Tracklisting
01. Start
02. Bang Bang Listen!
03. Starfield
04. Endiment
05. Sincerely, Morton Suboctave Listen!
06. The Longest Corridor
07. Dot Matrix 7
08. Bitumen of Judea (photographic memories)
09. Sharkjumping
10. These Sounds were Wound Around my Ears for Years but Now they're Here so Have no Fear
11. Insulated Like The Dead of Winter, Incubated Like an Egg Listen!
12. Congraturation
13. An Acronym that stands for nothing
14. Curiouser and Curiouser

The audio clips are just that - they are not the full tracks! All are 160kbps Mp3's. Enjoy!
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WHAT IS THIS RECORD ALL ABOUT?
This is an album of electronic experiments. This is not music to put on at your next frat party or social function, more than likely. These sounds were intended for more cerebral listening, preferably with headphones. But then again, you can listen to it how ever you want. I don't really care. A lot of it was a tip of the hat to experimental composers that I admire, such as John Cage and Morton Subotnick, and electronic explorers such as Dick Hyman. I have sat here and tried to think of others that I may have taken cues from, but I can't come up with any more names. For some reason, people seem to like names for comparison. The main reasons for my creating this project are 1)I find it very easy to make electronic music, and I wanted some new sounds to play around with; 2)I was in the throes of an intense bout of writer's block, so this was a vacation from "serious" music; 3)I had just finished putting together my modular synthesizer and wanted as many excuses as possible to use it. In fact, it ended up on roughly 80% of this project in one form or another.

CREATION INFORMATION

01.Start
INSTRUMENTS USED:Synthesizers.com Modular Synthesizer.
This piece was created for a video I made of me patching and playing my modular synth. 

02.Bang Bang
INSTRUMENTS USED:Roland SH-3, Roland RE-101 Space Echo, drum machine (anyone who's been around lately will know which one)
This was a really fun piece to make. It began with me experimenting with the SH-3 through this old Realistic line mixer my friend Aaron gave me. It has become one of my favourite sources of weird, nasty tones. I made some percussive-sounding loops on the SH-3, and everything went from there. The big echo sweep and the drum machine were added almost as an afterthought, but they make the piece.

03. Starfield
INSTRUMENTS USED: Electric Guitar through ring modulator, voice.
This was one of the few pieces that were created before October 2005. I recorded this on cassette 4-track in my "back to basics" phase of Autumn 2004. It's just a ring mod interplay type thing, with a pinch of heavily effected, backwards voice added in there. I think it sounds a bit like Stockhausen.

04.Endiment
INSTRUMENTS USED: .com Modular Synth, computer sequencer, Moog CP-251, Space Echo.
This was one of the first things I created with the .com Modular when I had enough components to actually make sounds. You are hearing three sequenced parts that interlock, created using only 1 VCO, Ring Mod, VCA, and EG, with the CP-251. The "lead" stuff was added later when the system was more complete. Oh yeah, and the title comes from Homestar Runner.

05.Sincerely, Morton Suboctave
INSTRUMENTS USED: .com modular synthesizer, Moog CP-251.
I've always wanted to use that title because I think it's clever. This was created in the spirit of old Moog records, but came out sounding more like some Buchla stuff I've heard. Of course, you can tell it's a jazz guy messing around, not a "serious" experimental composer, so I guess this is where the Dick Hyman comparison comes in.

06.The Longest Corridor
INSTRUMENTS USED: Roland SH-3, Moog CP-251, RE-101 Space Echo.
This was a one-take synthesizer solo (it was edited somewhat), with two tracks of echo added later. The CP-251 is controlling the filter of the SH-3 via the lfo, sample & hold, and my foot on a CV pedal.

07.Dot Matrix 7
INSTRUMENT USED: Acoustic Upright Piano.
This was done on 4-track in December 2004. It's four parts that interlock, each in a different time signature (yes, it was written out, except for the improvised bit in the middle).
Part 1: Bass strings struck with tympani mallets in 4/4.
Part 2: Bass strings struck with tympani mallets in 13/16.
Part 3: Upper strings plucked with a plectrum in 10/16.
Part 4: Upper strings plucked with a plectrum in 7/16.
I was flicking the hammers with my hands in the end bit. This tune was inspired by "Sysyphus" from Pink Floyd's Ummagumma.

08.Bitumen Of Judea (photographic memories)
INSTRUMENTS USED: Fender Rhodes Suitcase 73, Roland SH-3.
Created on 4-track in December 2004. The Rhodes is the main sound, with the vibrato set to maximum intensity and only one channel plugged in. The Rhodes is again backwards, and the SH-3 does everything else. I came up with the title while I was reading about the origins of photography, and I discovered that Bitumen of Judea was the material used as the exposing element in the first Daguerrotypes, which evolved into what we know today.

09.Sharkjumping
INSTRUMENTS USED: .com Modular Synth, kick drum loop of unknown origin.
I feel like 120 bpm 4-on-the-floor "dance" music "jumped the shark" long ago, and here I am with some more, albeit a bit minimalistic. The other percussion besides the kick loop is from the modular. This track uses a digital delay instead of an analog or a tape one. sorry.

10.These Sounds were Wound Around my Ears for Years but Now they're Here so Have no Fear
INSTRUMENTS USED: cassette tapes processed through the .com modular.
Simple: I edited some field recordings that I had on cassette, and some demos, and my friend Andy playing the piano over the cell phone, and my old high school band in rehearsal, and ran them through the modular. A simple tape composition.

11.Insulated Like The Dead of Winter, Incubated Like an Egg
INSTRUMENTS USED: .com Modular Synth, computer sequencer, RE-101 Space Echo, Roland SH-3.
This was another early basic configuration modular synth experiment, with three interlocking sequenced parts (recorded separately, of course). The SH-3 through Space Echo is the lead, with noise sweeps through Space Echo added. Quite an effective piece, in my opinion. It reminds me of a lot of things, and it probably will you, too.

12.Congraturation
INSTRUMENTS USED: Atari 2600 through Zoom 3000 effects unit.
I played some Atari while I let tape roll, and I played with the effects in real time, straight to tape, on three tracks. Then I severely mangled the results in the computer. Well, that's more or less how it happened. The title is from the Nintendo game Ghosts n' Goblins, which had some pretty bad Japanese-English translation, as evidenced in "Congraturation" flashing on the screen when you beat the game.

13. An acronym that stands for nothing
INSTRUMENTS USED: Casio CZ-5000 through digital delay and RE-101 Space Echo.
Another "almost-endless-delay" thing. It's fun to do. I just did this in two separate takes, just running through all of my programmed sounds in the CZ-5000, which is pretty much digital garbage. Anybody wanna buy it? The bell-like sound in the center channel is through the Space Echo instead of the digital delay.

14.Curiouser and Curiouser
INSTRUMENTS USED:there's guitar and piano and my voice and some field recordings and some Rhodes spots and a few Oberhiem Matrix-1000 spots and...
A tape piece which took five years to complete. In 2000, I bought a 5" reel of 1/4" tape for the purposes of making a "junk reel"- one in which I'd just carelessly throw sound around, regardless of the result. By 2003, it was full, but there were some gaps, which I filled the following year. It was re-mixed and re-edited this year.
=P.S.-I do a terrible impression of Wendy Carlos.