If you find yourself in Ohio and would do anything for a sneak peak of my recital, its your lucky day! I’m premiering a new piece commissioned by the sciensemble in Fairchild Chapel tonight at 10PM. The six piece band is made up of some of the brightest new music performers in Oberlin — all of whom were excited about experimenting with me in the studio. We started off recording the percussionist, Christian Smith, playing a 12-minute improvisation for wood block (of all things) and classical guitar (which was smashed into multiple pieces, and had homemade circuits and contact mics glued all over the place — see above photo). I then recorded the other performers mimicking the the sounds of Christian’s recording. The resulting tape piece is that of 60 or so layers that have been chopped up, rearranged and sculpted into a 15-minute studio re-orchestration that follows the narrative of the original solo. Although Christian’s recorded improvisation rarely surfaces in the finished product, he will be playing along live tonight with the tape piece, a fitting bookend to the process.

Be sure to check out the other pieces on the program, three excellent new works by composers Eugene Kim, Porter James & Matthew Chamberlain. Hope to see you there!

P.S. For those of you who can’t make it out tonight, I’ll be presenting the piece in a masterclass tomorrow night with composer-in-residence Rand Steiger of University of California, San Diego at 7PM in Bibbins 223.

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Lewis Nielson discusses his thoughts on CONCERT, my upcoming senior show. For those of you in the greater Cleveland area, check it out!

FRIDAY THE 13th OF MAY, 6PM

WILDER MAIN, OBERLIN OH

feat. Rafiq Bhatia, Ralph Jones, Teddy Rankin-Parker, Christian Smith

all music composed by the performers in collaboration with Alexander Overington

all music produced by Alexander Overington

Stage Production by Thread Collective Inc.

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A few months ago I was at Greenhouse Studios where enigmatic genius Valgeir Sigurdsson was mixing Rafiq’s new record at his studio just outside the center of Reykjavik. Throughout my stay in Iceland I had been continuously infatuated with the concept behind one the country’s most bizarre culinary innovations, Hakarl, or fermented shark. I first heard of this rancid delicacy on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and ever since then was determined to find out if it was really a bad as it was purported to be. 

Luckily, on our final night in Iceland, Hakarl was served with dinner at my request, much to the dismay of the other guests at the studio. The resulting experience is far too hard to put down in words, so I figured I would try to document as many of my friends consuming the rotten meat as possible and let their experiences tell the tale. I smuggled enough meat back into the States to last me a while so I’ve decided to create an ongoing series called A Whiff of This, a collection of the facial expressions and reactions of my unsuspecting friends.

What you’ll find above is Episode I, featuring Meade Bernard. Meade was a good soul to go through with this and I think he did a bang up job. Enjoy!

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I’ve had the great fortune over the past few months of getting to know the performer and ethnomusicologist, Ralph Miles Jones. I approached him last October about filming a short profile video for the Oberlin website and in the process of shooting we realized that we had a lot in common. Now, we’re in the studio working on an electroacoustic piece that will be performed in May at Oberlin and in July at CalArts (where Ralph and I will be teaching this summer). More about that piece later. But for now, check out this video which I’ve decided should be called: THE MAN, THE LEGEND.

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The Chevrolet Experience Cast - Innovation

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Listen to the Oberlin Third Eye Laptop Orchestra (TELO) perform live with visiting artist Hans Tammen. TELO is an electroaccoustic variation on Hans’ established Third Eye Orchestra for which he has developed a system for coaching and directing eclectic ensembles in guided improvisation. This incarnation of the band includes 6 laptops, percussion, piano, violin and voice. Yours truly on laptop, subwoofer and violin processing.  Oberlin Third Eye Laptop Orchestra Warner Concert Hall Oberlin, Ohio October, 19 2010

Listen to the Oberlin Third Eye Laptop Orchestra (TELO) perform live with visiting artist Hans Tammen. TELO is an electroaccoustic variation on Hans’ established Third Eye Orchestra for which he has developed a system for coaching and directing eclectic ensembles in guided improvisation. This incarnation of the band includes 6 laptops, percussion, piano, violin and voice. Yours truly on laptop, subwoofer and violin processing. 

Oberlin Third Eye Laptop Orchestra

Warner Concert Hall

Oberlin, Ohio

October, 19 2010

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