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About Stephen

Baltimore City  

In the past, composers were free to write different kinds of music. Operas are drastically different from string quartets or piano works. These days musicians are often expected to write music under a genre or style, and hopping around is looked down upon. But different purposes, situations, and collaborators will necessitate having  different approaches and output. I have a wide variety of solo and collaborative projects, but I believe they are all… more

View Stephen's Resume
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2020/2021 soundtrack and ensemble projects

Since the pandemic has halted all live performances, I was more motivated to work on music that would exist in a non-live medium, and had a more functional purpose, other than to exist on its own.  This also lead me to work on other ensemble projects that would be difficult to put together in a live setting.
  • "Saul"
    "Saul" a score for a specific scene finished in December 2020
  • Looking Glass River (2021)
    this work-in-progress mock- up is for a setting of Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "Looking Glass River" for mixed chorus and organ
  • "Bacchus"
    This is a through composed score for a 5 minute animated film "Bacchus"
  • Scene from Seijun Suzuki's Kagero-za with 3 different incidental music
    3 excerpts from a score for a short film "I'll Be Here." It is set here to a scene from a different film.
  • apse coo (2020 work in progress)
    This is not a soundtrack project, but after using chamber and orchestral like ensembles for soundtrack music, I wanted to experiment with using similar timbres, on a piece whose tone and development is not dictated by an existing narrative. This is a work-in-progress experiment, using a dyadic row to generate musical material. Starting with elements of a spectralist approach, a theme based on a dyadic row, is sounded and is transformed through slowed down repetitions and eventually absorbed into the spectralist environment.
  • chase parts 1 & 2
    music for a specific chase scene, written to be entered into a soundtrack competition
  • Cafe 1
    This is another excerpt for the short film "I'll Be Here"
    •

    • Sunset at Owl's Head - music for solo performances

    All the non-collaborative music I have written in the past required organizing groups of musicians to perform it. The current music trend of performing with backing tracks in a live setting was not something I intended to explore. However, the unustainable nature of hiring musicians for orchestral work, along with the opportunity to intermingle instruments that wouldn't normally be grouped together, have made the idea more intriguing. With this in mind, I started working on a perfomable solo project , which became "Sunset At Owl's Head." This approach also helped me bridge the gap between eastern and western music. Being born in the Philippines, I have always been interested in folk traditions in music. As a main performing vehicle for this project, I was exploring alternative guitar approaches that didn't use the strumming of chords, common in western pop music. Instead, I was interested in the use of eastern and western Asian techniques and modes, which I synthesized within pop structures. A guitar played this way helped me keep the live guitar elements completely enganged, to help keep balance with the non-liveness of the backing tracks.  But the use of  the backing tracks also allowed me to use ensemble passages to give the pieces a more modern western texture. Large group performances and non-western approaches to music are ongoing motivational factors for me, and this project is a culmination of both influences, as well as a culmination  of the various approaches I have been experimenting with in other projects. I am looking forward to playing more solo shows in the future and am currently working on new music for this project.


     

    • Sleepers Find A Hole Through Time (2023)

      The original idea about this project was to have a thickly layered rhythm and heavily orchestrated backing track. The live guitar would be busy to counter the invisibility of the backing track performance. The vocals were just signposts on the structure. After performing in this way for a few years, I found myself wanting to whittle down the layers and have the vocals and the lyrics dictate the structure. While contemplating how to approach this new direction, Andy Shenker asked me to participate in a night of readings called "Circles and Lines". This was written with cirlces in mind:

      Sleepers Find A Hole In Time

    • 100 Windows (2023)

      written for Circles and Lines. This was written under the idea of lines and following a thread of clues.

      100 Windows

      I watched a hundred windows open
      But saw nobody move them

      I heard a sound so I looked outside
      Saw no one

      I had a feel of somebody falling
      Who knows where it came from
      So I leaned in
      While listening
      I sunk down to my elbows

      In the woods I heard a voice call
      Or was it a hundred angels
      Or a hundred drums
      A savage clang of thrums
      A crushing fiery hum
      I leaned in
      It told me "um pa-pa pa pa pa pa"
      They sang "um pa-pa pa pa pa pa"

    • Winter Peace (2024)

      work in progress.  Experimenting with more improvisatory techniques to structure the song against a static guitar phrase.

