Few artists have the extraordinary musical reach of Decatur, Georgia's G. Scott Herren, who has captivated fans across the vast rock, electronic, jazz, and hip-hop spectrum with his projects like Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas, Delarosa & Asora, and now Piano Overlord. An ever-evolving palette of sounds reflects both Herren's state of mind and his environment, whether it's the Dirty South, Barcelona, or New York.

Most acclaimed to date is Herren's Prefuse 73 guise, which debuted on Chocolate Industries with the 'EstroCaro' single in 2000 and has gone on to release three original albums on Warp Records, including the recent Surrounded By Silence. He runs the Eastern Developments record label, which has released artists such as Lori Scacco, Dabrye, and AmmonContact, and has been a key contributor to Chocolate's acclaimed compilations.

In contrast to Prefuse 73's sample-heavy/ micro-edit aesthetic and the vocal intricacies of Savath & Savalas, Piano Overlord began as a free jazz experiment for Turntable Lab's Money Studies label using sounds generated only from pianos and non-synthesized keyboards.

But has since evolved into an organism with a rotating cast of collaborators, no limits as far as musical instrumentation, and a social message rare in the marketplace.

The Piano Overlord album Aninha Mission charts the hopeful course and eventual disillusionment, rejection, and isolationism of an island immigrant to the United States, with particular consideration to Cuban and Haitian refugees. With no words, the listener must rely on the emotional tones of the music for interpretation. Herren plans to donate the artistic proceeds of Piano Overlord releases to various relief funds for immigrants. It's the type of money-where-your-mouth-is activism that will further delineate this project from the abstract theory of other socially conscious music.