Overview: Most of my first and second year Garageband musical creations were written in as little as seven to ten days, whereas arranging and mixing these compositions has been an effort thirteen years in the making. Of all my artistic undertakings, none have been more frustrating or difficult than mixing music. Like most things, I fell into learning it backwards. Often this strategy entails, regrettably, a delay in learning essential elements. Simultaneously, I acquire original perspectives in other aspects of the craft. It is always a mixed bag.
The List: Though all works listed below are in reverse chronological order to their completion dates, a few are dithered or inactive as links. In some instances, the work in question is taken out of order for presentation purposes. Other compositions are comprised of multiple projects files that were assembled later into a single composition, so one link suffices to cover it. (The creative process gets complicated.)
Musical Works 2023-2020: This music post-dates a musical facelift in 2019, when I moved all operations from Garageband and Logic Express 9 to Logic Pro X. My writing has been fairly constant since completing this task, with newly discovered assets being retrofitted to older compositions as well as new works.
2023
129) The Invisible College 11/30/23
128) Taken By Bears 8/17/23
127) Rubylith 6/23/23
126) Dreamy Boyfriend 6/12/23
125) Salad Days of The Holocene 5/25/23
124) Glaring Omission 4/22/23
123) Mokele-Mbembe 1/01/23
2022-2020
122) The Travelers-Back (Introduction | Intermezzo | The Hypnotist) 12/~/22
121) The Travelers-Back (Theme | Lamentation) 11/08/22 - 11/27/22
120) O’ Boll Weevil (Homesick Blues) 7/01/22
119) Felix Culpa 4/17/22
118) Windowpane 3/23/22
117) Dry Erasure 2/27/22
116) Partnered w/ Defeat 2/10/22
115) Mountain of Transfiguration 1/30/22
114) Wedding in Cana 12/07/21
113) Celtic Similars 1/06/20
Musical Works 2019-2015: Two interruptions mark this period. First, I experienced a benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome in 2015, and then a second horrible withdrawal from amitriptyline a year later. These events ended most of my artistic activities until 2017, when I was put on gabapentin and started a slow recovery.
2019
112) Crown Shyness 11/25/19
111) The Banks of Opposite Meadow 10/20/19
110) Borrowed Alphabet 10/09/19
109) Seldom Organs 10/01/19
108) The Temple of Slights 2/14/19
107) Five of Cups (w/ Margarine Hammer) 1/22/19
106) Margarine Hammer (w/ Five of Cups) 1/22/19
105) Two Swords 1/07/19
2018
104) The Mooncalf 11/20/18
103) Antecedents: Ahshislepah | Pioneers of Mars | Sputnik 11/01/18
102) Thrift and Industry 10/29/18
101) Noble Gases, Abridged 5/15/18
100) Aspartame in Episodes 4/09/18
99) Compass Jerusalem 3/30/18
98) Palindrome 2/27/18
2017
97) Machine Winter 12/06/17
96) Food Court 11/06/17
95) Impareggiabile 11/05/17
94) Incompleteness (Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem n1) 9/22/17
93) Base Metals: Three Bagatelles 7/25/17
92) Christus Resurrexit (w/ Sinner Such As) 2/16/17
91) Sinner Such As (w/ Christus Resurrexit) 2/16/17 2/16/17
90) Nashville, TN (w/ The Road Trips) 8/19/17
89) Saugatuck, MI; Holbrook, AZ; Baraboo, WI (w/ The Road Trips) 3/28/17
88) Dark Fanfare (w/ The Road Trips) 2/14/17
2016-2015
87) Plateaus of Arbitrary Effort (Part 1) 6/13/15 (w/ Part 2)
86) Plateaus of Arbitrary Effort (Part 2) 8/22/15 (w/ Part 1)
85) Eventual Etude No. 3: Umbrella Men Sans Magritte 10/05/15 (Linked within Series [2011])
Musical Works 2014-2012: These works include a meditation on a forest in Japan, a lamentation on batteries in landfills, a tribute to a cargo cult deity, and an elegy.
