour, with site-specific narratives by Kianga Ford, commissioned by the Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD
- Underspace / Accokeek Subterrain (2015) - soundtrack for an installation focused on the science of soil, commissioned by the Accokeek Foundation for the National Colonial Farm, Accokeek, MD
- Garden of Three Continents (2016) - audio tour for agricultural exhibit at the National Colonial Farm, commissioned by the Accokeek Foundation, Accokeek, MD
- NONUMENT 01: McKeldin Fountain (2018) - sound design and musical score for site-specific virtual reality app for iPhone, in collaboration with Lisa Moren and Jaimes Mayhew
- Vireon Breaths (2022) - recording and remixing breath art installation piece by Shodekeh Talifero, in conjunction with sculptures by Rebecca Kamen for Reveal: The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery exhibit at American University
- Living Proof (2022) - historical audio tour soundtrack in collaboration with Paul Lovelace (Teach Outside), created for EJ Curley & Co. bourbon distillery in Jessamine County, KY
- Voyages I - Vymatics (2022) - recording and mixing for audio tour composed by Shodekeh Talifero, with cymatic projections by Erica Hansen, commissioned by the National Aquarium in Baltimore
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