Todd Barton - Start From Silence

Published on Nov 22, 2019 Todd Barton

https://nathanmoody.bandcamp.com/album/start-from-silence

"I'm so excited that this album is now out! Last month I met Nathan Moody in person for the first time. He dropped by my place on his way to do a talk and performance at Velocity in Seattle. After just a few hours together my friend, Bruce Bayard came by and we three decided to jam. Nathan had a cool field recorder that he setup and recorded us all in the room. The jam turned out to be sonic serendipity, a rare conjunction of modular planets. I hope you enjoy it . . .

Todd Barton: Hordijk Blippoo Box, looper, shakuhachi flute samples
Bruce Bayard: Buchla Music Easel, Morphagene sampler
Nathan Moody: Ciat Lonbarde Tetrax Organ, Sidrax Organ, and Cocoquantus; Make Noise Ø-Coast

Recorded by Nathan Moody on October 1, 2019.
Mixed by the performers.
Mastered by Nathan Moody at Obsidian Sound.
Album artwork by Bruce Bayard.

Oh, and consider joining my Patreon to help support more tutorials et al. https://www.patreon.com/synthtodd"

"Recorded live in Ashland, Oregon, “Start from Silence” captures three masters of West Coast analogue synthesis performing with a focus on reciprocal listening and improvised expression.

Todd Barton, Bruce Bayard, and Nathan Moody combine a unique set of unusual instruments into a journey in tone, gesture, and sound. The aural dynamics were made in response only to the sounds, breaths, and movements of each performer. The music ranges from ambient to intense, gliding from amorphous to structured with bubbling streams of energy and contemplative drones that guide the listener throughout. The recording purposefully contains the artists’ breaths and movements, lending verisimilitude, presence, and authenticity to this organic performance.

The artists hadn’t played together before this recording, making the emergent soundscapes and sonic exploration all the more stunning…yet perhaps unsurprising, given the their combined 70+ years of composition and performing experience.

released November 22, 2019

CLICK FOR MORE »

Quadraphonic: Space as Metaphor - Final Perfomances with Bruce Bayard, Todd Barton & Jason Loeffler

Photos by Brian Comnes

Pictured: Bruce Bayard, Todd Barton [with a MATRIXSYNTH T-shirt!] & Jason Loeffler

Below are the final performances for the "Quadraphonic: Space as Metaphor" concert series featuring Bruce Bayard, Todd Barton & Jason Loeffler all on the Buchla Music Easel. You'll find videos along with SoundCloud embeds for each performance. The concert was part of a series at the Schneider Museum of Art that began back on August 1st.  You'll find some previous posts mentioning the series here on MATRIXSYNTH.

You can find more of Jason's work on his fadingempire SoundCloud page, Bruce on his official website featuring his digital art and video, and of course Todd Barton on his official site here.

Bayard Published on Dec 8, 2014 Todd Barton

"Bruce Bayard, on the Buchla Music Easel, begins a free improvisation for the Quradraphonic: Space as Metaphor concert series, December 5, 2014

toddbarton.com/2014/11/quadrapho…ffler-d­ecember-5/
other members of the ensemble: Todd Barton and Jason Loeffler
audio only: https://soundcloud.com/user7621213/ba..."




Barton Published on Dec 8, 2014

"Todd Barton, on the Buchla Music Easel, begins a free improvisation for the Quradraphonic: Space as Metaphor concert series, December 5, 2014"




Loeffler Published on Dec 8, 2014 Todd Barton

"Jason Loeffler, with his Eurorack system, begins a free improvisation for the Quradraphonic: Space as Metaphor concert series, December 5, 2014"

HAINBACH / TODD BARTON - Ultraviolet Light Tapes & Upcoming Todd Barton Performances

HAINBACH / TODD BARTON from Ultraviolet Light Tapes on Vimeo.

Upcoming performances by Todd Barton futher below. The following is the description for the video above.

