Featured Artist Friday: ENDERS

In this week’s Featured Artist Friday we take a look at Peoria electronic music producer Carl Cline. Cline produces his music under the name ENDERS and also designed the logo for our Whiskey Point Sessions video series.

ENDERS aims to be a dualistic balance of machine like creation with human elements with every track he creates. With every new song, he strives to tell a continuing story about humanity’s future and their various creations.

“I like to experiment a lot with new sounds in order to create a signature that people can pick up on when they listen to my music frequently,” said ENDERS. “Sometimes the songs I make don't match one specific theme or music project, so I try to save those ideas for other releases or for use later in the future. Often times when writing music, I don't know exactly what range of moods the songs will bring out until I have done a bunch of work.”

ENDERS releases content that explore themes that allow the listener to follow a detailed story of intelligent beings born in digital mediums crafting and weaving themselves into the physical world. Each track follows this continuous theme and tells an underlying tale that outlines specific moments in their advancement and birth.

Of the course of his lifetime, ENDERS has played a variety of instruments. Instruments he has learned to play include the drums, piano, bass guitar, and electric guitar. ENDERS has never been afraid to break out of his comfort zone and has developed an appreciation for all forms of music.

His passion for electronic music developed in the 1990’s and led to a desire to create his own unique sounding music. The music he creates draws from his wide spectrum of musical endeavors.

“Through years of messing with electronics and technology, I eventually got around to experimenting with DAWs like Fruity Loops for fun,” said ENDERS. “I had never considered seriously creating my own music project until I decided to buy a Roland SH-201 synthesizer some time around 2010. After buying my first synthesizer, I got so hooked on making awesome sounds and playing keys on it that I HAD to try to combine it all with percussion or beats. Eventually after spending time DJing some clubs and creating my own music in my free time, I started releasing my audio creations under a bunch of different projects and monikers.”

ENDERS believes there are infinite possibilities when it comes to creating music and enjoys experimenting with different combinations of sounds. He will often spend hours on end cycling through ideas in his bedroom setup until he starts nailing down concepts that stand out to him.

After he’s developed the structure of his song, he will begin to add in 16 to 32 bar drum loops to begin layering his sounds. ENDERS will then create what he calls large loops of piano note patterns that he wants to work into that particular song.

“Often times I am inspired by a lot of different artistic styles and sound designs,” said ENDERS. “I take some inspirations and influences but try to create something that is less of a copy or product influenced by other music and more of a unique product. I really enjoy using themes to tell a story and convey a wide range of emotions when writing music. Usually if I can build something that changes emotions in unexpected ways or makes people think of something they have heard or seen before but with my own unique twist I feel like I have made a somewhat complete song.”

ENDERS is currently working on a new album which he is currently planning on releasing in the second quarter of 2018. His new album continues the same narrative that his previous albums have followed, which can be found on his SoundCloud profile by following the embedded playlist at the top of the article.

His next performance will be on January 8th at Peoria, IL venue Rail II. The Peoria native will be opening up for Detroit rap pioneer Esham for his Winter 2018 tour with other local hip hop artists also slated to perform.

“I love to learn to play various instruments and include other sound design elements like foley and field recorded sounds to tell stories with my music,” said ENDERS. “Sometimes the stories fit in better with one project or another. Often my goal is to release some body of creation that someone in the world will appreciate besides me. If I was to say I had a major life goal behind making my music it would probably be to leave behind some creations and ideas that people after me will enjoy and be proud to have experienced.”

Next week’s friday spotlight will be Chicago rock band Welcome To Jonestown. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our most this morning's new release of our Whiskey Point Sessions videos series. Check out Joliet rock group IDK performing their song “Bad Dreams Part II” on our YouTube channel or our Facebook page.