These recordings feature me performing a collection of my compositions as a soloist for the Envelop Deep Listening series at Mirror Lab in Minneapolis on July 10, 2025. The pieces were performed on a Rhodes Mark I Stage electric piano running through a custom modular skiff used to sample, resample, loop, and process the incoming signals. The banging heard in the track Quarantine were fireworks going off outside the venue.
Recorded by Tom Michaels. Photo lifted from @UnderCurrentMPLS
On May 15, 2025 I will be performing at Berlin, Minneapolis with world-renowned jazz/genre-spanning artist Anthony Cox and Suwal Singh on tabla for an evening of short solos and duets and a full-length trio set. For my part I will be playing the house Steinway though a modular skiff that I have setup to sample/resample and process the piano.
That skiff has changed slightly from what I’ve been using for the first few examples, but it is still yielding satisfying textures for me. More about the event is below or visit berlinmpls.com/calendar/cox-keston-singh. In addition a radio piece by Philip Nusbaum was aired on Jazz88 (KBEM 88.5), Minneapolis and archived here.
World-renowned jazz/genre-spanning artist Anthony Cox will team up with award-winning music technologist John C.S. Keston on piano/modular synth and Suwal Singh on tabla for an evening of discovery. Short solos and duets from the musicians will evolve into a full-length trio set of creative collaboration.
Anthony Cox is an internationally renowned arranger, composer, performer, recording artist, and educator. His career has spanned over 30 years of music education, composition, and performance, encompassing an extensive list of collaborations, performances, and recordings with notable artists in the field of jazz. The list includes Sam Rivers, Joe Lovano, Geri Allen, Kenny Wheeler, Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins, John Scofield, The NDR Big Band, Dino Saluzzi, and Henry Threadgill.
John C.S. Keston’s background in music technology, software development, and improvisation leads him toward unconventional compositions that convey a spirit of discovery through the use of graphic scores, generative techniques, sound synthesis, experimental sound design, signal processing, and acoustic piano. Originally from the United Kingdom, he currently resides in Minneapolis, where he is a professor of digital media arts at the University of St. Thomas. He founded the sound design resource AudioCookbook.org, where you can learn more about his projects and performances.
Suwal Singh (tabla, guitar, sarangi) has contributed to the Minnesota music scene as part of projects such as SitarTabla (Eastern classical), Yeti Steady (avant-garde soundscapes), MoMoSauce (Nepali music), and Jest (pop rock). He has also worked as a session musician with Nathan Hanson, Brian Roessler, Eric Carranza, Colleen Buckman, and Dave Mehling and has appeared at Icehouse, the Varsity Theater, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, Bedlam Theatre, St. Paul Art Crawl, AZ Gallery, KFAI, the Capri Theater, MN Yoga Conference, and Jazz Central Studios.
This video is a new interpretation of Rhodonea (Rhodonea II) that I performed for SEAMUS (the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the US) at Purdue University on Saturday, March 22, 2025. Attending and performing at the conference was a fantastic experience. I’ll share more about the event in future post.
The animated, generative, graphic score developed with Processing.org sends corresponding MIDI data to one of my favorite electronic instruments of late, the Dirtywave M8. Previously I performed the piece in Ireland at the inaugural Radical Futures conference.
The piece serves as a model of how we might collaborate with near future synthetic entities. Software feeds automated, algorithmic, projected visual cues, tempi, and low frequency oscillations to improvising electronic musicians. The visuals, based on Maurer Roses, suggest melodic, harmonic, and percussive gestures that are modulated by data streaming from the generative animations. Throughout the piece the artist adapts to the familiar yet unpredictable graphic scores and corresponding signals.
Note: please watch in full screen with the lights off and listen on headphones or high fidelity stereo speakers
Our generative, animated, graphic score, performance project SYNTAX in collaboration with Mike Hodnick (aka Kindohm) is now available from Æther Sound as a Blu-Ray disc. The Disc contains all eight of our compositions as well as two bonus videos. One from Mike titled n ciom 4 and another from me titled Rhodonea. It all adds up to a total of one hour and fifteen minutes of music with animation.
After performing SYNTAX at The International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Limerick, Ireland; New Interfaces for Musical Expression or NIME; The Performing Media Festival, South Bend, IN; The Int. Digital Media Arts conference, Winona, MN; and venues in Minneapolis and Kalamazoo I’m excited that we can share these works on physical media. Video excerpts are available on YouTube (see below), but the Blu-Ray disc is the only way to experience high-fidelity, full-length studio versions of this project. Learn more about SYNTAX here or buy the Blu-Ray from Æther Sound here.
David Means with his Tower Project sculptural graphic score (2024)
I am delighted to announce a concert of work by David Means on September 27, 2024 at the brand new performance hall in the recently opened Schoenecker Center at the University of St Thomas. The upcoming concert and recording session was made possible by a grant for the UST College of Arts and Sciences with support from the Emerging Media and Music departments.
David Means was a professor, advisor, and mentor of mine while I was getting my undergrad in music technology. He also served on my masters thesis committee and over the years he has been a gracious reference helping me land a teaching position, performances, and grants, and been an amazing friend and collaborator. All the while David has tirelessly composed work of his own and performed it in a spectrum of countries and venues around the world.
The Tower Project is a sculptural, graphic score by David and the grant provides funding for the performance, an exhibition of the score, a recording session, and speaking engagements. I’m excited to perform David’s piece with him, Anthony Cox on cello, and George Cartwright on guitar. I’ll be playing the new Steinway in the performance hall and running it through my electroacoustic modular skiff.
Me, Anthony, and George will each do short solo pieces to start the event followed by a UST student ensemble performing the Tower Project and closing with a quartet of me, David, Anthony and George interpreting the piece. The concert is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. Doors open at 6:30pm. Please join us at the University of St Thomas, Schoenecker Center, Performance Hall SCC 106, 2210 Summit Ave, St Paul, MN 55105. A full program is available at bit.ly/TheTowerProject.