"Both pieces are composed/improvised in real time using a Buchla Music Easel

and a TC Electronic Ditto x4 looper. Angya is a journey that follows sounds as they

unfold into various sonic universes. Texture III explores creating an ever-changing

timbral drone."- Todd Barton

'Its a clichè that every composer travelling to Bali must be influenced by the Gamelan orchestra. I am not the exception. There is a magic to the Gamelan that conforms with what electronic music is to me, both in sound and composition. Using Adam Morford's cut down version of the Gamelan, the rough but beautiful Gamelan Strips, I composed the first piece of this collaborative album. The second uses modular synthesizers to mimic the layering techniques of the Gamelan. The final track, Antics, explores a different but similarly influential idiophone, the African mbira. Together, these three tell a story of immersion and disintegration, folding percussive sounds into ambient timbres.' - Hainbach

3 color Risograph. Hand labeled edition of 150 tapes. Download cards included.

www.ultravioletlight.blue

------------


"Here's the upcoming line up locally and out of state:

March 23 (Saturday)--Todd Barton & Bruce Bayard as Control Voltage Therapy with be performing the opening set for
Geist and the Sacred Ensemble coming through town on their West Coast tour.
Time: 8pm Where: Ashland Community Center, 59 Winburn Way in Ashland, Oregon
More info: http://www.geistandthesacredensemble.com/

April 12 (Friday), Control Voltage Therapy will join Caballito Negro (Tessa Brinckman and Terry Longshore)
Caballito Negro presents selections from their acclaimed program, Alone | Together, as part of the Ashland Independent Film Festival. The concert is an intimate tribute to futurist speculations, with science as play, in collaboration with electronic musicians Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard. The performance will take place in front of Bruce Bayard’s projected installation, Triptychs.

As a duo Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard create improvised soundscapes with electronic music instruments to accompany Bruce’s video projections. The projection, Triptychs, uses the tools (code) commonly associated with web pages, to create complex, ever changing, never repeating collage of images, animations and video.

Time: 7pm Where: Schneider Museum on the campus of SOU.

April 18 (Thursday), I will give a solo Buchla Music Easel improvised set as part of a concert at CREATE on the campus of UCSB. CREATE is the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology.

Time: 8pm Where: Lotte Lehman Concert Hall

more info: http://www.create.ucsb.edu/events/

New Cassette Release: a split album with Hainbach. More information and purchase here:

https://www.ultravioletlight.blue/product/hainbach-todd-barton

All best wishes,

Todd"

Cascadia at the Dancespace Featuring Bruce Bayard, Todd Barton and Sean Julian

(Don't miss the new release announcement below!)

For those of you in the Pacific Northwest:

"Saturday, November 23, 7:30pm

The Dancespace, 280 East Hersey #10, Ashland Oregon

Bruce Bayard’s multimedia performance features guest artists Todd Barton and Sean Julian. An audio soundtrack will be improvised by the three of us, each on the Buchla Electronic Music Easel. The visual projection is a collage of video clips, stills, words and animations.

Tickets and more information here"

---

Also Todd Barton has a new release coming out this Friday. This one is a collaboration with Bruce Bayard, and Nathan Moody.

"Announcing sStart from Silence,' a live improvised collaboration album by Todd Barton, Bruce Bayard, and Nathan Moody. Out this Friday! https://nathanmoody.bandcamp.com

Transmissions I Concert with Todd Barton, Bruce Bayard & Darrell Bluhm this Saturday, April 18

"Ashland, OR — Studio A.B presents Transmissions I, a multimedia concert by the performing art ensemble of Todd Barton, Bruce Bayard and Darrell Bluhm, with poetry by Jonah Bornstein as recorded by Christine Williams. The performance takes place Saturday, April 18, 8pm at the DanceSpace located at 280 East Hersey in Ashland. Tickets are $10 and there is limited seating.

The performance is a continuation and expansion on a series of improvised concerts, creating a sound and image collage in the moment. For this performance, sound and visual artist Bayard along with sound artist Barton are joined by martial artist Darrell Bluhm to explore the interpenetration and transmission of sound, image and movement. These three artists build an abstract narrative, live, using movement, voice, words, sound, and video.

Where: The DanceSpace 280 East Hersey, Ashland

When: Saturday April 18, 2015 8pm

For tickets and information, call Bruce Bayard at Studio A.B: 541-482-2253 or visit babayard.com/tickets."

