The Visionary Music of Michael Garfield profile picture

The Visionary Music of Michael Garfield

It's my job to recognize everything as sacred.

About Me


The Visionary Music of Michael Garfield
***Download My First Two Albums For Free***
I have an insatiable drive to innovate, to integrate depth and technique, to grab you and pull you with me into awe - a commitment to intelligent, evocative, forward-thinking music that forbids me from settling into a comfortable niche. Turning on a dime between dynamic, throbbing anthems, heart-spearing ballads, lightning instrumental etudes, and hypnotic loopscapes, my music is as daring and passionate as possible.
Highlights of my brief career include opening for Willy Porter, Stuart Davis, Tim Reynolds, Andreas Kapsalis Trio, My-Tea Kind, Guse, Scott Matthews, and Willow Pearson - as well as playing at the Wakarusa Festival, Dreamtime Festival, Frozen Dead Guy Days, and the Center for Integral Living in Miami.
You are welcome to download my first two albums for free . There's a Paypal donation button above my videos on this page, in case you're in a gifting mood, but the music's yours as much as it is mine. There is only one creative origin, so I can't honestly claim that these songs are my property.
I also have "Love Without End Tour" T-Shirts (my own design), available for $15:
The Visionary Art of Michael Garfield
***View My Full Portfolio***
As a live performance painter, I conjure vivid, organic images informed by my study of biology and evolutionary spirituality, science fiction and psychedelics. Each concert's subtle energies courses through a unique visual genome, resulting in a field guide to the strange creatures of our collective imagination - works a friend of mine described as "coral plugged into a car battery."
I've been painting since November 2007 and have already had the pleasure to work alongside Zilla, EOTO, Lotus, Bassnectar, Bonobo, Vibesquad, The Glitch Mob, Lynx, Alex Botwin of Pnuma, Elliot Lipp, BLVD, SoulEye, Breakbeat Buddha, Jantsen, Pretty Lights, EZKL, and GSP.
I sell prints, and love taking commissions and doing custom work, so don't hesitate to email me if you're interested.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/2/2005
Band Website: michaelgarfield.gaia.com
Influences: Music:
Peter Gabriel, Trent Reznor, That 1 Guy, Emmett Chapman, Rufus Wainwright, Ween, Muse, Elbow, Fiona Apple, Tool, Randy Collins, Kaki King, Cat Stevens, Bobby McFerrin, Ben Harper, Joanna Newsom, Zilla, The Album Leaf, J.S. Bach, Arvo Pärt, The Books, Four Tet, Ratatat, & Boards of Canada
Painting & Illustration:
Alex Grey, David Titterington, H.R. Giger, Kris D, Mars-1, Andrew Jones, Kris Kuksi, Alfons Mucha, Robert Bakker, Russell Hawley, William Stout, Ernst Haeckel, & Scott Draves
Sounds Like:

"Monstrously talented...an act the likes of which I have not seen in a long time."
- Willy Porter
All That’s Left Is Stars (13 March 2008)

"Watching your show the other day was a PROFOUND spiritual experience for me...a highlight of my musical experiences up till this point. Dude, you hit me on the deepest soul level."
- DJ Dreamcode
Spokes (13 March 2008)

"Astonishing...insane guitar talent."
- Smother Magazine

Bête Moiré (20 May 2007)

"Your music is divine...it sends me deep inside and high above and beyond my self. You are an inspiration to me."
- David Titterington
Autocatalysis (28 July 2006)

"I don’t even know where to begin. To me music is important, good music is great, and beautiful sound is more of a...’I-need-it-to-live’ category. I think yours fits in that last one."
- Marta (Mystery, Canada)

It Hurts So We’re Not Dead (28 July 2006)

"While I MEAN to give helpful, rational feedback, all I want to do is run around and throw copies of your CD at people, photograph their faces upon listening, and give THAT to you instead. The music makes me FEEL too strongly to be able to THINK about it enough to speak on it in a way that would be useful to you."
- Ruth Smith (Kansas City, MO, USA)

The Cartographers (28 July 2006)

"Your music melts me."
- Stephanie Gordon (Chicago, IL, USA)

Ride It (May 2005)

Type of Label: None

My Blog

RE: Songs in the Myspace Player

A lot of musicians refuse to comment on their own work, fearing that they will somehow fatally constrain their listeners' interpretations. I might be in a better place to discuss the meaning of this ...
Posted by The Visionary Music of Michael Garfield on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:53:00 PST

Favorite Quotes

Read them straight through; I've organized them in order to tell a story."Perspectives arise in emptiness: such is the beginning of sentient worlds."- Ken Wilber (Kosmos 2, C p25)"I don't know about ...
Posted by The Visionary Music of Michael Garfield on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:17:00 PST

What Is Integral Art?

(Reposted from my blog at Zaadz Visionary Music)multiple perspectivesAs a primer for my forthcoming interview with integral philosopher Ken Wilber - and because I like to consider myself an "integral ...
Posted by The Visionary Music of Michael Garfield on Mon, 16 Oct 2006 03:04:00 PST

The Dream Is Valid: A Benefit Album For Kiva.org

Buy "The Dream Is Valid" at Omstream.com"The problem is not desire. It's that your desires are too small."- Sri NisargadattaSo this is it. After almost a year in the making (but mostly in the waiting...
Posted by The Visionary Music of Michael Garfield on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:25:00 PST

The Boundless Interior

I have sinus trouble and probably won't ever be able to put my head more than a few feet under water without extreme pain. Sometimes it makes me feel like a cripple, but then I remember that the expa...
Posted by The Visionary Music of Michael Garfield on Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:12:00 PST