rebreather live on KSER photo by Rob Emery

To map unusual directions in improvisation, I seek out unusual instruments, sites, contexts – and fellow artists to share the journey. There are no soloists or discernible moments where one person comes to the fore. I collaborate to become (part of) someone else.

The small sampling of work here is guided by intuition and collective listening. There are no scores, charts, or preplanning, except for the occasional agreed-upon dictum, such as “Don’t injure the silence,” made famous by Doug Haire.

I also (re) invent instruments, such as the flap-o-phone and my random-reversible turntable as well as rewire pieces of junk which sometimes sputter, smoke, and sing too haphazardly to be called “circuit-bent.”

Favorite Intermissions documents improvisations by orchestra musicians, who during intermission improvise in autonomous groups which coalesce and diverge (sometimes by leaving the stage) on a moment’s notice.

Seattle Phonographers Union live in Portland September 16, 2004  A protean collective of sound artists, the SPU improvise live with field recordings collected around the world. This unedited, unprocessed excerpt was performed by the Seattle Phonographers Union – Myself, Mark Griswold, Dale Lloyd, Doug Haire, Perri Lynch, Heather Perkins, and Jonathan Way – and released on an eponymous album. I co-founded the SPU in 2002 and became an emeritus member when I moved the East Coast in 2011.

Seconded (live collaboration with Stefan Tcherepnin)  Released on Bleed the Capacitors: Heavy Analog Electronics vol. 2 & 3 on DRAFT Records, I performed on touch-controlled transistor circuit boards while Stefan played his Serge analog synthesizer. Recorded live with no edits.

rebreather live at the Seattle Improvised Music Festival June 30, 2002 From 1999 to 2007, Alex Keller and I improvised live electronic sound from the digital glossolalia of sabotaged consumer electronics, homebrew circuits, and obsolete devices. Together we explored an extremely wide dynamic range and generous deployment of silence seldom heard in electroacoustic improvisation. This live, unedited performance was recorded from the mixing board at the Seattle Improvised Music Festival on June 30, 2002.