September 2024:
Two performances with Musiqued Poetry in NYC
(Lago Jacuzzi, I la Católica, Mabe Rratti, Mayada Ibrahim, Tilghman Goldsboro, Theo Ellin Ballew)
9/3 in McGolrick Park, 9/11 at Montez Press Radio
February 26, 2024:
Amplified snare drum solo at Striped Light, Queens, NY
also Julia Santoli and T.J. Borden
February 2024 amplified snare drum solos and duos in Mexico:
2/3 in Oaxaca City, details TBA, part of Yutindudi
2/6 at Chintete, Cantina La Dominica, CDMX (also Bryan Eubanks, Xavier López, Jimena Ordoñez, Tumba 7)
October 26-28, 2023:
Short California tour playing amplified snare drum solos
with Oceans Roar 1000 Drums + Xavier Lopez
11/26 Ojai at Kim Maxwell Studio
11/27 Santa Cruz at Indexical
11/28 San Francisco at Adobe Books, also Matt Robidoux / Jean Carla Rodea
August 12-18, 2023:
Participating in Yaa Ñu'u Tikue festival @ Yutindudi, Magdalena Yodocono, Oaxaca MX
With a live performance at Chintete, Oaxaca City MX on August 18
May 5, 2023:
Percussion solo and karaoke set at Petersburg Art Space, Berlin DE (also featuring Bec Lane and Clara de Asis)
April 30, 2023:
Percussion solo and quartet with Andrea Ermke, Sean Meehan, and Bryan Eubanks at Petersburg Art Space, Berlin DE
January 20, 2023:
Performing (snare drum / percussion) with Mabe Fratti (cello/voice/songs), Hector Tosta (keys), and Jarrett Gilgore (sax)
At Masa Pasta Bar, Roma Norte, CDMX
November 5, 2022:
Performing (snare drum) along with Sean Meehan
for PARK: Wanderings, a dance performance by Kathy Westwater at Fresh Kills Landfill, Staten Island NY
December 4 and 5, 2021:
Participating in Double Infinity, a two-day, 24-hour online piece in celebration of Phill Niblock's 88th Birthday.
with Mayada Ibrahim and Austin Larkin
February 2021:
A new online piece, shake
February 2021:
Quieter included in Neomata's "Undocumented events and object permanence" exhibition/site/book
October 2020:
A new online piece, long rolls (2020)
May 2, 2020
Masking Study #2 (2019) included in Q-02's Oscillation Festival / Marathon
April 2020:
A new online piece, refri space (2020)
November 2019 and ongoing:
Tonight (2014) selected for Broken English's pavilion for The Wrong Biennale
Net Music (2011 - )
A series of pieces exploring the html document as a medium for music.
These are made from raw mp3 and ogg files, html and Javascript. Turn
speakers on and click on the links below. Not functional on mobile
devices. Depending on your browser, you might need to click on the page
in order to get the audio loading.
I wrote a very short essay on this project here.
Studies and online-only pieces
Shake
Long Rolls
Refri Space
Glissando
Overtones, harmonic series based on the 60 Hertz hum
Tonight
Site Site
After Flavor
Sometimes
Chord
Purity
MMM
Slow Jungles
Wash
Study #9 ("Nibbles")
Study #7 (Recent Funk)
Study #5
Study #3 (Windows Plus)
Study #2 (Semi Natural White)
Clock Pieces / A Thing Is A Clock
Decimal Clock (with Bryan Eubanks)
Leap Second (not in operation-- see here!)
Clock IV
Clock III
Clock II
Clock
Pulse Studies
Faster, an imperceptibly accelerating pulse
Slower, an imperceptibly decelerating pulse
Louder, a pulse and white noise study in durational crescendo (~20 years)
Quieter, a pulse and white noise study in perpetual decrescendo
Nychthemeron, a 24-hour pulse study
Nychthemeron (two-channel version)
Pulse (minutes)
Netmusic pieces for specific performances
Rhythm and Duration Study conceived with Rolando Hernández
Compression Piece [try with Firefox-- Chrome is buggy]
Canyon Piece for Black Dragon Canyon, UT
Uruapan 22 #4 [try with Firefox-- Chrome is buggy]
Two for Umbral
Agujero / Hole
Chord 2013
Performance
I compose pieces for solo performer (myself) and groups, often specifically for the time and place of performance.
My scores consist of written/oral instructions, graphic guides, and/or computer-based prompts.
When I perform, I usually play a combination of percussion instruments and computer.
