Live trumpet and electronic track.  My friend (that would be Dorhauer) agreed to to take on this one.  The machine has basically eaten a trumpet and a cello, and is slowly digesting them.  The excess turns reflective, even mournful, as any good excess ought.

Dorhauer Vs. The Machine

First string quartet.  2009.  I was, at the time, really into David Quammen's book The Song of the Dodo.  It's not the lightest read – Quammen writes a little about the history of natural science and the birth of the theory of evolution, and a little about how scientists have come to view evolutionary procedures.  He decides, by the end, that humans are killing everything beautiful; physically and maybe spiritually.  He thinks the first time we realized we were responsible for an extinction was when we offed the dodo (the bird, naturally).  I figured it deserved a eulogy.

The Song Of The Dodo

Solo piano.  2011.  I wanted to try my hand at a prelude and fugue, since I grew up playing Bach's (and playing them terribly).  I tried writing an idea out until I got bored, then diving into something else, and returning to the note (A) whenever that didn't work.  

Prelude In A - Ish

A pair with Prelude in A-ish, which should be hanging around on Soundcloud too.  2011.

Fugue In G (Sort Of)

I built this by hitting a bunch of things in a campus practice room.  Just about everything – toms, piano, snares – was out of tune, and I loved the feeling of being inside a broken toy.  It felt like the machine was trying to wind up but never quite getting its springs aligned.

The Joy Of Striking Objects

Piano Duet.  2008.  I went to music school thinking I didn't probably like Steve Reich, and was also raised super Christian.  Years later, I was jamming out Tehillim while noticing that Reich's patterns are something of the aural realization of Darwin's cornerstone discovery: each small, repetitive motion slowly adding to itself until it becomes a new gesture entirely.  This battle I was happy to lose.

Me Vs. Steve Reich And Charles Darwin

4/4.  Set of songs squarely in the Sad Bastard tradition.  Built by handwriting pop song parts, having classically-trained instrumentalists record them, then turning the samples sideways.  Mixed and matched in real time with Ableton Live.

Lichtenstein

3/4.  Set of songs squarely in the Sad Bastard tradition.  Built by handwriting pop song parts, having classically-trained instrumentalists record them, then turning the samples sideways.  Mixed and matched in real time with Ableton Live.

Napkin

2/4.  Set of songs squarely in the Sad Bastard tradition.  Built by handwriting pop song parts, having classically-trained instrumentalists record them, then turning the samples sideways.  Mixed and matched in real time with Ableton Live.

The Jackal

1/4.  Set of songs squarely in the Sad Bastard tradition.  Built by handwriting pop song parts, having classically-trained instrumentalists record them, then turning the samples sideways.  Mixed and matched in real time with Ableton Live.

E.B. Madsen