Album Notes

A little about me...

I spent my formative years in a small town in West Virginia named Cross Lanes. My brother Jason and I grew up in a hard-working family where we didn't have everything we wanted, but always had everything we needed. To that end, we were both instilled by our parents with a strong work ethic that continues to define us, even to this day.

For as long as I can remember, I have always had an interest in computers. It seems like only yesterday that I was out cutting lawns or shoveling snow so that I could earn enough lumber to buy one. I managed to save $200 US (a king's ransom for a young lad in the early 80s, equivalent to nearly $400 US in today's dollars) so that I could purchase the venerable Commodore 64 and its amazingly sophisticated sound generation capabilities, courtesy of its powerful SID chip.

"You want to buy a... computer?", is what I remember my parents saying, in the most puzzling tone, when I indicated my intentions to them. It was a reasonable response at the time, since computers simply weren't that prevalent. Fortunately, I must have done a good job of explaining just exactly why someone would want to use a computer (much less own one), because my request was granted.

Like all of our travels, this was a family event; all of us loaded up in the car (a timeless 1974 AMC Gremlin - those that remember the car will recall that the maximum setting on the air conditioning dial read, "Desert use only.") and drove down to the bank, where I withdrew two crisp c-notes from my personal savings account (and a little extra for the inevitable tax). Then it was off to a toy store called Childrens Palace were I traded my well-earned cash for the single most expensive item that I would ever purchase as an adolescent.

This computer represented my first exposure to music composition, and software development. I would spend every possible moment, writing my own programs to create sound effects and musical notes. And of course, I played a lot of games, too (I still do, though I now find that my free time is usually invested into my music).

The experience on the Commodore 64 gave me the foundation to upgrade to the Commodore Amiga, which featured even more powerful sound processing hardware. It was on the Amiga that I discovered tracker software; this allowed me to experiment with music in ways that I had never experienced on the Commodore 64.

I eventually moved into synthesizers, which provided me with new avenues of musical expression and exploration. However, I continue to carry on my computer-based musical tradition even today, using computers as advanced sound processors with the latest in cutting-edge software synthesis.

I have been a musician essentially my entire life, performing on the piano, synthesizers and drums of all kinds: East Indian tabla, Middle Eastern doumbek and the occidental drum kit. My music has been featured on NPR affiliate WYSO.

My influences include Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Juno Reactor, Ray Norrish, Jim Young, John Digweed, Yunus Guvenen and Way Out West.

Thank you for exploring my website and my music. Feel free to contact me and let me know what you think. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Namaste,
Chris