This is just a short newsletter while I sort out my life, focusing on two Alias Zone-related things plus explaining a bit of what I’ve been up to:
- Alias Zone updates: I released a new album in July – Passage – featuring Robert Rich. Here are the details.
- Patreon updates: I’ve started to explore and explain my updated performance system on Patreon; here are some initial tastes including some demos of how I’ve been using it.
- upcoming events: I am playing as part of Steve Roach’s latest Soundquest Festival, August 28-30 at La Rosa in Tucson Arizona.
A short list, but still plenty to read and click through to. So let’s get to it!
Alias Zone Updates
Back in 2022, I performed an extended ambient concert in an art gallery which was quite a departure for me: dark ambient style; no beats; no sequences aside from some glacially-slow arpeggios playing extended pads. They were wonderful spaces, but lacked any clear melody or narrative thread. I asked my long-time friend Robert Rich if he might add those missing elements. He agreed, playing an extended solo on top of each track using a different instrument on each one.
The result is Passage, which was released on Bandcamp a few weeks ago. Click here to preview the tracks, and order the beautiful 6-panel CD (I’m biased; it also features my artwork). You can also purchase lossless 24-bit/96kHz files to download.
There is a lot of information out there on how this album came together. Here are some links for you to learn more:
- This free-to-all Patreon post describes the original live performance where five musicians set up in different rooms in an art gallery and performed simultaneously, using the same notes and tempo. It includes a walk-through video of the space just before the doors opened to the public.
- This also free-to-all post explains the system I put together for this performance, and includes the unedited audio from one of the rehearsals for the performance. In it you can hear the early stages of what become the track Afterlife (The Three Gates) on the album Passage.
- This issue of Cyclical Dreams magazine includes an album review plus interview, where I go over the left-brain technical details of creating Passage. It starts on page 17 (although the entire issue is worth reading).
- This in-depth interview on the Ambient Visions website goes deep into the right-brain compositional thoughts behind Passage. It’s the most personal, revealing interview I’ve ever given, and provides more insight into my thought process when creating music (and art).
Patreon Updates
The best laid plans…
After my final concert of 2025, I disassembled my performance system, and started rebuilding it from scratch. The updated design was based on my experience playing live the last few years, as well as the style of music I wanted to play in 2026/27 (more downtempo; more improvised). I ordered a lot of new modules, rebuilt the system, created a new patch (almost 150 patch cables!), and thought I would then explain all of the decisions made to my Patreon subscribers.
Of course, things did not go according to plan. Some modules didn’t work as I expected. I discovered new things I needed or wanted to do with this system. I found other ideas that didn’t turned out as hoped or planned. So it kept changing. And is still changing this week, as I prepare for the Soundquest Festival (see below).
Here are the posts that I did manage to write for my Patreon subscribers before a gig with it at the end of last month (opening for Michael Stearns in Santa Fe), including explaining a technique I used on my new album Passage:
- New Beginnings: Where I explain “the story so far” with my previous performance system, including what needed to change in the new system.
- Random Events -> Melodic Strums: I dive into more detail about how I performed one of the more interesting tricks which appear on my new album Passage, where randomly brushing the strings on a Folktek Nano Garden produced what sounded like coherent flurries of notes in given key. (My experience using the Nano Garden is what prompted me to add a “noise box” to my new system.)
- My Next Generation Performance System, Part 1: Custom Switch Panels: To change timbres more quickly during performance, I soldered together a few custom switch panels, including one which inserts or removes one module from an already-patched signal path. (To show you how this system has been evolving, I’ve already replaced two of those three panels – but the concepts remain useful.)
- Noise Box Through Beads + FX Aid: The most unusual addition to my new performance system is a “noise box” which creates a variety of sound effects. Bowing the metal tines I attached to it – processed through my modular – has proven to be one of the biggest impact moments of new set.
- Vector Synthesis and Live Performance: I take the advantage of the joystick used to morph between different sounds in Vector Synthesis to fake quick patch changes, as well as add unique expression to notes I’m playing.
When I get back from the Soundquest Festival, I’ll then start explaining the system in detail – including what I learned while composing a bunch of new material, and my first two performances with the new system. Hopefully it will stabilize before the next gig after those!
Remember that you can get free access to all of my articles for one week in exchange for trying out my Patreon page at the +5v subscription level. Here is the list of roughly 500 articles you will above access to – so get reading! There is also an annual subscription option for the +5v level where you get access to an entire year for the price of 10 months.
Upcoming Events
Soundquest Festival: August 28-20, La Rosa, Tucson, Arizona
I am very proud to be part of the latest edition of Steve Roach’s Soundquest Festival. This one is being hosted by La Rosa: a new venue converted from a former church. As you can see from the lineup above, this edition of Soundquest Fest is quite diverse, ranging from progressive metal to DJs to ambient to…well, to Steve Roach! I will be playing new work with an updated performance system as part of the Sunday afternoon lineup.
There are a lot of ticket options, so try not to get overwhelmed. There are a few different levels of full-concert passes, depending on the level of VIP treatment and seat location you prefer. You can also order each of the sets individually (including the different seating options). For example, if you’re just interested in non-EDM electronic music, you can purchase Saturday afternoon’s Ambient Showcase Day Party, Saturday evening’s concert At The Edge of Forever with Steve, and Sunday afternoon’s Sonic Sacred Sunday Day Party – all of which happen to be seated, so you can safely zone out while listening. Click here for ticketing.
Sandia Soundscapes: January 9 2027, 7:00 PM, FUSION | The Cell, Albuquerque, New Mexico
I am really looking forward to playing a full set with my expanded performance system on my “home turf” at the start of the new year. Opening for me will be Tsone (aka Tony Obr). More details later on the Sandia Soundscapes website; put it on your calendar now!
In addition to playing for my own music series in January, I have already started planning gigs for the rest of next year. Use the Contact form at the bottom of this page to get in touch if you’d like to discuss me being part of your event, may it be playing, speaking, or both.
In addition to performing, this year I also become a promoter, starting a new series in New Mexico called Sandia Soundscapes. It’s been quite an experience – one I will share later.
But if I can give some advice to other artists looking for gigs, it’s to get your act together on the marketing side! Booking a gig does not mean you don’t have to do anything to help promote it. Gather together still images, audio files, and videos that can be used to promote you. Have a social media presence and/or a mailing list, and use those to promote your own show – don’t expect people who are not already your fans to know why they should come hear you, and for the promoter to be able to magically reach all of your fans without you helping them. Do these things, and the promoter will probably bend over backwards to make your show a success.
new year; new music –
Chris