I have just completed recording a 6 part suite of "classic" electronic music, in the tradition of the great studios of the 50s - 70s (to learn more, see the Wikipedia article on "Electronic Music") but with more contemporary threads throughout. The sounds come from my Eurorack & Aries systems; plus a little bit of voice, percussion, and musique concretè). It's an attempt to explore how the past year+ (pandemic, social justice and the lack of it in the US, climate change, authoritarianism, economic inequities...) has felt to me. Among all the various genres of music I have worked in, it is this approach to electronic music that I first started with in the mid 70s. It has been a thread all along through everything I do. It has been exciting to be a part of the modular synth revival that started in the first years of the 2000s, and continues to grow (to learn more, see Modular Grid at https://www.modulargrid.net/ ). Mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Sean Magee.

The Vanished Day

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Electric Guitars, Baritone Guitar, Bass, Drums, Percussion

Rumble4One

I did a live gig at a recent NESF (New England Synth Fest) event. For the performance, I put together a new piece called "Cognitive Dissonance" using only my modular synthesizer. The set combined live playing, live improvisation, and pre-recorded samples triggered with pads for swapping samples on the fly. This is a recording of that gig, using a feed that came directly from the synth's master outs.

Cognitive Dissonance (Live)

Cognitive Dissonance

Creating music with Adam Holzman as a featured performer is always a great experience! When working with him I have always tried to make settings for him to work with that measure up to his creative talents. I think that "Densities of Light / Shimmering Lake" meets that goal; it showcases Adam's many strengths as a player, soloist, and co-producer.

Ever since "Winter Light" (from "Moving Pictures"), the play of light in both nature and in the built environment has fascinated me. Light is such an essential part of our existence, in wonderful ways as well as the not-wonderful rapid encroachment of light pollution. Over a range of the light on the side of a mountain to a neon sculpture, it exists on many layers simultaneously, and it affects us all in a myriad of ways (whether consciously or not). I've always tried to bring that in as some kind of element of pieces. This piece is a single entity with 2 inner movements that have no simple or direct division between them, hence the duality of the title. And...the music sounds as good as it does because a master of mastering puts his finishing touches on it! Mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Sean Magee.

"Densities of Light / Shimmering Lake"

My Friend In Seattle

Question Suite:
1. Why
2. Struggle/Confusion
3. Exposition

From rehearsals for a performance at the Fall 2023 New England Synth Fest (nesynthfest.org). Recorded live with no overdubs.

Question Suite

"Signals" is an electronic music piece created with modular synthesizer and sampled percussion. I almost titled it "Mixed Signals", since that's certainly what the universe sends out these days.

The first synthesizer I ever owned is the Aries Modular that is still in service in my studio. Making music before (MIDI or DAW) sequencing was a very different approach for me than the process I tend to use now. I wanted to get back to that way of composing. The piece has a wide dynamic range and is somewhat intrusive and disconcerting, just as it was intended!

Mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Sean Magee

Signals

Buzz Baby Jesus aka BBJ, Buzz Factory
Electronic Chamber Orchestra
-Synthesizers, Electric Guitars



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