Hi all,
It’s been a long time since the last update and a lot has happened since February. In order to avoid a diatribe about COVID-19 and the ineptitude of American public officials, I will be sharing only good news in this post.
Most importantly: I got married! Before the COVID-19 crisis became such a crippling reality, Nenet & I snuck in our vows in a public park and it’s official: we’re psyched! I can’t express how thrilling it is to commit to a life with someone who so thoroughly expands and enriches every day. I’m still a bit in awe of the whole thing and most definitely overjoyed.
In addition to being the coolest person around, Nenet is also a stellar music journalist and has had a number of really wonderful profiles published in the last few months. You can check out her writing on Argentina’s El Expreso Imaginario, Miami’s Mango Hill Records, and Colombia’s Palenque Records at the embedded links.
In other, less massive, good news, I have been lucky enough to be featured on a few releases in the past few months.
In chronological order:
Wheel of Misfortune was released by Dagoretti Records for their Lockdown Tapes series. These recordings of Jon Lipscomb, Jarrett Gilgore, and myself had been in limbo for awhile. Pete was nice enough to give a home to some of the most demented, angular, and truly electric improvisations that I’ve been a part of.
After “Wheel of Misfortune,” New Haven’s Stefan Christensen released a limited cassette of two live sets entitled Two Live II. Some of the recordings on this release are from the night we opened for Nadah El Shazly at the Statehouse. That entire concert was a splendid night and I was excited to have recordings to look back on. Only 50 cassettes were pressed so swing over to Discogs if you’re looking for a copy.
The next release, after much postponement (pressing plant fires, production delays, COVID-19) is Heart of the Ghost’s collaboration with Dave Ballou: Live at Rhizome. Again, I can’t thank Pete at Dagoretti Records enough for putting this one out. I’m immensely proud of the playing on this record and it was a deeply special experience to record at our “home” venue.
Lastly, Stefan Christensen, David Shapiro, and I were kindly included in a New Haven-centric batch of cassettes from experimental music mainstay Carbon Records. There are some of our standby feedback stylings as well as some new territory where I turned over to modular synthesizer to interface with David and Stefan’s rabid guitars. It was really a “Go Team!” moment to be included in that batch with Stefan’s solo tape and a tape from bass/tape whiz Zach Rowden.
Finally, due to the pandemic and the lack of live performance opportunities, I have happily turned to starting a small effects pedal business in my spare time. H/T Electronics has already been lucky enough to supply some notable and unique guitarists with fuzz boxes. What was initially a hobby is getting more serious (not TOO serious, don’t worry!). Contact and distribution information is available HERE. As I tweak and build circuits and as demand increases, a logo and a few production models may appear. There’s not timeline for this but, in the meantime, feel free to shoot me a line if you would like something built or are interested in completed pedals on the shelf!
As always, thanks for reading and, as always, with fingers crossed very tightly, I hope to see you at a gig!