Since I chopped off my dreadlocks, I’ve wanted to have some photos more representative of what I’m looking like these days. The lovely and talented Cole came to my studio for a shoot, and some of my favorites are now adorning these pages! Very exciting.

The Spark festival is in the rear view mirror, which means I can start to focus on a few other projects- the film score I’ve been working on is crawling to a close, and I haven’t forgotten about the album! There are also a few new live shows coming up in April and May- I’ll be playing as part of the Minneapolis vs. St. Paul show at Altered Esthetics and again for the Bent Festival in May.

The Spark Festival has been fun so far. Thanks to everyone who came out for my set at the Nomad on Wednesday! I haven’t been able to make it out to as many things as I’d like, but I did catch the interview with Richard Devine last night, which I enjoyed a lot. I love listening to artists talk about how they work, mostly because it’s so much fun to see people excited about what they love. A lot of it felt so familiar, as well: going to shows and scrutinizing what synthesizers were on stage, being introduced to music that changes how you think about sound, scouring music shops for new toys, getting lost in your headphones for hours on end. It also made me want to delve more into modular synths, though, from the video of his studio and from friends who have started their collections, I’m a little afraid of their addictive nature.

I’m planning on catching some more of the Nightlife sets and see what else is coming up. My favorite parts of Spark, almost more than the amazing breadth of art included, are the people and the vibe.

Also, Happy Leap Day! It always makes me think of Pirates of Penzance.

Well, that was fun.
Thanks to Beatrix*Jar for inviting me, billmurray8 and dcontaminant and ethel and bitwise and omaha for coming, S4 for being awesome, my gear for cooperating, Tom the Sound Guy, and the Kitty Cat Klub for paying me both in some real money and also in just enough free booze to make it extra fun.

Also, there was Elvis pinball, and that never hurts.

One of the highlights of my weekend was participating in a circuit bending workshop with Beatrix*Jar. Besides bending being fun, B*J are awesome folks and fun to hang out with. I’d done a bit of bending before, but, having a refresher on both bending and soldering was really nice, and I learned a few things I didn’t know before. I’m excited to finish up my now-more-sonically-interesting Speak ‘n’ Math and debut it at the Spark festival.

Here are some photos!