Glen Carbon, IL

Some recent favorites, in no particular order: 
Ryoichi Kurokawa: unfold
Igorrr: Savage Sinusoid
Cattle Decapitation: Death Atlas
Louis Cole: Quality Over Opinion
Full of Hell: Full of Hell & Merzbow
Snarky Puppy: We Like it Here

Both my artistic practice and the work I create is fairly intense, so many of my passions outside of music are quieter activities to pour back in.  I enjoy reading, tabletop and video games, cooking, and cats.  My wife and I also enjoy brewing mead together; we've recently developed somewhat of a specialty for making bochet. 

Just because you put a lot of time in, doesn't mean it's going to be great.

"Is the music I'm making the music that I want to hear?"

Over a decade ago, I bought a copy of Johannes Kreidler's book ""Loadbang"" to learn the music programming language Pure Data; I read that book front to back numerous times.  I deconstructed every snippet of code with annotated handwritten notes directly into the book, and re-created them from scratch to gain fluency with working in the language.  

That commitment to learning a new skill for my craft irrevocably changed the way I think about music-making and composition.  Coincidentally, it also marks the beginning of my love of handwriting notes directly into books.

Critical listening and engagement to some kind of music or artist I've never heard before is the most essential part of my daily practice routine; it's so important to never stop engaging with new music, especially if it challenges you in some way.

Ryoichi Kurokawa, Louis Cole, and the band Meshuggah

There's something that occurs when there's a perfect alignment of music, performance, sound quality, ambience, flawless tech execution, and my own internal state - my mood or receptiveness to the art itself.  When all of those elements align, it makes for a truly remarkable, euphoric, and transformative experience.  I've only experienced a few such events in my life, but they are unforgettable experiences that I will carry with me forever.

First definitely has to be double-bassist Aleksander Gabrys, who I collaborated with on a piece I wrote called "Convergence".  Following that, it would have to be my CCRMA team members Constantin Basica, Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, Dave Kerr, and Julie Zhu for the premiere and documentation of my dissertation.  Lastly would be percussionist Tia Harvey, who championed a 25-minute percussion piece I wrote for her at a critical turning-point in my creative practice.

New Focus Recordings: Music from SEAMUS, vol. 31
Jikken Records: [neo]Lalia
płyta z audiomatu: PRIX CIME 2019

Many additional recordings self-released and available online.

https://youtu.be/U7hKLl3VAFw