Echo System was the collaborative entity of Jamie Haggerty and Daniel Crommie who released four seminal experimental synth-based albums spanning the years 1986 through 1991 recorded in their modest, if not somewhat primitive home studios. Their joint music experience started a several years prior in the ethnic folk group “Continuum” – with Jamie playing guitar, dulcimer & mandolins and Daniel singing and joining in on flutes, electric & acoustic dulcimers, cornamuse, recorders, etc., and the two of them arranging Medieval, Renaissance, French and Bretagne tunes in a mostly acoustic setting. After Continuum disbanded in November 1982, Jamie formed another traditional band “Cour Des Miracles” and Daniel teamed with Bo & Paul Parker forming “Group Du Jour” which started as a modern folk-rock trio, but quickly morphed into a electronic rock-oriented act as the eighties brought more affordable synthesizers and other music technology to the masses. In 1986 the first Echo System project was recorded direct to digital PCM, utilizing sequencers and the then-new MIDI technology. “Nightmares and Dreams” was half electro-pop songs, half ambient - and sometimes hypnotic – instrumental statements. The next album “Bad Medicine” - recorded later in the year, was composed on a 4-track cassette studio yet sounds surprisingly polished. 1987’s “In a Strange World” yielded similar stylistic results to “Nightmares and Dreams” with a couple of pop songs, the driving title track and an assortment of more experimental gems thrown in. Having only played three times in public, luckily two of these shows were digitally recorded resulting in half of the final album, 1990’s cassette “Heat Lightning”. A unique set comprised of live sequencing synchronized to prerecorded tape with keyboard and flute/voice improvisation made this a somewhat tricky (and for some, controversal*) feat to pull off – but it worked. Half of the “Heat Lightning” material came from a live performance, the balance from unused tracks dating back a couple of years. Today Jamie Haggerty composes film soundtracks and sound design, creates original digital artworks and designs most of the New Weave CD cover art, while Daniel Crommie continues with Group Du Jour, Saturnalia Trio and solo endeavors.

* There were a few attendees who wondered why “real” musicians couldn’t be used instead of the sequencers and seemed a bit peeved.