The performance will feature two Buchla Music Easels and an EVI.

Todd Barton to Perform on Buchla Music Easel with Bruce Bayard at Britt Festival, Jacksonville OR

Update: corrected the date from Friday, July 18 to Friday, July 17. Also this is in Jacksonville, not Medford.

MATRIXSYNTH Member, Todd Barton will be performing on the Buchla Music Easel with Bruce Bayard Friday, July 17, at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville Oregon.

"I'm really, really looking forward to performing with Bruce Bayard at the Britt Festival's
Performance Garden on Friday, July 17 at 8 pm.

Bruce and I have been exploring Buchla analog Music Easelss and quadraphonic surround sound now for over a year and this proves to be an exciting culmination of quadraphonic performances in this wonderful outdoor venue.

Hope you can make it!! Tickets (only $10) available here: http://www.brittfest.org/performances/quadraphonic

Come on down and enjoy new electronic music with Bruce and I along with some amazing video collages by Bruce.

all best wishes,
Todd"

3 Buchla Music Easels Live - Todd Barton, Bruce Bayard & Eden Mononym

via Todd Barton:

"Bruce Bayard and I continue our first Friday concert series exploring quadraphonic sound and improvised electronic music at the Schneider Museum of Art on the SOU campus Friday, September 5 at 11 a.m.

We are really excited to be joined this month my special guest, Eden Mononym a deeply expressive and compelling composer/synthesist. All three of us will be performing on Buchla Music Easels

Here is more information on the series:

Quadraphonic: Space as Metaphor

Beginning Friday, August 1, Bruce Bayard and I will be performing as the duet Control Voltage Therapy, presenting a series of concerts every First Friday at the Schneider Museum of Art. Featuring two Buchla Easel electronic music instruments, and a quadraphonic sound system, we'll be exploring Space as Metaphor. The concerts are every First Friday, August through December beginning at 11am. Some months will have special guests to be announced. The performances are free and open to the public. Performances begin at 11 a.m.

The Schneider Museum of Art is located on the Southern Oregon University campus.
1250 Siskiyou Blvd Ashland, OR 97520
(corner of Siskiyou and Indiana)

for Control Voltage Therapy audio tracks: https://soundcloud.com/user7621213/sets/control-voltage-therapy

see also Bruce's site: http://brucebayard.com/"

Todd Barton Night in the Cyber Forest & Upcoming Concert Series

"self-generating Buchla Easel patch with special original program card patching. . ."

And a note from Todd on his upcoming concert series with Bruce Bayard:

"Dear Friends,

I'm really excited to announce this upcoming concert series. Bruce Bayard and I have been exploring quadraphonic sound and are really eager to share our sonic explorations with you! Here is more information:

Quadraphonic: Space as Metaphor

Beginning Friday, August 1, Bruce Bayard and I will be performing as the duet Control Voltage Therapy, presenting a series of concerts every First Friday at the Schneider Museum of Art. Featuring two Buchla Easel electronic music instruments, and a quadraphonic sound system, we'll be exploring “Space as Metaphor.” The concerts are every First Friday, August through December beginning at 11am. Some months will have special guests to be announced. The performances are free and open to the public. Performances begin at 11 a.m.

The Schneider Museum of Art is located on the Southern Oregon University campus.
1250 Siskiyou Blvd Ashland, OR 97520
(corner of Siskiyou and Indiana)

for Control Voltage Therapy audio tracks

see also Bruce's site: http://brucebayard.com/

All best wishes,

Todd"

Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard Added to Don Buchla Memorial Concerts

via Todd Barton:

"I'm thrilled to announce that my pal, Bruce Bayard and I will be performing at the mega Don Buchla Memorial Concerts this coming weekend in San Francisco on Sunday, April 23 some time between 4:30-6pm.

The venue is the Gray Area Foundation for the Art at 2665 Mission St. San Francisco, CA

Ticket information and list of headliner performers (Morton Subotnick, Alessandro Cortini, Curtis Roads, Suzane Ciani and lots more) can be found here"

You can find additional details on the event including the line-up previously posted here.