2014
84) Scepters of Incidence 8/17/14
2013
83) Eventual Etude No. 4: Ergo Sum 4/22/13 (Linked within Series [2011])
82) Elegy | Empathy 11/25/13
81) The Perishing Doorway 11/02/13
80) Worlds Much Longer (Part 2) 5/09/13 (w/ Parts 1 & 3 [2012])
79) Beige: R233, G220, B162 1/22/13
2012
78) Ancient Astronaut: Bep Kororoti (Part 2) 11/4/12 (w/ Part 1)
77) Ancient Astronaut: Bep Kororoti (Part 1) 9/29/12 (w/ Part 2)
76) Parachute 7/02/12
75) Worlds Much Longer (Part 3) 5/18/12 (w/ Parts 1 & 2)
74) Worlds Much Longer (Part 1) 5/02/12 (w/ Parts 2 & 3)
73) Aokigahara 4/14/12
72) Meddlers and Sealants 4/09/12
71) Breathable Cotton Wife Swap 2/10/12
70) Lite Brite Ponies 2/03/12
Musical Works 2011: This year saw the beginning of a piano etude project, although these etudes were later re-envisioned with other instruments and vocal effects. Several works are unclassifiable, like Deltoid Fuchsia and Aerodyne. The former opus presents the plight of a surviving member of a murder house while the latter delves into the etherealness of Ganesha, the Hindu elephant deity and remover of obstacles. I lend my voice here and there to compositions, but do not anticipate this as a trend.
2011
69) Soviet Bunk Bed 10/31/10
68) Aerodyne (Part 1) 1 9/31/11 (w/ Part 2 [2010])
67) Symptom Palace 9/08/11
66) Deltoid Fuchsia 7/25/11
65) gâteau dans la haie verte (cake in the green hedge) 7/07/11
64) The Garden of Capitulation (Part 1) 6/20/11 (w/ Part 2)
63) The Garden of Capitulation (Part 2) 5/19/11 (w/ Part 1)
62) Pastorale (Presence the Color of Dirt) 4/21/11
61) Eventual Etude No. 2: Wigwam E Pluribus 3/16/11 (Linked within Series)
60) Dionne Quintuplets: Astral Projection 2/25/11
59) Boyhood Reptile 2/21/11
58) Lung Maiden 2/04/11
57) Hummingbird Colossus 1/25/11
56) Eventual Etude No. 1: The Annotated Toupée 1/04/11 (Begins Series)
Musical Works 2010: Where refrains are a hallmark of pop music, I employ them less in 2010. Once I acquired classical software instruments at the end of 2009, I started adding “classical pieces” to my œuvre as a composer. This boundary between genres gets blurred as things progress.
2010
55) Azure L’Amour 12/16/10
54) Allegretto 11/14/10
53) Brute Rainbow 10/22/10
52) Found Candy (Valentine Ex nihilo) 10/06/10
51) Non-Popcorn Arm 9/28/10
50) inflexible box vini (inflexible box of wine) | fragment b 9/24/10
49) Lavender Raygun Sequence 9/21/10
48) Divertimento 8/12/10
47) Lap Comb 7/23/10
46) Memory Arsenal 5/28/10
45) Benadryl: Giver of Sleep and Allergy Relief 5/10/10
44) Ritilan Before Breakfast 5/08/10
43) Sleep-in-Late Japanese Girlfriend 3/30/10
42) Pilgrims and Corn 3/13/10
41) The Icarus Transfigured Suite: Nadir Mound 3/08/10 (Linked in Series [2009])
40) Aerodyne (Part 2) 2/21/10 (w/ Part 1 [2011])
39) Vardøger 1/25/10
38) Waxworks: A Ballet in Eight Scenes 1/18/10
37) March of The Absentminded 1/15/10
36) The Goat-Footed Balloon Man 1/09/10
35) Regency 1/04/09
Musical Works 2009: The tunes are catchy and mostly short. Through Garageband in 2009 (with later assitance from Logic), I experienced a renaissance as an erstwhile former music composition major. Synthesizers and drum loops abound.
2009
34) Pretty for Deodorant: Three Short Pieces 12/25/09
33) Warm Laundry 11/24/09
32) Beautiful Monster 11/07/09
31) Godzilla and The Long Arm of Funk 10/17/09
30) Pillows and Pillars 10/08/09
29) Infant Kal-El (w/ Escape Krypton) 9/28/09
28) Trumpets of Paraffin 9/26/09
27) Escape Krypton (w/ Infant Kal-El) 9/25/09
26) Saltwater Tableau 9/14/10
25) Blue Bottle 9/12/09
24) Whirled Peas 9/07/09
23) I See Men As Trees Walking 8/31/09
22) Lullaby in Chalk 8/02/09
21) Spirits of Escalators (L’esprit de l’escalier) 7/16/09
20) Agnus Dei 7/02/09
19) Vehicular Man Salad 6/29/09
18) Bikini Ribcage 6/22/09
17) Rare Paycheck 6/12/09
16) The Icarus Transfigured Suite: Emma 6/02/09 (Begins Series)
15) Reasonably A Vampire 5/27/09
14) Memphis, 1975 (Summer Ave.) 5/18/09
13) Olestra: Box Lunch Adventure 5/10/09
12) The Icarus Transfigured Suite: Stonesthrow 5/07/09 (Linked in Series)
11) Lactose Summer 4/28/09
10) Tupperware Ignes Fatui 4/26/09
9) The Lamp-Shaded Tower 4/23/09
8) Spooky Action At A Distance [spukhafte fernwirkung] 4/18/09
7) First Rodeo 4/02/09
6) Polymers of Insincerity 3/27/09
5) Aberrant Star 3/20/09
4) me spinach 3/19/09
3) The Snowy Monopole 3/14/09
2) Cowboy Philosopher 2/?/09
1) Ouefs de Dali (Eggs of Dali) 2/?/09
My Bandcamp Page: My website has LIMITED BANDWIDTH. Streaming my music from links listed on this page may present no challenges. However, should more visitors begin to file in, it may be advisable to visit my Bandcamp page for an uninterrupted listening experience. As you can see, my back catalog contains a number of pieces, and organizing them for album release takes time.
