alfred brown profile picture

alfred brown

About Me

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my name is fred. i write music for both traditional and nontraditional instruments as well as make unperformable recordings. in my recordings i use almost exclusively found sounds and manipulate them to suit my needs. isolate it, reverse it, cut it, paste it, rearrange it, distort it, mix it, pan it, layer it, loop it, combine it, time stretch it, resample it, turn it into a MIDI patch and play it, etc. i don't approach my composition with a diatonic structure or a resultant form in mind, but rather compose how i hear. in blocks of sound structures placed next to and on top of eachother. there is no longer melody or rhythm to speak of that defines form or shape except for those that contribute to an overall texture. a general and presiding aesthetic concept that defines its own tonality determines the stucture and form of each piece on an individual basis. there is an isolating of musical events, much like freezing time, or slowing it to a crawl. real time occurs, but as the exception to the rule. added to that, there are ussually constant rubatos not of passages in the traditional sense, but of fragments of the piece as a whole. in short, i try to explore the infinity that somehow clothes itself within every finite instant of a musical ( or nonmusical ) event. but i also am cautious of the possibility of a purely pedantic approach to composition that results in a dead, emotionless work of music. MUSIC IS NOT MATH. i passionately pour into my music hope, awe, fear, grief, joy, gladful submission, excitement, gentleness, sincerity, love, and wonder. it is my wish that this would be comunicated through the overall pensive and melancholy sound, which i believe is the result of the combination of all these. just listen.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 14/08/2006
Band Website: http://www.ourstage.com/profile/alfredbrown
Influences: György Ligeti, Björk Guðmundsdóttir, Anton Webern, Luigi Russolo, Radiohead, Soul Junk, David Stith, Shara Worden, Béla Bartók, Portishead, Ellen Fullman, Eliot Carter, Joshua Ballard, Edgard Varèse, Nikola Tesla, Pierre Boulez, Autechre, Squarepusher, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, Federico Durand, Boris Snauwaert, Aphex Twin, Add N to (X), Krzysztof Penderecki, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Cliff Martinez, Arvo Pärt, Fourtet, Phillip Glass, John Valenti, The Birthday Party (not Nick Cave's Birthday Party), Dan Deacon, Universes (the-yet-to-be), John Cage, Steve Reich, Morton Subotnick, Jack Foley, Mark Hijleh, Emanuel Kant, everyone over at Sine Fiction, et al.
Record Label: starving composer seeks patron.

My Blog

May 9th Show - Different Location

Show has been moved from Sugar City to Soundlab - 110 Pearl St in Buffalo.  Still on the same night, doors at 8pm.
Posted by on Wed, 06 May 2009 10:12:00 GMT

Yes, I blog now.

Find future updates here:alfredbrown.blogspot.com
Posted by on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:44:00 GMT

Performance in Buffalo this Friday

Come one, come all, to a free performance by Math Cozy; the love-child of John Valenti and me. We will be keeping it real at Merge, a new restaurant in Buffalo near the Allentown area - 439 Delaware ...
Posted by on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:08:00 GMT

Performance Tonight

Greetings, all. Just a reminder that if anyone is in the Buffalo, NY area and wants to treat themselves to an evening of good music, I'm performing along with Novelist and Capillary Action tonight at...
Posted by on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:53:00 GMT

two new pieces in the player

1. Overture to "Fear of Exposure"        The opening track to Shark remixes Vol. 1.  The concept remix EP set from         My Brightest Diamond.2. Untitled        The wonderfully talented John Valenti...
Posted by on Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:36:00 GMT

Habitat Digitized

a couple weeks ago i announced the release of the asthmatic kitty charity album "HABITAT", a 2-disc, electronic compilation. well now it is also available through the itunes store for a measly $9.99....
Posted by on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:50:00 GMT

"Of Fear and Wonder (I Found a Universe)"

To hear "Of Fear and Wonder (I Found a Universe)", another track off of Shark Remixes Vol. 1, check out this short article on Pitchfork: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/146969-new-mu s...
Posted by on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:36:00 GMT

Shark Remixes Vol. 1

New song in the player! "In Vacuum" is a track off of Shark Remixes Vol. 1, the first of three remix EPs that reinterpret the songs of My Brightest Diamond's newest full length album A Thousand Shark...
Posted by on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:40:00 GMT

New Release, Y’all !

it's been under wraps for a while now, but i can finally let it out. some of you may remember when i did a remix for shara worden of my brightest diamond for the album "Tear It Down", a compilation o...
Posted by on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:51:00 GMT

driving trains makes people sad makes me happy

hey, all. head on over to haruki's page (see my top friendspace) to hear yet another creation sprung our collective conscious. this track also features mohammad dehparvar offering up some killer voc...
Posted by on Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:56:00 GMT