I failed to post this here a few months ago, but here is a very short film I made with my Thad Curious partner, Ryan Epp:

So this week I've become a little bit obsessed with playing a 140 year-old banjo through my 3 year-old computer. I'm working to develop an electroacoustic improvising platform that I can apply more broadly. It's still in its formative stages, but I'm pretty excited about it.

While I don't actually play banjo, exactly, I'm finding that using it in my explorations of developing a computer instrument is really useful. I plan to eventually use this interface for performing on bass, but removing that element and all of my precepts that go along with it have freed me to be more open to experimentation. 

Also, the banjo is smaller, which is nice sometimes.

Dietrich Gosser has released his new 7 inch, Somewhere in the Night/When Morning Comes this week!  We recorded these tracks last summer in his house, and it was a great time.  I'm really proud to be a part of these songs.  This also marks my first recorded work being pressed on vinyl, which is exciting for me.

Check out these songs on Bandcamp. (Listen for the distorted bass noise 'guitar solo' on When Morning Comes!)

Sympathy Swimmers has a couple of performances lined up in March! I'm looking forward to performing with this group again.

Eric Sheffield; guitar, electronics
Anna Weisling; live video
Jeff Herriott; electronics
Ben Willis; bass

March 16th, 2012: Canterbury House, Ann Arbor, MI, 8:00p
March 17th, 2012: UM Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, MI, EMM Festival


Here's Anna, Eric, and me performing our piece, exit crafting:

It's my last week in Madison, WI before I head off towards elsewhere, and it's a pretty effective one. I just spent the last two days in the studio laying down tracks for Dietrich Gosser's new album project. His tunes are really fantastic, and playing with him and the great percussionist Dan Kuemmel on this project has been a blast. We've been playing as a trio at Mickey's Tavern throughout July in order to get used to playing together. Dietrich and Dan have a really great language with each other--as results from playing together for 13 years--so it was both fun and intimidating to jump into the mix. We layed down about 11 songs in 2 days. I'm really excited to hear what becomes of these recordings as they continue to develop them over the next few months. Jeremiah Nelson, another great musician and songwriter, is helping with production. We recorded at DNA Music Labs in Madison, a studio that I hadn't worked with before, and working with Brian Daly was a great experience.

The next thing on my docket this week is our Watercourse Quartet show with Thollem McDonas tomorrow. Seeing Thollem play when he came through Madison this spring was incredible, so sharing the bill with him this time around is a superlative honor.

My final show/going away party is on Saturday at the Project Lodge with Lovely Socialite. The Project Lodge is a fitting venue for my departure. I've certainly performed there more than anywhere over the last couple of years, and the future of the venue this fall is just as unsure as my own. My good friend Tom Teslik is also playing his last show before leaving town for a few months on tour, so it's even more cause to celebrate. We'll also be joined by the talented electronic artist Chants.


Oh yeah! And the new Bell Monks album is out TODAY! I'll be at the Dragonfly Lounge tonight for their release party! (You can hear me playing some bass on a few tracks...)

Not sure when I'm going to pack.

So sometimes, a shakuhachi master sits in with your band, and he tears it up. And then you find out after the show that he's the bass player for the Violent Femmes. This happens to everybody, right?

Many thanks to Brian Ritchie for rocking out with us last night! 

The last Lovely Socialite show in Madison (for a few months) is next Saturday, August 11th at the Project Lodge.

I am very thrilled for the show this upcoming Thursday. I will be performing as a trio with two impeccable musicians in a completely new ensemble. Amanda Schoofs is a vocalist and composer from Milwaukee who does some really cool things, and Devin Drobka is a drummer based in NYC whose work with Sons of Daughters I have admired for a long time. We will be performing as Soft Alarm. We've never played together! This is what makes music exciting.

And what's the first step in making a new band? Band t-shirts! Forsooth, there's a possibility there will be some Soft Alarm shirts for sale at this show. I've put together a design:

Also playing at this show will be the debut of another brand new project, a collaboration between my Weather Duo partner in crime, Pat Reinholz, and our good friend, ambient musician John Praw. They are calling their project Nude Human, and I'm really looking forward to what they come up with.

My time in Madison is running out! I will be moving to Ann Arbor, MI, this fall, to start graduate school. While I'm excited for the change, there are certainly a lot of people and projects in Madison that I will miss. This also means that I'll be cramming as much work into this summer as possible! 

I'm still reeling from the incredible success of the Lost City Music Festival this past weekend. Mine All Mine Records did an impeccable job of throwing this inaugural festival, and raised a bunch of money for local music charities. I'm very excited to see what they do with it next year. I performed five times at the Festival, and also managed to catch many other bands performing at the various venues.

Here I am with Lovely Socialite at the Project Lodge:

Here are the performances I have lined up for the rest of the summer (more to come):

Tuesdays through July: I'm joining Dietrich Gosser and Dan Kuemmel at Mickey's Tavern throughout July. We're working on getting comfortable as a trio this month, in preparation to do some recordings of Dietrich's songs in early August. My first hit with them was last night, and I had a blast! Excited to see how that develops. Music is free, and starts at 10:30 PM.

July 17th: Siblings, my duo with Page Foster, will be joining Dietrich at Mickey's. 10:30pm

July 20th: Anna Vogelzang at the Project Lodge 7:30pm

July 25th: Weather Duo performs at Project Lodge with Five Dollar Ferrari! and Amanda Schoofs. 7:30pm

August 1st: Lovely Socialite plays the Memorial Union Terrace, sharing the bill with Control, 8pm

August 2nd: Soft Alarm, my new trio with Amanda Schoofs and Devin Drobka, will be debuting at the Project Lodge

Glacier has just released our first album, MONOLITHIC. We've been sitting on these recordings for a long time--actually, it's the recording of our very first performance, from May of last year--and have just now decided to release them. We feel that we've continued to develop as a band, but we're still proud of these recordings and want to share them with you people. Plus, we have whole pile of recordings we've made since, so we needed to get these out there so we can start working on the next thing.

A nice video was taken at our release show on Saturday:

Available online now! Free download. 

A limited number of physical copies will be available soon, also.