Below is the redirect to my Bandcamp home page. PLEASE BE ADVISED that Bandcamp lowers the playback volume on ALL music heard through its native player by BY 3 TO 4 dBs! The original volume is restored through purchasing. Bandcamp makes this adjustment to lower the volume on very loud music, but it punishes those of us who are already using reasonable volume levels.
MP3s purchased through my Bandcamp page are of a higher bitrate quality.
Music, Autism, and Me: I never learned to read music fluently enough to succeed at performance. Sight-reading from a score was also an obstacle because I initially learned to play piano and guitar by ear, and quickly—too quickly—memorized the finger work and faked it. I did not complete my music degree.
My talent as a performer lay in improvisation, though I was limited in my ability to execute difficult passages in real time. When I wrote music on the fly, I kept circling my blindspots until I was able to get pass them, and convinced any potential listener to my piano performances that these repetitions were intended. I did not know at the time that I had autism, and that I suffered from a “hyperfocus” memory problem: forgetting induced by intense concentration. In my case, this meant I could not multitask my hands effectively while playing, or anticipate upcoming transitions well. I gave up the piano in my early 30s, but never the thought I was a composer.
When I discovered software instruments in Apple’s Garageband in 2009, and then with Logic Pro in 2010, I was given the means to write and mix music without the hindrance of performance.
Impediments: Vanity persuades most musicians to pursue composition by limited means of their talent to utilize musical instruments, which is never as comprehensive as they might imagine. I was never more than an average guitarist and a marginally better pianist, yet felt stymied by cliché chord progressions in the former and a lack of virtuoso ability in the latter. Writing through software instruments removed both impediments.
Visualizing Music: Because I am a visual artist, I approach musical notation visually, where pattern, movement, and counterpoint of notes are pictured like brushstrokes on a canvas. The evolving melodies take shape by mysterious means, much like a sculptor shaving or adding lumps of clay where he imagines the underlying form to grow through a functional space.
Background in Music School: Irving Berlin wrote everything in the key of C; and when you limit the architecture in this way, you see how proper music mostly wants to go in a few preferred directions. I studied the atonal music of George Crumb and Jacob Druckman in my music composition classes during college in the early 1980s. I have never understood music theory well, but I identified with this free-for-all approach to music writing—and more so with Igor Stravinsky, who broke every rule with a sense of humor.
All Things in Moderation: I abhor loud, harsh music, and doubtless my dislike of sudden sharp sounds shapes my musical landscapes. I dare say, it is for similar autistic reasons that I use a black background for my web pages: The LED screens of current computers hurt my eyes. One may conclude that my website is an ‘autistic friendly environment’: made by an autistic and (probably) for the primary consumption of other autistics.
My sister reproached me once (though gently), by stating that my online novel was too esoteric and wordy. I reacted with a prepared statement, where I referred to H.P. Lovecraft who, in my mind, wrote not so much for adolescent males as for fellow autistics through his esotericism and dog-eared thesaurus.
This is a photograph of me with my Les Paul dates from 1977, I believe. I received it on graduation from high school, along with the Ampeg amp in the background. I was working at McDonalds at the time, which had blue smocks as uniforms. I later sold both the guitar and amp to raise money for graduate school. (I miss that guitar, but not the oversized, overkill amplifier.)
Personal Growth Through Music: Most people get pickled in the music of their youth. I have avoided this pitfall as both a consumer and writer of music. Though I began my life with the rock and pop music as a teenager, I embraced classical music in my twenties, jazz in my late forties, and alternative forms of rock in my fifties. The music I write reflects this history.
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