Click here for posts featuring Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard's work.

Spatial Frontiers: Quadraphonic Concert Featuring Three Buchla Music Easels This Friday

via Todd Barton:

"Spatial Frontiers: Quadraphonic Concert

Noon, Friday, April 24, 2015
Schneider Museum of Art
With special guest Eden Mononym

The next performance is Friday, April 24, noon at the Schneider Museum of Art on the campus of Southern Oregon University. Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard are joined by Eden Mononym and all three perform on the Buchla Music Easel. The performance begins at Noon and is free and open to the public.

The series continues the exploration of space as a compositional tool, this time, expanding the quadraphonic sound into all four galleries of the Museum. For this performance, in addition to the Buchla Easel: Electric Music Box, Todd adds the Japanese Sho to the ensemble, to continue the investigation of acoustic instruments in the mix.

Eden Mononym is a local sound artist, working for Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments. He began tape splicing at the age of 10, essentially planting the seeds for a self taught journey. Exploring various techniques from modular electronics, computers, live coding, acoustics, to the avant-garde. Eden is always searching for an electro-organic sound, with a focus on expression based approaches.

Todd Barton is former Director of Composition Studies for the Music Department at Southern Oregon University and Resident Composer Emeritus for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Todd is currently Consulting Artist for Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments. After four decades of exploration, Barton is still delving deeply into the ever-expanding frontiers of musical expression: from his DNA derived Genome Music to innovative scores for plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; from performances of Zen Shakuhachi Meditation Music to avant-garde music for electronic synthesizers and computers; from performing with luminaries of jazz and poetry to lecturing on music and composition from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century.

Bruce Bayard began oil painting at age 9, and although briefly attended the University of New Mexico, is largely self-taught. He has worked in various media and techniques including oil, acrylic, casein, collage, lithography, etching, screen printing, pencil, crayon, encaustic and assemblage.

In 2000, Bayard began an exploration into digital technology as a means of creating art, producing archival pigment prints. During the last couple years, he has been exploring performance and multimedia improvisation with an ensemble that combines sound, voice, dance, poetry and video collage.

all best wishes,
Todd"

Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard Buchla Music Easel Pics

Update: audio of the performance added above.

"Here's today's live recording of our Spatial Frontiers gig at the Schneider Museum of Art
at the SOU Campus. With a rippin' (maiden voyage) Easel solo by Bruce Bayard.
I Waterphone solo (barton)
II Easel Solo (bayard)
III Easel Duet
IV Shakuhachi solo (barton)
V Easel Duet"

Some pics in via brian comnes at their Schneider Museum Quadraphonic Concert in Orgegon this afternoon.

http://toddbarton.com

Update: two more pics of the performance including one with Todd on the waterphone in via brian comnes below.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard Live with Dual Buchla Easels First Fridays Aug - Dec

"Beginning Friday, August 1, Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard, performing as the duet Control Voltage Therapy, present a series of concerts every First Friday at the Schneider Museum of Art. Featuring two Buchla Easel electronic music instruments, and a quadraphonic sound system, Barton and Bayard explore "Space as Metaphor." The concerts are every First Friday, August through December beginning at 11am. Some months will have special guests to be announced. The performances are free and open to the public."

Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard as Control Voltage Therapy Coming to Schneider Museum of Art

Noon, Friday, February 27, 2015
Schneider Museum of Art
free of charge

Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard performing as the duet, Control Voltage Therapy, begin another concert series at the Schneider Museum of Art. The series continues their exploration of space as a compositional tool, this time, expanding the quadraphonic sound into all four galleries of the Museum. Besides the Buchla Easel: Electric Music Box, Barton and Bayard will be exploring other acoustic instruments beginning this Friday with the waterphone.

The Schneider Museum of Art is located on the campus of Southern Oregon University. The performance is free and open to the public. Future concerts include guest appearances by Eden Mononym and Michael Vannice.

Control Voltage Therapy tracks can be heard here (embed below).

