I’m in the process of writing a large ensemble piece for acoustic instruments (and voices) that are all modified by applying aluminum foil to their resonators. It’s a pretty neat effect, especially on brass and percussion, that adds a pseudo-electronic distortion texture to the sound. Sometimes, the foil brings out particular overtones as well. In the video above, I experiment with modified chimes and vibes.

The piece will premiere in November 2010. More info to come.

An excerpt from Year of the Sheep, performed live at 2-HEADED BEAST: OUTER BEAST at CalArts in April 2010. Click here to listen to the whole track»

A photo I took last week at SIGGRAPH 2010. I covered the conference for the design magazine Core77.

Besides music composition I have been spending a lot of time writing words this summer. I recently became Assistant Web Editor at CalArts, and have been writing fairly regularly for 24700, the Institute’s news blog. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Dog Days and the Dog Star Orchestra (Volume 6)
Battle Bears dominates on the iTunes App Store

Check out the complete list of my 24700 posts.

I also spent the last week & a half writing for the online design magazine, Core77. As a Los Angeles correspondent, I covered SIGGRAPH 2010, which is a conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques. Here are my posts, videos, and photo gallery: CLICK.

Lots of new composition projects in the works.

This electronic piece was part of an installation titled, OED, by animator Jeanette Bonds that premiered on May 20-21, 2010, at CalArts. Click here to listen »

Stay tuned for video of Phosphena–director Maya Erdelyi‘s 4-minute animated short. For this project, I scored and sound designed the animation and created additional sound design for the live installation. More »

Just posted a new improvisational intermedia work created in collaboration with Stephanie Smith, Chiara Giovando, and Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir. More »

1. The CalArts Contemporary Vocal Ensemble will perform my piece IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER: on this Saturday, April 10th, at 8 PM Pacific in Roy O. Disney hall.

2. Bass Clarinetist Nathan Smith will have a Tantrum at Sounding Out on this Sunday, April 11th, at 2 PM Pacific in Roy O. Disney hall. This piece is the 2nd in a series of spaz pieces for solo instruments (the 1st was Conniption).

If you can’t attend, check out the live webcast of the performances.

Lots of new projects to post soon.