NEXMAP :: WORKSHOPS INSTRUCTORS

About the Instructors

Aram Shelton

Aram Shelton is a multi-instrumentalist on saxophones and clarinets, a composer & improviser, and creates electro-acoustic music through computer-based electronics. While the music he makes is spread across a variety of aesthetic lines, it is related by the importance of improvisation to develop material and express musical individuality.

When making electro-acoustic music Shelton primarily uses custom built patchers in MAX/MSP that focus on live sampling. Shelton's electro-acoustic compositions focus on a technique called phrase modification, where written phrases played by orchestral instruments are recorded in real time, rearranged, modified and reintroduced to the composition.

Settled is Shelton's electro-acoustic solo project. The music invokes moods through a cinematic style inspired by solitary walks, rainstorms with no thunder, fog & mist, the coast, empty city streets, the woods, books & coffee, bourbon & ice, and long afternoons. For the music of Settled, a bed of sounds is created using a combination of pre-recorded material, field recordings and found sounds. Live playing and processing of wind instruments interact with this material, and melodies evolve from existing tones found within the structure. www.aramshelton.com/electro.html

Beat by Aram Shelton:

Ben Bracken

For the past 15 years, Ben Bracken has slowly been creating a unique sonic language utilizing electronics, acoustic sound sources (guitar, cymbal, bells, found objects, etc), electric guitar, and field recordings.

Primarily interested in the possibilities of a kind of echo-relocation that exists with sound based art, his work has oscillated from performance to installation, often blurring the lines between the two. In both, the location of the event becomes an active participant, intimately shaping the nature and direction of each work.

After finishing a graduate degree in Electronic Music at Mills College in Oakland, CA, Ben moved on to his current technical support position at Cycling '74, the developers of Max/MSP, which he utilizes as one of many tools in his live performances. Ben also curated the Totally Intense Fractal Mindgaze Hut, a performance space in West Oakland, CA.

Some previous or current musical groups include Crystal Village (With Gregg Kowalsky), Flashpapr, Tiny Lights, Remote Viewing Ensemble, Duo with Luis Maurette, Duo with Zach Wallace, Bones (with Jacqueline Gordon).

Ben has improvised with Le-Quan Ninh, Brent Guetzeit, Kevin Drumm, Peter Kowald, Chris Cutler, Phil Minton, Rhodri Davies, Werner Dafeldecker, Fred Van Hove, Johannes Bauer, among others.

Common Ground by Ben Bracken: