This Video is the last in the “Dj’ing from behind the drums” Progtronica series as I move on to 2 exciting new projects that build of the foundation built here on these videos. Here I’ve introduced a new key piece of the arsenal the Roland SPD-30 octopad to play the live drumming. With this small pad and [...]

The beginning of 2011 has been filled with brand new musical, business and creative opportunities. Most new projects are of the secretive nature but details will be revealed soon. In the meantime, the Progtronica videos have now reached a land mark of over 100,000 views on the NoServiceRequired YouTube Channel. Since developing the “DJ’ing from behind [...]

I’ve never liked the modern emergence of “sub-genres”, the incessant need these days to boil down each kind of music into dozens of sub-categories. I have found that, although it provides a decent description of the sound of the music, rarely can music be so pigeonholed as to be put into a place that is [...]

After doing the last track/video “Taste of Blue” introducing my new technique of launching clips and scenes in Ableton live using the Novation Launchpad while playing the drum part live, it opened my mind of the many different types of sounds and styles I could tackle using the same basic setup. I had the idea [...]

Although there was some live drumming on the recent Progtronica EP, for the most part I have focused my recording and performance techniques on live “re-mixing” of my own material. Drum wise my approach has been to record myself, often in several layers, playing live. Then take parts of the recording and slice, alter, and [...]

After doing all the post production, polishing, and arraigning of all other logistical details for the release of the “Live For No One” EP, I’ve gotten back to exploring new production and performance techniques in Ableton Live. The most crucial of all of these has turned out the be the “sidechaining” of certain effects from [...]

Challenges and how we respond to them is large part of what makes us who we are. Of course everyone knows the cliché of “with crisis comes opportunity” but just what that opportunity is and how to execute it to its fullest potential is not always as clear cut. From an internal perspective the recent [...]

The time has finally come. The long awaited Progronica debut Ep has been officially released. In the coming weeks it will be available for all to purchase on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, and a host of other sites. In the meantime, I’m offering to preview and download for free the entire album. Check it out, [...]

The release of the “Live For No One” ep is eminent so I have been spending most of my time getting my full length live set together to perform, but I got a little break from that intention when my old friend and musical collaborator Taylor McFerrin came through town on tour. He asked me [...]

My old friend and musical collaborator Taylor McFerrin called me a few weeks ago and said he was rolling through LA on tour supporting his soon to be released album “Early Riser” and invited me to sit in with him at his show at Zanzibar in Santa Monica. Naturally I was totally excited to revive [...]

I’m working and reworking the last track for my debut album before sending it off the be mastered. In the process I got locked into this techno club vibe and went with it for this weeks video blog post. All the synthesizer sounds come from various iPhone apps and all drum parts were recorded live, [...]

I’ve been working on putting my newest tracks into my “Master Set” in Ableton Live so that they are performance ready. After an extremely long week (and long Saturday night to blow off some steam) I woke up ridiculously early and threw down this mix. It’s a bit raw but shows the new direction I’ve [...]

This broken beat/house song i had been working over in my head for a few days, but the recording took record time. Sometimes that is the best way to write; think about it for a while then just pour it out as fast and unfiltered as possible. This is certainly unfiltered. I had been wanting [...]

Well I must say it has been a powerful and challenging month…better make that 6 months…okay the entire past year. My will as well as all those around me has been tested, the limits of exhaustion have been met and surpassed, tough decisions have been made, and emotions have been raw. As a result creativity [...]

After a brief hiatus from creating new Progtronica tracks while I’ve been mixing and mastering the debut record, a new bomb live track has dropped: “Candle That Burns From Both Ends”. This track is dedicated to the past 2 weeks of craziness involving a massively busy schedule, a properly extreme Las Vegas hiatus with no [...]

During my days in NYC from when I arrived in1998 until around 2005, I used to constantly travel with my mini disc player and audio-technica stereo microphone to capture every bit of my musical life. I recorded everything from amazing class rehearsals at the New School University with some of the most amazing and diverse [...]

Progtronica Ableton Live/Novation Launchpad weekly dj set. 2-11-20 by Progtronica This week’s performance is the longest to date and has the most aggressive time signature changes. Here is the YouTube edit of the performance. To see the full thing visit this Vimeo link. Also I have provided the full audio to listen to here and [...]

Progtronica Ableton Live Weekly DJ set Week 3, 2/11/10 by Progtronica Performed on February 11th 2010, this is the 3rd installment of My “Progtronica Weekly Dj Performance Series”. All music created using Ableton live, mixed, re-sampled, edited, and mixed live using Novation’s Launchpad dedicated Ableton controller. This mix features the songs “The Beat Repeater” “Dreaming [...]

For the past 6 months or so I have been creating “Progtronica” tracks as solo performances using Ableton Live software and a few different controllers most notably the Novation Launchpad which has completely changed my musical approach. I have been creating music usually centering around samples of my own drumming mixed with found sounds musically [...]

There are lots of exciting happenings in the world of Progtronica at the close of the decade, one that will be looked back on as the worst in recorded music history (but more on that later). I have been hard at work preparing material for the release of my first solo ep “Progtronica – Live [...]

This is a Novation Launchpad remix in 20/8 time of my song “Lets Face The Music” (a tribute to Phillip Glass, The Cinematic Orchestra, and the MPC 2000) all of which were deep inspirations for this piece. I approached this one a little differently then my recent “remixes” incorporating some live drums (using Roland V-Drums) [...]

At a reunion gig of their abstract hip-hip group “L Maestro Presents”, backing band “The Cell Theory” which features Taylor McFerrin on beat box and keyboards, Jason Fraticelli on upright bass, and Nigel Sifantus on drums were in top form. These are out-takes from the video “L Maestro Presents live at the Grog Shop” which [...]

L Maestro descended to the surface of the earth once again in Cleveland Ohio on Sunday, August 16th to rock the Grog Shop. Although Taylor, Jason and I have been performing as “The Cell Theory” in the mean time, this group hadn’t played together since late 2004. We were scattered around the country in proportion [...]

Since getting my iPhone a few months ago I quickly realized it is one of the most amazing new musical tools. When my daughter received this “Elmo” guitar for a birthday present from a certain musician friend of mine, I thought it might be the worst thing I had ever heard. That is until I [...]