Recordings

Electric and acoustic five-string banjos, processing, SurgeXT synthesizer.

Soft exercises for the beginning banjo student. Recorded from the balcony across the summer of 2024, sitting with a cat, maybe two.

ASM Hydrasynth synthesizer, LinnStrument sequencer-controller, Midronome clock. Recorded between July and September 2023, edited and mixed March 2024.

ASM Hydrasynth synthesizer, LinnStrument, Handsonic and steel ball controllers.

Processed pianos, bass drum, alto recorder, Hammond H-100 organ, clarinet, bass guitar, gong.

One of two quiet pieces for Kevin Chumsaratoon's 23rd birthday, this one for foreground listening.

Processed pianos (low-speed, blurred, and drop-shadowed), ambient recordings from Bueng Kum, Bangkok, Thailand.

One of two quiet pieces for Kevin Chumsaratoon's 23rd birthday, this one for going to sleep to.

Three nice pieces from 1992-1995 to be enjoyed at lower volume levels. Handmade first edition, unnumbered.

One short and unpleasant piece of threatening synthesizer music followed by two languid, less unpleasant numbers made out of a recently acquired pedal steel guitar.

Sixty-two minutes of irregularly repeating gestures on piano, rhodes piano, and vibraphone with three bass clarinets forming long chords underneath and, every few minutes, a gong. Dedicated to Gary Tseng. Handmade first edition, unnumbered.

Liner notes describing the use of a MiniDisc player in the creation of Mobeo are here.

Half-speed trombones and digital processing.

Distant aircraft appear to form coincidental chords that hang endlessly in the sky, never moving but always changing. To be played very very softly.

Originally released in 1993 as 88 minutes on a cassette, then as a 74-minute edition prepared in March 1998 for CD release, in a handmade first edition of 50, hand-painted disc design, each individually numbered.

Extensive notes that accompanied the original release of Dawn Planes are here.

A slowly evloving tableau for vintage analogue synthesizers and digital processing. Originally presented as a wedding gift to Chris Ball and Karen Gustafson on April 20, 1996. Special handmade first commercial edition of 50, each individually numbered.

Rhodes piano, fretless bass guitar, percussion.

Grand piano, Wurlitzer piano, organ, bass guitar, programmed drums, marimba, flute, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, trumpet, trombone.

Music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Piano, violin, viola, trombone, percussion.

Programmed drums, Rhodes piano, Yamaha SK-30 symphonic ensemble synthesizer, electric guitar, fretless bass, trumpet, trombone, flute.

Korg CX-3 drawbar organ, upright piano, bass, guitar, drums and percussion, vibraphone, violin, viola, voices.

Made entirely within Reason.

Soprano and tenor ukulele, recorder, bassoon, vibraphone, trombones, voices, drums and percussion.

Ukulele, bass melodicon, cello, voices, triangle.

Farfisa combo organ, bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, voices, slide whistle, glockenspeil, tuned glasses, sparkletts bottle, drums and percussion.

Wurlitzer piano, electric bass, acoustic guitar, snare drum, grand piano, slide whistle, triangle, Sequential Circuits Six-Trak synthesizer, tambourine.

Ukulele and voices.

Claire Cat finally explains what she does and why she does it.

Guitar, bass, organ, voices, fiddles, drum.

For our uniformed men.

Bass, piano, drums, glockenspiel, trumpets, organ, trombones, flutes, voices.

An abbreviated version of this song originally appeared in a short animated film, where its lyrics were sung by Chris Ball.

Pianos, trombone, drums, flute, soprano vibraphone, pianica, voices.

I planned a trip to Bangkok to visit my friend. His family owns a piano, and it was our intention to play duets on it. It had been a very long time since this piano last was tuned, and my friend asked me if I knew anything about piano tuning. I don't have any formal training in the art, but I do happen to own a few of the required tools, and I volunteered to bring them over with me and give it my best shot. Then it occured to me that there might be a more sensible and cost-effective solution.

Voices, piano, acoustic and electric guitars, drums, synthesizer, bass melodicon, pianica, flutes, triangle, cowbell.

Cameron's not unimportant, but this tired pun on his name is, as is the field of bryophytography in general.

Voices, conga, shaker, bass clarinet, guitar, vibraphone.

It's all true.

Voices, glockenspiel, violins, viola, flute, pianica.

A lullaby for the impatient.

I was, and remain, a fan of the Filipno rock band Eraserheads. This short album features two tracks — one a straight-out cover version and the other a more compositionally developed fantasia — based on material from their 1997 album Fruitcake. Copies of the disc were presented to the members of the band when they visited California in May 1998 for a pair of concerts.

"ShadowDomain" by Dave LaDelfa, is based on "shadow@buttholesurfs.com" by Hector "Buddy" Zabala and uses piano, rhodes piano (left channel), wurlitzer piano (right channel), vibraphone, yamaha electric organ, ovation acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, trombones, violas, trumpet, and kaen.

"Shadow" by Ely Buendia, uses piano, vibraphone, classical guitar, glockenspiel, trombone, trumpet, electric bass guitar, modified autoharp, violas, voices, and farfisa organ.

Another track for the Eraserheads, this time a result of a discussion with singer-guitarist Ely Buendia wherein I made a good-natured if off-the-cuff remark about following up "Shadow Domain" by covering my least favorite E-heads track, which, after a moment's reflection, I decided would have to have been "Policewoman" off of the Bananatype EP. Three months later, when the band returned to California for shows in Pasadena and San Diego, my version was ready.

I am not surprised that the intense examination of the original required to learn the words and prepare my instrumental arrangement revealed all sorts of charming details that had previously gone unnoticed by me.

Special thanks to Maileen Salazar, who typed up the Tagalog lyrics so I could get closer to actually pronouncing them correctly.

Music and lyrics by Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Marcus Adoro, and Buddy Zabala.

Piano, Wurlitzer piano, prepared piano, Yamaha electric organ, pianica, acoustic and electric guitars, electric bass guitar, drums, percussion, wine and cocktail glasses, vibraphone, glockenspiel, trombone, trumpet, bass clarinet, ocarina, crumhorn, slide whistle, voices.

Another Eraserheads cover, this time with a country flavor. Made for the band's May 2000 Los Angeles visit. This song and "Shadow" (above) cross-reference each other.

Music and lyrics by Ely Buendia.

Drums, bass, organ, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, pedal steel guitar, pianica, trombones, trumpets, piano.