l’Artiste Ordinaire, Tim Feeney, Holland Hopson at Gin Palace House Concert

Tomorrow I’ll be playing a house concert in the newly christened Gin Palace. I’ll perform a solo set for banjos with electronics, and Tim Feeney will play solo percussion. Special guests l’Artiste Ordinaire (Melissa Grey, David Morneau) will perform their work Photon Ecstasy.

October 10 8:00pm
House Concert with
l’Artiste Ordinaire (Melissa Grey, David Morneau), Tim Feeney, Holland Hopson
2120 6th Street
Tuscaloosa AL

Location Ensemble Re-released

Tape Drift Records has recently re-released Location Ensemble’s self-titled live recording as a digital download on Bandcamp. The recording is from a concert at the Saratoga Arts Center in 2012. Tracks include Eric Hardiman’s hocketing, krautrock burner Diversion #3,  My Six Chords Every Rock Guitarist Should Know and Thomas Lail’s Sonic Youth-inspired Untitled (All the Times She Loves Me).

Download the score for Six Chords Every Rock Guitarist Should Know

Elements Series::Water Compilation and Show Benefits Cahaba River

I contributed a track to the upcoming Elements Series :: Water compilation put together by Jasper Lee benefiting the Cahaba River. Seasick Records is hosting a release party on Thursday featuring Iron Giant Percussion Ensemble, Brad Davis, Liquid Gems & Jim Jim Bath Myst. Jim Fahy and I will also be playing as a duo.

Thursday June 29
Elements Series :: Water
Seasick Records
5508 Crestwood Blvd
Birmingham AL 35212
$5 donation

The compilation includes music from:

Balcony View
Jasper Lee
Acre Pillows
Brad Davis
Janet Simpson-Templin
LaDonna Smith
Nyx
Joel Nelson
Men’s Renewal
Minerals
& others

Worldlines Premieres at AEIVA

Worldlines, my brand-new piece for three or more sustaining instruments, gets its premiere tonight at the Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts in a concert of chamber music inspired by Jessica Angel’s site-specific installation Facing the Hyperstructure.The program features three other world premiere compositions by Monroe Golden, Kyle McGucken, and Tom Reiner.

The pieces will be performed by Hillary Tidman, flute; Diana Dunn, oboe; Kathleen Costello, clarinet; Tariq Masri, bassoon; and Kevin Kozak, french horn. The event begins at 5pm with a reception and time to take in the artwork, followed by the concert at 5:30pm.

Friday April 7 5:00pm
Chamber Music at AEIVA: Air in a Loop
University of Alabama at Birmingham Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts
1221 10th Avenue South
Birmingham AL 35205
5:00pm Reception and art viewing
5:30pm Concert

Like many of my recent scores, the musicians performing worldlines determine the moment-to-moment shape of the music. In this case, all of the musicians share the same written material and use hand-signals to determine how they navigate through it. One hand signal may cue players to repeat their current phrase, while another may cause them to read backwards through the score.

Here I am trying out a pair of ChromaDepth glasses surrounded by Jessica’s artwork. The glasses add a sense of depth to Angel’s vividly-colored environment.

Comes and Goes

Here’s a performance of Comes and Goes from the 2016 Birmingham New Music Festival featuring (L to R) Andrew Raffo Dewar, modular synth; Geni Skendo, flutes; Wendy Richman, viola; Holland Hopson, laptop.

The piece is for open instrumentation: four or more performers using electronic and/or acoustic instruments. We chose to perform the sections in the following order: Foothills, Unmatched set of revolving doors, Cirrus – lock of hair, I Send the Rockets Up, Constant Interference. Download the score

Bandcamp #NoBanNoWall Update

Last Friday I pledged to donate 200% of my Bandcamp sales to the ACLU as part of the #NoBanNoWall benefit. I’m pleased to report I contributed $50, thanks to everyone who purchased my music through Bandcamp on Friday. Bandcamp as a whole contributed significantly more. They posted this update late Friday

With several hours remaining, we estimate that fans will have bought just over $1,000,000 worth of music today, which is 550% more than a normal Friday (already our biggest sales day of the week). All of our share of that (~12%) goes directly to the ACLU.

Doubling Down on #NoBanNoWall – Friday Feb. 3

Friday February 3, I’ll join Bandcamp’s #NoBanNoWall initiative. Bandcamp will donate 100% of their profits to the ACLU. I’ll donate 200% of mine. Over 200 other artists and labels will also participate.

Now’s a great time to pick up some

Appalachian electronica

Duchampian esoterica

windblown ambience

or sax skronk

and skuffle.

All for a good cause, of course.

Tim Perkis Touch Typing Tonight

I’m so happy to have an opportunity to play with Tim Perkis tonight. Tim will perform a solo set, then Andrew Raffo Dewar and I will join him for a set of improvisations. Tim will be playing his Touch Typing instrument featured in the video below. I first heard Touch Typing sometime in the 1990’s on the excellent Artificial Horizon recording with John Bischoff, so I’m looking forward to hearing Tim in person tonight.

Friday January 27 7:30pm
Sonic Frontiers presents
Tim Perkis
with Andrew Raffo Dewar and Holland Hopson
Moody Music Hall, UA School of Music
810 Second Ave, Tuscaloosa AL