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Periodically I will add or change the background music on my page so you can get a sense of my music before wandering over to my website.

A friend pointed out that I should list my musical influences here. OK. Note: these are people whose musical output has influenced my own. It doesn't mean that I listen to them a lot right now. In fact, with some - such as John Cage, I hardly listen to at all anymore. But that doesn't mean he's not a big influence on my creative output. So, in no particular order of importance, and a brief note why:

1. Brian Eno
For his notion of "Ambient Music" something that is as ignorable as it is listenable. His works, Music for Airports, Music for Films, and The Pearl were and are major influences and inspirations for my continued efforts as an electronic music composer.

2. Robert Fripp
His ambient works, like Eno and the work he's donw with Eno, are also a major influence on my own work, especially in terms of arrangement. His work is always so spare and singular - I find that brave and inspiring. Also, his work with King Crimson has always been a joy. But what is probably most important about his creative output are his ideas about music, audience / performer cathexis, the music industry itself, and (especially) the role of the artist in society and life in general.

3. Terry Riley
In C changed everything. Rainbow in Curved Air has been one of my favourite records of all time. His work has always been an inspiration to me.

4. Steve Reich
Like Riley - a ground breaking artist for me. I learned of his work in freshman year college, and have followed his career since. His use of interlocking segments and phasing techniques have always been a point of fascination for me.

5. Edgard Varese
His work is Promethian - expressive, challenging, uncompromising. Often I find myself going to his pond for refreshment in composition.

6. John Cage
I find his music less interesting to listen to, but his processes of composition vital and useful to this day. Also, his ideas about music, art, and society, and his intensely left wing political stance, have always been an inspiration to me. His interst in zen buddhism got me interested in zen buddhism, and I dare say that without that influence, I wold not be alive today. I met him once, and I cherish that memory.

7. Roland Kayn
His sound textures are as interesting as his processes of composition. Very difficult listening, but worthwhile. I am still finding myself looking at the contrasts in his work, and then using that kind of listening in developing my own work.

8. :zoviet*france:
especially the work of Robin Storey in zf. Their textures, their intense creativity, their imagination and power - I am still in awe of their work. Storey et al are truly heroes of mine. I listen to their work often (including Rapoon and the other offshoots) and I am always ALWAYS impressed and inspired.

9. Jeff Greinke
His record Cities in Fog ranks with Eno's Music for Airports, Music for Films, and The Pearl as one of the greatest works in Ambient Music, ever. His other works are also of great value to me, and I think he is one of the more under-rated composers of our time (along with Tom Dimuzio, GX, Robert Rich, Nux Vomica, and several others) I've emailed him a few times, and he seems like a really nice person as well.

10. Johann Sebastian Bach
Simply one of the greatest composers who ever walked the earth. Period.

11. Claude Debussey
To me, Debussey is like Bach, only much more listenable. His piano works are a continuing inspiration to me.

12. The Sacred Harp Hymnal
The sacred harp hymnal is hard to describe. The music in it is so pure it's scary. That the content is deeply religious, and of a fundamentalist bent that I find repulsive, is not that critical - it's the combination of the purity and sincerity of the work and its compositional strctures and harmonies that make it important.

13. Gregorian Chant
Where it all began for me.

14. Wendy Carlos
Not only was she a pioneer of electronic music synthesis, she composed "Sonic Seasonings" which was "Ambient" music years before anyone even bothered thinking about it. Her career has been an inspiration to me.

15. Pierre Henry
Challenging, intense, musique concrete. A long time influence, with Luc Ferrari, Edgard Varese, and others in that genre.

16. Severed Heads
While the mid period works were decidedly "pop music" the earlier works were as noisy and challenging as anything at the time. The later works of Severed Heads were also very much involved with popular music tropes, but not quite to the same extent as the mid period works. I find all of it interesting and valuable. Tom Ellard is a friend of mine and I appreciate his work very much.

But: what movies matter to me?

OK - here's a list (in no particular order) of some of my favourite "Movies" and the director.

1. Nostalghia, by Tarkovsky
2. The Stalker, by Tarkovsky
3. Koyaanisqatsi by DiReggio and Fricke
4. Baraka by Fricke
5. Burn! by Pontocorvo
6. Metropolis by Lang
7. Weekend by Goddard
8. San Soleil by Marker
9. La Jettee by Marker
10. Viridiana by Bunuel
11. Wings of Desire by Wenders
12. Aguirre, Wrath of God by Herzog
13. Bladerunner by Scott
14. Brazil by Gilliam

Hmmm. Pretty grim viewing there.

My favourite Comedies, again in no particular order:

1. Monty Python's "In Search of the Holy Grail"
2. Starstruck by Armstrong
3. A Fish Called Wanda by Crichton
4. Spinal Tap by Guest
5. Beetlejuice by Burton
6. Mars Attacks by Burton
7. Smile by Kramer
8. Bedazzled by Donen
9. The Ruling Class by Medak
10. How to Get A Head in Advertising by Robinson
11. Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Heckerling
12. Slacker by Linklater

Those are some good movies. There are many more that I really like - just as much as any of the ones I listed above. But I don't have all day to write this...