Gestural Distillations

Currently in development. Music created as a focussed listening experience, presented as a one-time-only event. Eleven musicians with diverse musical backgrounds are contributing to this project.

All The Best Words

I decided to spend my 4th of July this year (2019) engaged in what I consider to be a patriotic act of political protest. I created a short piece of music (or sound art if you prefer), which uses as its source material, the spoken words or Donald Trump. My objective was to create the whole thing in one day. Well, I didn’t quite make it and ended up doing an additional five hours of tweaking. That being said, the limitations of using only Trump’s voice for source material and completing the piece in a single day were stimulating, (and I’m glad I won’t be spending weeks listening to his voice with a high degree of focus).

Submitted for your listening pleasure.

I recently just finished up working on a live electronic music project for Pangea World Theater’s production of Mother Courage and her Children. I used my vintage Moog Model 12 modular and Minimoog synthesizers, and deliberately chose to not use a computer for this project, at least for the live performances. I recorded the material and will be subjecting it to my fragment-based compositional process later. My musical collaborator for this project is Homer Lambrecht, who used nothing but computers, (two iPads and a laptop to be precise).

Performances were at the Lab Theater in downtown Minneapolis. Full information about this project can be found here.

I also did live improvisational music during the pre-show period each night. This material tends to be more tonal than most of the music performed during the play. Here’s a particularly modal improv from one of the evenings.

My recently acquired vintage Polyfusion 2000. The actual keyboard is still going through restoration, but I have started making music with it. Very exciting. I feel so lucky. I've known about this particular instrument for many years. I know the owner who purchased it new back in the early '80s, (maybe late '70s?). It's been in storage for decades and I would periodically ask him if he would be interested in selling it. Last year when I made my annual check-in with him, he finally relented, (with the caveat that he will have lifetime access to it in my studio). So, I'm only the second owner of this rare beauty. It even still has it's original white patch cables with Polyfusion's own custom 1/4 plugs in various colors, which look great against the black panels. I took this picture during the CD release party for Breathing Voltages. I just whipped up a patch to show how great it looks. 

One of my recent electronic pieces, Alien Insects, was stimulated by my discovery of this old early '60s vintage equipment rack. I cleaned it up and clear coated it to preserve the patina and honest wear it has "earned" over the decades. I then filled it up with a bunch of modular synthesizer gear and I must say, I absolutely love how it looks. It looks as if it came right off the set of an early sci-fi movie. 

I recently performed at the 2017 SEAMUS national conference in St. Cloud.
The resulting composition is entitled Resonant Quarry. 

My new Breathing Voltages CD is now available. All new electronic music from the past couple years.