Masking Study #2 (2019)
A piece for performer(s) and digital audio
Online score available here
Performed solo January 20, 2019 at Petersburg Art Space, Berlin DE / Recording here (thanks to Adam Asnan)
Rolls (2018)
A solo piece for percussion (snare drum with sticks and brushes, claves) and computer
Performed January 27 and 28, 2018, at Vox Populi (Philadelphia) and Middle Press (Brooklyn)
Recordings: Philadelphia / Brooklyn
Video excerpt here
"Clavstival 2017"
Two afternoons of performances for claves and other small percussion with Bryan Eubanks
Geschichtspark Ehemaliges Zellengefängnis Moabit, Berlin
featuring works by Eubanks, Sarah Hennies, Manfred Werder and JTP
Performance of Double Circle Piece (2017) with Bryan Eubanks
October 1 2017 at The Concert for Mexico, Kule, Berlin
80, 40
a piece for web browser and musician(s), variable duration
more information here
Clock piece and claves improvisation
with Odds & Ends (Xavier Lopez, Supercollider / Flokim Lucas, visuals) and Gudinni Cortina (white noise)
November 14, 2015 at the Capilla de la Hacienda Sta Barbara, Tlaxcala MX
Video excerpt here
Attenuation Study
Composition for field recordings, sine tones and percussion (brushes on snare drum, claves)
performed January 23, 2015 at home concert, Colonia Nápoles, Mexico City
here is some writing about this piece
Rhythm and Duration Study
first conceived and performed with Rolando Hernández (acoustic discman) September 20, 2014 in Colonia Roma, Mexico City
performed solo (laptop, brushes on snare drum, claves) at Galería Mérida
Mérida, Yucatán MX, December 28 2014
(recording excerpt)
performed three nights in Oaxaca, MX December 5-7 2014
(Rough score for Rhythm and Duration Study)
performed solo (amplified laptop, brushes on snare drum, claves)
at Black Iris Gallery in Richmond VA, October 3, 2014
(recording excerpt)
The below is an ongoing series of site-specific performances. Each is a premiere of a netmusic piece which is composed for the time and place of the performance and then posted online as a website.
Compression Piece
performed September 6, 2014 at a house concert in Oakland CA
and November 5, 2016 at Comité de Asuntos Intangibles, Morelia Mich. MX
Canyon Piece
performed August 31, 2014 in Black Dragon Canyon, near Green River UT
Two for Umbral
performed May 6, 2014 at Umbral 5, in Colonia Escandon, Mexico City
Agujero / Hole
performed Nov. 23, 2013 as part of "Error 404" in Colonia Santa Maria la Ribera, Mexico City
Chord 2013
performed July 13, 2013 at the intersection of 37th Av, Broadway and the BQE in Queens, NY
Some writing on this work (specifically Chord 2013) can be found here.
Here is some writing about Agujero / Hole.
Audience is a performance piece based on the idea that the basic material of music is listening, not sound.
What is the sound of an audience listening?
Audience was first premiered at OPE3RA between a room at the Super 8 Motel in Salisbury, NC USA and the Galería Manuel Felguérez
at CENART, Mexico City on June 22 2015.
Here is some writing on the premiere.
Smooth Breeze
An expanding portfolio of projects concerning Smooth Jazz and Smooth Jazz Culture.
Our projects have included DJ sets, installations, mixtape releases, custom beverages and musical holiday products.
Visit Smooth Breeze
Cigarette Life
Starting in 2012 I have worked occasionally for a research company
conducting surveys on tobacco marketing in stores (indirectly for state
and university prevention studies). I spent time in various parts of New
York, California, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Tennessee, Massachusetts,
Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana,
Nebraska, Kansas, Florida and North Dakota. I started a tumblr to
document some of these moments.
Visit Cigarette Life
Kung Fu
Since 2011 I have been practicing (and since 2013 teaching) Kung Fu.
I study under Grandmaster Wang Rengang of the International Dachengdao School.
We focus on Dachengquan and Hao Family Taiji Plum Blossom Praying Mantis.
In early 2016 I began giving classes in both these styles in Mexico City. Contact me for more information.
Done
En Frente de Tortillerías
A multi-year project about listening in a repetitive urban space:
five-minute recordings in front of Mexico City's tortillerías.
Visit
Stavenhofer Latency Architecture
with Bill Dietz
September 23, 2017, 3 - 6 PM
A public audio work presented on, and in collaboration with the residents of a small residential street in Cologne, Germany.
Presented by freies rheinland e.V. (Georg Deitzler) and co-sponsored by CityLeaks Festival.
Documentation here
Piece for Calle Bustamante
An audio piece extending along a three-block commercial corridor in the
Historic Center of Oaxaca, Mexico, using sound systems already present
in front of 21 storefronts.
Presented by Festival Umbral and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca
Full documentation here
80, 40 (2016)
a piece for web browser and musician(s), variable duration
score available here
Performances:
February 4, 2016 Escuela Popular de Bellas Artes, Morelia, Michoacán MX
with Liliana Rodriguez Alvarado (viola)
February 29, 2016 CT-SWaM at Cantina Royal, Brooklyn NY
with Gao Jiafeng
plus Marcia Bassett and Stephen Conover
March 5, 2016 Vox Populi, Philadelphia PA
with Bonnie Jones (electronics)
plus Bhob Rainey, Lauren Pakradooni (Tether)
April 9, 2016 The wulf, Los Angeles CA
solo (percussion)
plus Yasi Pereira
September 11, 2016 Studio 8, Berlin
premiere of a shorter variant of the piece: 40, 30
solo (percussion)
plus Toshimaru Nakamura and Andrea Neumann
November 4, 2016 Comité de Asuntos Ingangibles, Morelia Mich. MX
40, 30 with Héctor Rey (concertina)
plus Sunya Ratio
April 2, 2018 with Jacob Wick and Gudinni Cortina
at ISO3, MACO, Oaxaca
August 27, 2018 with Gust Burns (piano) and Austin Larkin (violin)
at Yellowfish Festival of Durational Performance Art, Hedreen Gallery, Seattle WA USA
November 2, 2018 Manifesto-Espacio, Guatemala City GT
solo (percussion)
Weather Conversation Tree
A text score for conversations beginning with the topic of weather.