       

      Scattered bract, leaves blown about and once again dark comes to us early

      And the boughs left stripped, uncovered trembling with the cold cold, cold

      Some straggle leaves flutter like birds frozen on bare branches 

      While birds below hop like foliage in a blow

       

      And winter winds come whistling like sirens of the lonely

       

      A frozen moon shares it strange light now

      And there’s a quiet that’s sheltered from the night. 

      The darkness lightens surrenders up a far corner

      Crackle ash and smoke shepherds apparitions 

       

      And it’s you and 

      me 

      and the winter ghost 

       

    • Sunset at Owl's Head cassette
      Sunset at Owl's Head cassette
      finished and released a cassette based on these set of songs
    • Sunset at Owl's Head (animated performance of first section)
      Since the pandemic has halted possibilities of live performances, I did a hand drawn animation for the first section of the title track, to replace what would have been a record release performance. I wanted to be physically present in the performance through the lines in the drawings, instead of doing a web performance. And instead of animating singing, I drew portraits of people that have influenced me to superimposed on the blank singing figure, when the voice is present.
    • Sunset at Owl's Head
    • Red Finish
    • Outro
    • Strange Tear
    • live photo from Fadensonnen, February 2020
      live photo from Fadensonnen, February 2020
    •

    • Ghost Life

    Ghost Life was an ensemble project based on mostly small rhtythmic instruments .  When it first started, I wanted to combine my love of pop and ethnic music with ensemble organization.  The instrumentation allowed me to put percussion up front to form its own narrative.  At an age where anybody can play a single instrument and fill up a room completely with sound, I wanted all the individual sounds of the group to be tiny.  I also tried to avoid any use of chord progressions, relying instead on the constanly shifting rhythmic elements and combinations to sustain interest in the pieces.   I made some virtual ensemble performances to highlight the physical elements of the sound.  That element is an important factor in this music and might be lost on just a listen through.   After years of performances with little documentation, I wanted to have some representation that would highlight the sound generating process of the physical action.  
    • Ghost Life - Moose
      2nd virtual ensemble video for Ghost Life
    • Ghost Life - Hands (2018)
      virtual ensemble performance video
    • Ghost Life cassette
      Ghost Life cassette
      Cassette release of Ghost Life and Relay project together. Release date pending due to problems with the tape transfer of the recording. But it should be out by late winter 2021.
    • Morning Roosters (2018)
      First part of a projected cylce of 8 parts.
    • a3
      ghost life performance at floristree. february, 2014. filmed by thomas kessler.
    • ghostbeat4
      ghost life performance at floristree. february, 2014. filmed by thomas kessler.
    •

    • Wheatie Mattiasich

    I started accompanying Wheatie for live shows in 2011, and naturally started writing songs with her. I recorded her 2013 record "Little Black Star" and co-wrote a few songs on that record. We just released an LP, "Old Glow" in January 2023 and plan on touring to support the album. One track "This Way" was spotlighted on NPR's Now Playing. We continue the collaboration and are touring to support the last record.

    • a cover.jpg
      a cover.jpg
      Old Glow LP. Released in January 2023
    • Wheatie live.jpg
      Wheatie live.jpg
      Photo from a show at the True Vine on November 21, 2018.
    • This Way.mp3
      This track was featured on NPR's Now Playing in January 2023
    • People.mp3
      from "Old Glow"
    •

    • Ceremony Drum

    Ceremony Drum started off as a writing  exercise based on an image of a pop band in the dark. I imagined a group of musicians where the view of the lead vocalist, ususally the most visible in a pp group would be obscured by darkness and by his posotion in the back of the stage. I also imagined a drummer being front and center, and only having a floor tom instead of a full drum kit, and he would be the only person standing on stage. I liked the idea of the drummer's repetitive motion being the only visible element of the live performance. From this image, I imagined what this group would sound like. At first, I was just using this as an exercies to quickly write a song to help me take a break from the more involved pieces I was working on. But after some time, I realized I had accumulated a some good songs adn decided to take this project more seriously. I put together a group to perform this live in 2019 and hope to do more shows in the future. I am still writing new material for this project.

