Computer Musician, Programmer, Hardware Hacker

Just a note that Waveformations has been accepted for performance at the 2010 SEAMUS conference, April 8 – 10 2010 @ St. Cloud State University.

The Electric Monster Laptop Ensemble, headed by Hsaio-Lan Wang, is making their concert debut tonight. They’re based at Montana State University, and playing in Reynolds Recital Hall there. My piece for networked laptop ensemble, “Solid State,” is being performed along with six other pieces for laptop ensemble. You can see more on Hsiao-Lan Wang’s site here, and I’ll post a recording when I have one.

Here are two different versions of Fission, recorded yesterday (11.6.2009 @ KSE) by David Collins, Steve Schlei, and myself.

I like the way the piece takes on a different form each time it’s performed – the two recordings here were made back-to-back. The score .zip archive is available here.

Over the summer, I released two albums of my work with two European netlabels. Solid State, a collection of tape music, live electro-acoustic music, and acoustic chamber music, was released on Petcord, while Untitled, 2006 – 2009, a selection of recordings made with my custom software instruments, was released on Digitalbiotope.

I’ve had almost 1,500 downloads of “Solid State” alone, according to Archive.org. (Who knows, that number may be higher in reality… these are both Creative Commons licensed works, so copying and sharing is encourage.) I cannot think of a better way for a young, independent composer to gain a bit of exposure. Petcord also run a streaming internet radio station, Leftob, so anything they release (or anything else they find and enjoy) is given some play on the station. It’s a great way to get your music out to some new listeners, who might be tuning in because of another artists work that they enjoy.

It can be difficult, but it’s important to find a netlabel who has released similar music to yours. Petcord’s previous releases were not necessarily focused on the same things as mine, but Olliver, one of the operators, was quite interested and totally positive about putting my music out.

As you can see in some posts below, my releases have literally gotten global attention, from Hungary, to Estonia, and Duke University.

I’m thinking next about some netlabel-specific music releases, possibly consisting of a piece of software rather than a recording. More here when that happens.

Wow, I’m pleased and proud that my recent release Solid State – on Petcord – has been downloaded over 1,400 times!

If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s a free download, so check it out and tell your friends! The rest of the Petcord releases are good too, so there’s a lot to enjoy.