Charlotte, NC USA
Modular Ambient Soundscapes
d york
My partner and I took a lengthy vacation to Italy in April 2025. We stayed in the regions of Abruzzo, Tuscany, and Umbria. The scenery, food, and people were wonderful and exceeded all expectations. I literally didn’t want to leave. As usual, I brought my portable digital recorder to document the journey. I ended up with a 5-hour audio diary of nature and small-town life in Italy. Musically, as usual, I added modular synths and various synthesizers to the field recordings. The result is a kind of musical documentary of our trip. Volume 3 features field recordings from a nature preserve in Cecina, Volterra in Tuscany, and Pale in Umbria. The B&B where we stayed in Volterra, Villa Rioddi, was a building from the 10th century with beautifully maintained grounds. There is a large pool and olive trees on the sizable plot behind the B&B. We had a room on the top floor with a view of the rolling, green countryside. I recorded sounds from the windows in our room and in the olive grove. My hope is that this music conveys the beauty, serenity, and sense of escape we experienced at these locations. Special thanks to my Amici italiani Andrea and Pietro, my cassa di risonanza Paul, and my compagno Lee.
Released: 1/16/2026
In theoretical physics, mirror matter is a hypothetical counterpart to ordinary matter that mirrors the properties of ordinary matter but interacts with it only via gravity or weak interaction. Dark matter is an invisible, mysterious form of matter that makes up about 85% of the total matter in the universe and interacts gravitationally but not with light. I was never much of a student in science, but today I find these topics fascinating. I also thought the subjects might tie in with Halloween in an oddly fitting way. After all, what’s more frightening than the unknown? Mirror Matter has a time-worn and dense quality. Dark Matter has a more open and spacey sound. I hope you enjoy these tracks inspired by the great unknown in our universe (and beyond). As ever and always, thank you for listening and your support.
Released: 10/31/2025
Wow! Time flies... It has now been 5 years since I returned to music making during covid lockdown. As time goes by, I have become more prolific and continue with the goal of expressing my various emotional states through music. Also, as I get older, music making has become more and more integral to daily living. I hope that never changes. So, 5 Years picks up where 3 Years left off in September of 2023. All my self-released albums are included in these continuous mixes. I left out my collaborative efforts intentionally. I hope you enjoy this recap of the last 2 years of musical output. I certainly enjoyed compiling these longform tracks. As always, thank you so much for listening and your support. ♥️
Released: 8/31/2025
June was an unusually hot, rainy and stormy month in Charlotte this year. This resulted in many opportunities for field recordings which I thoroughly took advantage of. I have about 5 hours’ worth which I've been putting music to for various releases. 🙂 This album marks a return to "shorter" tracks with an emphasis on moody ambiance, contemplation on internal and external environments, and rain. The instrumentation is predominately modular synth with a few virtual synth additions. Music continues to be an incomparable emotional and creative outlet for me these days. I sincerely thank you for listening and your support. ♥️
Released: 8/16/2025
The MFMH series continues... This time, I took a completely different approach. All the sounds in this longform track (barring the field recording, of course) are processed piano loops. Not surprisingly, they really don't sound like piano at all since they've been stretched and thoroughly manipulated. The result is a more cinematic sound than the first two MFMH releases. I think a lot of us suffer from an oversaturation of depressing/negative news these days (particularly in the political spectrum). I try to tune most of it out but don't want to keep my head in the sand either. So, I hope this longform track helps provide some solace and peace during challenging times. However, the field recording of the intermittent thunderstorm may jolt you out of your reveries when you least expect it. As always, thank you for listening and your support.
Released: 7/28/2025
My partner and I took a lengthy vacation to Italy in April. We stayed in the Abruzzo, Tuscana and Umbria regions. The scenery, food and people were wonderful and exceeded all expectations. I literally did not want to come home. ❤️ As usual, I took my portable digital recorder along to document the journey. I ended up with a 5-hour audio diary of nature and small-town life in Italy. On the musical side and as usual, I have added modular synth and various synthesizers to the field recordings. The result is a kind of musical documentary for our trip. There will be five volumes of The Italian Chronicles. A few of the volumes will be label released and others by me. So, they won’t be released in order or complete for a while. This is nice in the instant gratification world we live in. 😎 The field recording for Church of Saint Francis 4.18.25 was recorded in one of the churches in Foligno on Good Friday. The sound in the small church with the open front door was amazing but unfortunately, I didn’t have my digital recorder with me, so I had to use my phone. The resulting recording is a bit odd sounding. The music for this track is the only dark ambient piece in the entire series and fits the mood of the evening. The Casa de' Trinci, Pt. 2 recording is from the wonderful B&B we stayed at in Foligno. We had the place virtually to ourselves with a nice area to sit outside in front of our room. There were two days of afternoon rain and thunderstorms. This is the second field recording of this wonderful time spent soaking in the local atmosphere. Again, I hope these tracks convey the peace and tranquility I experienced in Italy. And as always, thank you for listening and your support.
