Music from the first quarter of the 21st century. Newest tracks are at the top of the list; oldest at the bottom.
ULTRAsomething Music
Prior to my seven-year musical hiatus, I’d make at least a moderate attempt to write and perform music that people might like. Now, I make music only for myself. So if your preferences lean toward the “agreeable” side of the sonic spectrum, I suggest you hop on over to the THEN page.
These are songs without constraint. It is music without destination. It’s not crafted to sell automobiles, give poignancy to a cinematic kiss, or inject a shot of adrenaline into the latest video game. No track need conform to the sonically homogenous confines of genre. No song must dictate the aural footprint of another. In short, ULTRAsomething is a singles band. Except it’s not a band… but you get the point.
NOTE: All songs are hosted on Bandcamp, and each song can be played up to three times before you’re politely asked to pony up a buck. Honestly, if you like a song well enough to play it a fourth time, I think it’s only fair to ask for $1 — particularly when that $1 buys you the ability to download the song in both a mobile-friendly MP3 format, and a lossless, full-fidelity version suitable for playback on the type of audio systems designed to annoy your neighbours.
Commissions
These are just a couple samples of “work for hire” music composed through the years. These works were written specifically to satisfy the requirements of various modern dance choreographers, web designers, videographers, or musical products companies.
01. Benign Schizophrenia
Written in 2007 to showcase Journeys — a new sound bank that I designed and programmed for Applied Acoustics’ String Studio synthesizer. All sounds were, of course, generated by the String Studio virtual synth playing various sounds from the Journeys sound bank.
02. Return to the Asylum
Written in 2010 to accompany the Journeys library, re-programmed and re-imagined for the Tension instrument in Ableton Live. All sounds were generated by the Tension virtual synthesizer in Ableton Live, playing various sounds from my custom patch bank.
03. BeIA Internet Appliance Animation
Just before the turn of the 21st century, I improvised this “techno” composition n about two minutes to accompany a 30 second animation that introduced Be Incorporated’s new (in 1999) BeIA operating system (animation by Chris Sanders).
The Veil Portends
At the dawn of the 21st century, I established The Veil Portends as a way to create music without regard for sonic boundaries or commercial success. The name paid subtle homage to the films of Jean Rollin, and the music drew inspiration from imagined soundtracks, unwritten poetry, dreams and nightmares. Not surprisingly, the project failed to attract a record label, though it did attract a few entertainingly derisive comments from their A&R departments, including my favourite: “What makes you think anyone would ever want to listen to instrumental music?”