Zoe Keating - what one cello can do

Zoe Keating is the Godmother of "crossover that doesn't suck". And while the first thing I look for is how these "in between" artists define themselves, her definition is "Avant Cello". Catchy. She tops the classical charts though. and wins "contemporary classical" awards. she played rock/avant-garde with Rasputina and Amanda Palmer, and catching ears of adoring fans across the musical spectrum with carefully constructed looped solo cello compositions.
She was onto this way of composing a tad before every kid got abelton and her gear was pretty complicated, and now it's mostly pedals and a laptop.
Her way of constructing her pieces as evolving drones are complex as well, here, check out the live version of "Optimist" from TedxSF

In case 90s cello punky girls weren't your scene, this is Rasputina, can you imagine there were times bands like that were on a major label? I miss the 90s and having fierce female role models...

Zoe Keating is also an architect, and has had huge success as a DIY artist, handling all music business and revenue with no help from a label. This is how most musicians operate these days, but finding such overarching success for an artist of this genre is something to note.

I'll leave you with one more of her slowly building, meditative tracks