A collaboration with Tim Leonido. Presented/published by Present Tense Pamphlets.
Performed by the authors at Umbral 26, Mexico City, 19 August 2016.
PDF
Motel Room
A multimedia installation with text by J. Gordon Faylor
Robber's Roost Motel, Green River UT
October 9 to 11, 2015
Part of / made possible by High Desert Test Sites: Epicenter
More info and documentation here.
Air Circulation Studies
A mobile field recording / listening project completed in August 2013.
Here is a link to the project.
Immersion Loop
Posted August 6 2013
A new piece for the online audio journal Lateral Addition.
Also featured in this issue: Bonnie Jones, Ursula Nistrup, Stephen Lichty
Talk-Performance
A simultaneous conversation about and installation of Laska's Impulse Blasts and my Wash.
November 19, 2015
Festival Aural, Mexico City MX
Version II - with Alexander Bruck
July 21, 2013
Night Camp, Brooklyn NY
March 15, 2013
]Blnkt, Philadelphia PA
(Audio / Video)
Quartet with Pyramid Scheme
With Eric Laska, Richard Kamerman, and Reed Evan Rosenberg
March 11 - July 1, 2011
A streaming sound piece whose sound material is collected through a
sixteen-week pyramid scheme. Every two weeks, the new set of
participants submits samples that the composers will selectively work
into the stream. The samples are played continuously in unpredictable
variations through a max/MSP patch. By the end of the process, 512
participants will be asked to contribute.
* * * * * * * * *
"Quartet with Pyramid Scheme" was a 2010 commission of New Radio and
Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It
was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation.
Visit Turbulence
A Coney Island of the Mind
A temporary broadcast on Coney Island
April 16, 2011.
A local FM transmission on the occasion of Astroland's reopening in
April 2011, using Hong-Kai Wang's field recordings from the older
Astroland (made in 2006-7). Part of a larger collaborative project
including a forthcoming book. Collaborators include Hong-Kai Wang, Anne
Callahan, Brendan Dalton, and Jess Wilcox.
Alicia
With Eric Laska
January 2010
The Silks Building - Long Island City, Queens
Part of Sonik Fest 1.0, hosted by Dutch Kills / Climate Gallery
An improvisation / sound installation using sounds taken from the ongoing festival and the building that housed it. Made with field recordings, radio transmitters and receivers, a computer, and multiple speakers, occupying several rooms.
Excerpts of Alicia recorded from various positions and times.
Quartet without Pyramid Scheme
With Eric Laska, Richard Kamerman, and Reed Evan Rosenberg
Diapason Gallery, Brooklyn NY
September 5-26, 2009
The first outing of the 'quartet' and its improvised sound installation
format. Field recording samples were played continuously and in
indeterminate variations through Diapason's two-room, 20-channel sound
system. Through the piece's duration, the four artists took turns
altering the sound's composition by recording new samples, removing old
ones, and remixing the existing sound. No changes to the software or
recordings were made. The following scheme governed the turn-taking for
recomposing the piece:
. . . . . . . Gallery . . . . . . Lounge
Week 1 . Paul . . . . . . . . . Paul
Week 2 . Rosenberg . . . . Paul + Rosenberg
Week 3 . Laska . . . . . . . . Paul + Rosenberg + Laska
Week 4 . Kamerman . . . . Paul + Rosenberg + Laska + Kamerman
Brian Droitcour for Rhizome: "Group Dynamics" (2009)
Keep in mind that the following excerpts are low-quality stereo recordings of large and reverberant rooms...
Stereo excerpt from the lounge, 9/12/2009
Stereo excerpt from the gallery, 9/12/2009
Stereo excerpt from the gallery, 9/19/2009
Stereo excerpt from the gallery, 9/26/2009
D'Egg
With Eric Laska
July 2009
The Scultpture Center - Long Island City, Queens
A multi-channel sound installation in two spaces (in the pictured truck and other isolated sound sources in a nearby interior space) plus FM/streaming broadcast. Made with field recordings taken on site.
Document
June 2009
The Work Office - New York, NY
A continuous five-channel sound installation. Sound material included
field recordings from the Staten Island Ferry, electromagnetic
recordings from a cell phone, and previously discarded recordings of an
audio cable malfunction.
A stereo excerpt of Document.
Septet
My final student composition for violin, cello, flute, clarinet, trombone, piano, and percussion in 2008.
Thanks to the Talea Ensemble performers and conductor Carl C. Bettendorff.
Beware of distortions in the recording.
All work on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.