When most people hear the term “electronic music,” they think of throbbing dancefloors and repetitive loops. But that’s just the type of categorization that Danish music artist Emil de Waal eschews. His area of expertise is not dance music at all, but avant-garde jazz and electronica, as Beijing will see on May 22 as part of the Nine Gates Jazz Fest.

“It’s important for me to not (fall) into stylistic boundaries,” de Waal says. “To me, music is just music.”

The process of creating a de Waal track is an exercise in technology and innovation. Though a drummer by practice, de Waal approaches composition with extensive use of the computer as an instrument.

“For composing, [the computer] gives me the possibility of writing music the way I like it to sound even though I can’t really play instruments other than drums well,” de Waal says. “If I use the computer creatively, I can make music out of everything.”

The only potential drawback he sees in relying on a computer to compose is its inherently limitless nature. “The possibilities are so vast that you have to be very selective to be sure to make the right artistic choices,” he says.

In arguably his most experimental work to date, Emil de Waal live+, he tried to abolish any disconnect between recorded music and live creation by improvising almost all of the songs. He used only a set key and pace as a foundation, then brought in a computer to combine different recordings made over five concerts for the finished pieces. The album completely redefines the concept of composition.

The Emil de Waal Trio performs as part of the Beijing Nine Gates Jazz Festival, an international jazz festival assembling 13 of the genre’s rising and established stars for a week of performances in Beijing.

“I think the Chinese listeners are very much into energy,” de Waal says. “At the same time they do not seem to be very controlled by stylistic boundaries. If they like the music, they don’t seem too interested in defining if they are listening to jazz, avant-garde, electronica or rock.”

Music, plain and simple.

by Colleen Gargan