High Sierra Coming Down

Recording continues here in October with George Croft. Just in time for his performance in support of Jason Isbell at The Ryman in Nashville, we have released “High Sierra Coming Down”. This one was recorded at Autumn Ridge Studios, Hands on Sound and in severl of remote sessions.

This track features: George Croft- lead vocal and acoustic guitar, Tyler Johnson- lead guitar, Rick Escobar- pedal steel guitar, David West- electric slide guitar, Mark Fassett- backing vocals, Will Mitchell- strings and piano.

Listen here on Apple Music or on Spotify:

High Sierra Coming Down

High Sierra Coming Down

To Be Enough

A belated big congrats to George Croft and all those to contributed to the recording of the first single off his next album. “To Be Enough” was recorded at Sound Union, Hands on Sound and several remote recording sessions.

This track features: George Croft- lead vocal and acoustic guitar, Tyler Johnson- lead guitar, John Avilla- bass, Paul Avilla-Drums, Mark Fassett- backing vocals and banjo, David West- backing vocals, Will Mitchell- acoustics guitar and organ.

Listen here on Apple Music or on Spotify:

To Be Enough

To Be Enough


Kundalini Klub- Live 1994 album

Today on Bandcamp, I’ve released a live album from June of 1994 from a group I was part of called Kundalini Klub.

Kudalini Klub was a free form experimental ensemble that played in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1990’s. The rules of the Klub were to always be in the moment, not have any songs or repertoire and never play something that they had done before. In short, 100% improvisation 100% of the time.
This recording is from a live performance at a "Gyspy Camp"on a ranch in El Granada on June 11, 1994.
It captures on tape the spirit of the group as they feed off the energy of one another and the audience.

Listen to the album here- Kundalini Klub- Live 1994

La Honda Country Fair and Music Festival album (Re-release)

I'm pleased to announce the re-release of the long out of print La Honda Country Fair and Music Festival 1998 album.

This is fundraiser for the La Honda Elementary School Art and Music Programs with 100% of the proceeds from sales on Bandcamp going to them.

https://handsonsound.bandcamp.com/.../la-honda-country...

At the La Honda Art & Music Fair next weekend, there will also be a signed and numbered limited edition of 20 CDs for sale.

Enjoy the music and support art and music in our schools.

Hum...What's the Buzz

On May 15th, as part of the College of San Mateo Electronic Music Festival I performed an original improvisational piece at the school’s theater. In the show program, i described the composition as-

Using homemade instruments/interfaces, field recordings and designed sounds this improvisational soundscape draws attention to the ever increasing presence of electricity, motors and electromagnetic frequencies, both seen and unseen as elements that contribute to the sonic backdrop to our world.

Whether it be the drone of electric vehicles, the hum of transformers, generators, appliances, machinery or computers  the ambience of the natural world is giving away to the sound of machines.

Listen to the mix from the Livestream of the concert on YouTube- https://handsonsound.bandcamp.com/track/hum-whats-that-buzz-live-college-of-san-mateo

In addition to my concert performance, on both nights of the festival I set up a 4 speaker array in the theater’s courtyard and created, as “walkout music” some generative ambient soundscapes using Enos’ Bloom and Trope apps. The vibe felt good and was met with only glowing reviews and comments…such as “this place just feels so much nicer and comfortable,. It’s real peaceful”

Joni Mitchell Archives Vol 4 and 1976 Tour album

I was thrilled to see that the Joni Mitchell & The L.A. Express – 1976 U.S. Tour album was released on vinyl for Record Store Day last month. These tracks were pulled from the Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 4: The Asylum Years 1976-1980 box set. I am credited as Tape Transfer Engineer and Production Assistance for both of these. As a music fan, for me, this was my favorite era of her music…as Joni ventured more into jazz and surrounded herself with heavy weight players. It was a real thrill to go thru the rehearsal tapes that were recorded prior to her 1979 tour and listen to Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Jaco Pastorius, Michael Brecker and Don Alias working out their parts. A couple of those rehearsals made their way onto the box set.

A Songwriting Workshop with Brian Eno

I had the honor and pleasure of participating in a month long songwriting workshop with Brian Eno this past January. Held in 3 sessions per week over Zoom, we had weekly lectures, Q&A sessions with Brian and also listening and feedback sessions. Each week the workshop attendees were given an assignment by Eno. Here we have the very first class assignment, that we were given 20 minutes to compose during a break in our first lecture. His creative prompt was to chose one of several silent short videos and write something for it.

Title- Passing Into A Recent Past.

Lyrics/ Poem to accompany the music:

Thru the window, so close yet passing into a recent past, I see the work of hands and machine.

Organized and left to ponder, the harvest and the seasons before.

All lies still beneath the ever changing sky, keeping watch.

So close yet passing into a recent past.

The journey continues.

If interested, you can listen to all my assignments from the Eno workshop here.

https://handsonsound.bandcamp.com/album/brian-eno-workshop-2025

There's A Strange Noise Coming Thru The Speaker

After having pursued the concept of air and wind for sound design/experimental and ambient sprojects for several years, in 2024 I became interested in the transmission of sound thru electricity and light. What we have here is a composition of mine that is…well… an experimental electronic music composition using field recordings made with a Photon Smasher LED microphone, a LOM Elektrousi EMF microphone, software synthesizer instruments and NASA sonification recordings. On Vimeo, you will hear a 5.1 version of the Dolby Atmos mix. The concept for this piece came to me after reading about some strange sounds that were being heard by astronauts on the International Space Station in August of 2024.