While starting grad school I wrapped up my last big music project: a full length album with Americana style instrumentation (acoustic guitar, banjo, upright bass), paired with classical string arrangements and ambient electric guitars. My brother Jon helped me make a single-shot, album-length music video in which I illustrate the lyrics of the album on the walls of our childhood bedroom.
Some people romanticize sudden bursts of inspiration that fuel songs, poems, or even books (think On the Road). However, I’m a big believer in working hard at one’s craft to produce the best work (in both art and science). Rewrite! Workshop! Edit! Optimize! This recording is an exception. I wrote and did a live recording of this song in one night and am still happy with how it came out.
This is perhaps one of the more beautiful things I’ve worked on. Emerging jazz-orchestral-pop band GADADU asked me to mix their album Bay Songs. The songs are ethereal, complex, and deeply engaging.
Of all the bands I’ve worked with, The Front Bottoms are the guys who really made it big. New Jersey’s favorite folk-punk band now sells out venues around the world, tours with Blink-182, and is signed to one of the world’s best rock labels. I produced and mixed their EP Liberty and Prosperity.
The band Thank You Scientist makes super weird, super mathy rock music with absurd performance technicality. I recorded and mixed their debut EP, The Perils of Time Travel.