Introduction: So what was all that noise about?

     In a perfect world it shouldn't be necessary to have to explain the aesthetics (i.e. objectives) behind more fringe styles of music - ideally an audience would just listen and then draw their own conclusions, solely based on the music itself. Unfortunately, the high-velocity rate of information in today's world makes it impossible to really devote any kind of time towards patiently giving new music a chance, or trying to "figure out" how to appreciate unfamiliar, more abstract styles of music. Therefore a personal perspective might be in order - to grease the ear canals, so to speak, for those not already "Hooked on Non-Classics".

     As a guitarist coming from a rock and jazz background, I had probably reached the zenith of what most people would consider "normal music" in the late '80s and early '90s. Pushing beyond that, I started exploring more dissonant, less commercial styles of music, such as from the Velvet Underground, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Sonic Youth, Faith No More... essentially fringe punk. As much as I loved the brilliant guitar stylings of everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Allan Holdsworth to Eddie Van Halen to Mike Stern to the Edge, this noisy punk thing was pretty exciting and liberating. Long story short, this led to John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, late-era John Coltrane, Merzbow, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz...with each artist pushing the boundaries of what could be categorized as "music". By 2010 I had gone so far out that I had reached the logical endpoint of that journey into freedom - which is of course, white noise (this, in turn, led to a retreat into the exquisitely-structured world of Beethoven -which is another story).

"You've got to gentle people along for a while until they are clued in on the scene.

This whole things gonna blow wide open soon..." - Jimi Hendrix, 1967

     For those visitors who have not taken a similar journey into experimental music, most of what I present here will not be what you would call "music" - and I have no problem with that at all. If every sound ever recorded is labelled "music", then the word really loses any true function or meaning. 

     Or maybe the best way to think of this stuff is as film background music. Because of the exotic harmonies found in much of experimental or contemporary classical music, much of it has been used for sci-fi or horror films (such as "2001: A Space Odyssey", "The Exorcist", even "Twin Peaks"). I often like to categorize some of the more abstract stuff I do as "sound design", like what you might hear as sound effects during when a spaceship goes into "hyperdrive", or even a during a transforming "Transformer" in one of those ridiculous popcorn flicks. In contrast to most forms of music, it's not designed for dancing, "chilling" or falling asleep to. What experimental music tries to do is essentially create something unheard of, something really new. Sometimes it fails, which is why it's "experimental" music. Often times the main thing to appreciate from these recordings is the journey the musicians take - in other words, the music is a soundtrack to a mental movie being filmed inside the musicians' heads. 

     Some element of composition is usually involved in my own solo works, but I've been involved in many, many more "free improvisation" sessions. In these concerts, there's no score, no prepared material, and generally we try to avoid playing anything that sounds like what you would hear on the radio. This leads to "conversational" playing, or "tactical" playing. Here, the musicians engage in a true dialogue, without rules (without normal rhythms/melodies/harmonies/scales). Often this kind of playing can bring out the true nature of a musician's personality. Although this kind of spontaneous composition could never produce the same kinds of unison structures found in composed music, it does often result in music which could never have been prompted by a notated score - and therein lies the magic.

     Anyways, in this site I'll be adding commentary to each recording, with an eye towards "explaining" what's going on (for both listeners and myself). Hopefully that'll be be helpful to some... For more editorial musings on experimental music, please check out my essays in the "Back Room" of the archived Quodlibet Recordings site. Have fun!