    • Ceremony Drum at Current Gallery 2019
      Ceremony Drum at Current Gallery 2019
    • Ceremony Drum cassette
      Ceremony Drum cassette
      Released cassette version of Ceremony Drum project in January 2021
    • Some Days (2023)
    • Canoe
    • Fell Into a Room
    • Ceiling Fan
    • World Is On It's Way
    • In the Roses
    •

    • Relay song cycle

    This is a song cycle made up of 4 sections. There is a break between sections 2 and 3, but the other sections are connected. The first 2 minutes consist of a few layers of drum machines playing. Each layer is made up of little sounds and the relationship between the layers shift and evolve. Eventually acoustic instruments join in and sprout songs over the rhythmic base. Each of these beginning section starts instrumentally and ends with a vocal entrance. The last 2 sections mimic the beginning in an expanded way.  Section 3 "the cathedral" eventually leads into "the world is always disappearing" (section 4) which is a vocal section.  The whole scheme of the work goes like this: Relay 1 (percussion introduction, instrumental section leading to vocals); Relay 2 (percussion transition, instrumental section leading to vocals)// Relay 3 ("cathedral" organ introduction/transition, instrumental section leading to the song"the world is always disappearing").  The use of a sample that exists throughout the piece is another element that ties it all together.   
    • relay 1/relay 2
      parts 1 and 2 of the song cycle.
    • the cathedral/the world is always disappearing
      parts 3 and 4 of the song cycle
    •

    • Music for other people's projects

    Music written for other people's projects

    • Officer! - "Strong Butler" (2023)

      Written for international collaboraive project "Officer!" This is the first time I took the lead vocals in a collaborative setting, and the first instance of using the bass clarinet (which I am relatively new at) in a recording.

    • Crickets (2023)

      Soundtrack written for 3rd collaboration with Zoe Friedman

    • Night Jungle (2022).mp3
      Music written for an animated installation by Zoe Friedman
    • 2018 exquite corpse soundtrack- The Adventures of Prince Achmed
      On October 13, 2108, I took part in 2 live performances of an exquisite corpse soundtrack. New music was written for different sections of the film by different artists, and was performed at the Parkway Theatre. This section was written in collaboration with Emmanuel Nicolaidis playing vibraphone and floor tom. This was a home draft our section, so the vibraphone and drum is not present in this version. The video footage is still being put together at the time of this post.
    • Ishi's Brain (2012)
      Music written for travelling puppet performance of Ishi's Brain, used to promote book by Eamon Espey, of the same name.
    • Children in Heat (rough mix) (2009)
      Song written in collaboration with Emmanuel for "Children in Heat" a video by Deitra Thompson, based on a song by the Misfits.
    •

    • Oh Hang 2013-2016

    A duo project started in 2013 with long time collaborator, Emmanuel Nicolaidis.  The angle of experimentation in these songs were to use sampled and programmed rhythms along live rhythmic elements to generate a song. These songs were recorded in September, 2014.  
    • oh hang live
      oh hang live
      photo from a live show in washington dc. 2016
    • oh hang cassette release
      oh hang cassette release
      released octo 4, 2015. cover art by chris day.
    • trumpet song
      this song uses a drum machine/sample. in this piece we experimented at times with using keys that would clash with the sample. but we were also trying to approach it that it would still sound natural.
    • sisters (2014)
      the idea behind this song was the use of 3 different layers of rhythm, each with its own timbre. the first one was a sample that had it's own built in rhythm. the second was a more electronic dance club rhtythm, and the third would be the drumset.
    • conquistador hop (2014)
    •

    • Cole Tut 2014-2015, tape released in 2017

    This is a collaborative project with Jeff Mcgrath, Chris Day, and Lesser Gonzales.  I played drums in this project.
    • Cole Tut tape cover
      Cole Tut tape cover
      Tape cover by Chris Day
    • Goodness Goes
    • Demo Collapse
    • Cole Tut live at Floristree
      Video by Andrew Schenker
    •

    • Golden Age

    this was an attempt to bridge the gap between classical song cycles and pop music. the impetus for this project was an art opening at the current gallery, where it was first performed. for this, we decided to work with orchestral instruments and vocals. the 14 piece ensemble was made up mostly of hired peabody students. the only other time these pieces were performed was at whartscape, in 2008, at the 2640 space. with the exception of the moon song, these pieces were written in collaboration with emmanuel nicolaidis.
    • I.night now is sleeping soundly
    • II. moon song
      this is a midi mock up of this piece because it was never properly recorded. the "bassoon" sound represents the vocal line. unlike the other 2 orchestral songs, this uses more classically oriented melodic figures.
    • III. like a lot of men going
      this was an attempt to write pop music, using pop instruments, but using a more chamber-like interplay between the instruments.
    • IV. western
    •