Released: 7/13/2025
My partner and I took a lengthy vacation to Italy in April. We stayed in the Abruzzo, Tuscana and Umbria regions. The scenery, food and people were wonderful and exceeded all expectations. I literally did not want to come home. ❤️ As usual, I took my portable digital recorder along to document the journey. I ended up with a 5-hour audio diary of nature and small-town life in Italy. On the musical side and as usual, I have added modular synth and various synthesizers to the field recordings. The result is a kind of musical documentary for our trip. There will be five volumes of The Italian Chronicles. A few of the volumes will be label released and others by me. So, they won’t be released in order or complete for a while. This is nice in the instant gratification world we live in. 😎 The field recordings for Vol. 4 came from our stay in Foligno in the Umbria region. We were there the week of Easter and consequently the passing of Pope Francis. We tried to go to a national park the Monday after Easter and were unable to get through the historic city of Assisi. We found a close by natural area called Green Bastia Umbria aka the Green Path. The first part wasn't particularly scenic, but the second part made up for it. Spring was in full swing on this day and there was a special quality to everything. The first track documents our walk. The second track field recording is from the wonderful B&B we stayed at in Foligno. We had the place virtually to ourselves with a nice area to sit outside in front of our room. There were two days of afternoon rain and thunderstorms. This track has the first of two field recordings of this wonderful time spent soaking up the atmosphere. Again, I hope these tracks convey the peace and tranquility I experienced in Italy. And as always, thank you for listening and your support.
Released: 6/27/2025
4 track album
Released: 1/1/2025
Aquatic 2 came about in a similar fashion to last year’s Aquatic. My mate Paul Mallatratt shared some wonderful water centric field recordings a couple of months ago. I also recently picked up a new vintage soft synth. Three new oceanic ambient tracks are the result. I have shared with friends recently that music making is like therapy for me. That is particularly true right now with family health challenges and recent geopolitical events. We all need calm in the middle of the storm. I hope these tracks provide that for you. Creating them gave me a sense of peace. ❤️ Album photo courtesy of (who else but) Paul Mallatratt. 😎 As always, thank you for listening and your support.
Released: 11/24/2024
It has been 3 years to the day since I released covidium after a 15 year absence from music making. Lately, I've been very (perhaps overly) prolific so I figured it's time to get a little retrospective and look backwards vs. forwards. This album collects tracks from all my self-releases on Bandcamp (except the Solstice EPs). I grabbed anywhere from 5-10 minutes from each track which was at times challenging with the lengthier tracks. And due to upload size limit constraints, there are 3 continuous mix tracks. Continuous Mix 1 is from Sept. 2020 - June 2022. Continuous Mix 2 is from June 2022 - April 2023. Continuous Mix 3 is from May 2023 - August 2023. It's been quite a journey and I can't imagine making it through the last 3 years without the emotional and creative outlet of music. I hope you enjoy this musical remembrance of my last 3 years. I truly appreciate your listening ears and support.
Released: 9/11/2023
1 track album
Released: 2/18/2023
After a 3 ½ month period of intensive work (and obsession) for my next Neotrantra album, what did I do but bang out a new self-release... 🤣 These are the shortest tracks I’ve released to date and all except the first were completed in a week. They are somewhat all over the place stylistically (all in the ambient realm of course), but the overall theme is the fusion of nature and technology. There is also a touch of a sci-fi influence. A number of the track titles (and sounds) are inspired by a massive book of J.G. Ballard short stories I recently started reading. Thanks to the Cousin Silas Emporium for the reference to that book. As always, thanks for listening...
Released: 10/26/2022
11 track album
Released: 12/11/2021