A Few Updates from Todd Barton - New Releases, Collaborations, & Performances

A few synth related updates from supporting MATRIXSYNTH member, Todd Barton:

Hi Friends,

Things keep being busy around here!

"Pre-order this upcoming cassette release of various composers (including me) exploring and moving beyond
my Krell patch."

My recent solo Buchla Music Easel album with the CD cover artwork by Ursula Barton. Download available now. Pre-order the CD here.

I'm delighted to have a couple of pages in this amazing new book which will be out in October. Check it out. It is unique and full of great information, interview, photos and beautifully opens the re-emerging world of modular synthesis to a wider audience. Patch & Tweak, Exploring Modular Synthesis

All best wishes,
Todd


Also: "Just a brief reminder of two upcoming concerts:

Saturday, September 8 at 7:30 pm at the DanceSpace in Ashland I'll be performing freely improvised electronic music with Bruce Bayard. Bruce's video of abstract figures filmed at SF MOMA is not to be missed. Tickets and more information here.

Friday, September 14 from 7:30-10:30 pm at the Butler Bandshell in Lithia Park
Silent Movement presents The Silent Discovery Series with Control Voltage Therapy:
Todd Barton & Bruce Bayard improvising on Buchla Music Easels with visuals by Michael Maag. You've got to see/hear this!! Opening live looping by Landen Griffith.
$5 donation - all ages.

The audio portion will be broadcast with the technical wizardry of Jordan Rose and Landen Griffith (organizers of The Silent Disco) sending separate and mixed channels of our musical improvisations to special wifi headsets (available at the Park), with video mapping on the bandshell by Michael Maag, resident lighting designer at OSF. You will be able to hear Todd in one channel, Bruce in another, and a mix of both in the third channel, with the ability to switch to any mode at any time and wander around and move! A truly unique concert experience.

Stay tuned for my next Notes from Todd with more album release dates and October tour dates in NYC, Krakow and London!"

Multum in Parvo by Todd Barton & Upcoming Performances

via Todd Barton: "My new solo Buchla Easel album is now available for streaming with the opportunity to pre-order the CD or cassette. I'm stoked about the awesome cover art by Ursula Barton! Check it out here.

Saturday, September 8 at 7:30 pm at the DanceSpace in Ashland I'll be performing freely improvised electronic music with Bruce Bayard and improvised vocals by Kay Hilton. Bruce's video of abstract figures filmed at SF MOMA is not to be missed. Tickets and more information here: http://brucebayard.com/event/tone-blur/

Friday, September 14 from 7:30-10:30 pm at the Butler Bandshell in Lithia Park Silent Movement presents The Silent Discovery Series with Control Voltage Therapy: Todd Barton & Bruce Bayard improvising on Buchla Music Easels with visuals by Michael Maag. You've got to see/hear this!! Opening live looping by Landen Griffith. $5 donation - all ages.

The audio portion will be broadcast with the technical wizardry of Jordan Rose and Landen Griffith (organizers of The Silent Disco) sending separate and mixed channels of our musical improvisations to special wifi headsets (available at the Park), with video mapping on the bandshell by Michael Maag, resident lighting designer at OSF. You will be able to hear Todd in one channel, Bruce in another, and a mix of both in the third channel, with the ability to switch to any mode at any time and wander around and move! A truly unique concert experience.

Stay tuned for my next Notes from Todd with more album release dates and October tour dates in NYC, Krakow and London! All best wishes, Todd"

Todd Barton Transmissions II at The Dance Space in Ashland, OR

"Saturday, October 17 8pm.

 Studio A.B and Control Voltage Therapy present an evening of multimedia / interdisciplinary performance by Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard, with special guests Lawson Inada, Damon Honeycutt, and Christine Williams. Buchla Music Easels, video projections, movement, poetry, and voice come together in a creative melting pot. Each artist brings their own responses to a single abstract concept, that of the conveyance of ideas and information. They then create the evening's performance in the moment without rehearsal or prepared script beyond general agreement of sections relating to emphasis on word, movement, imagery or all at once. The collaboration produces an intriguing, surprising concordance.

Left to right: Todd Barton, Bruce Bayard, Damon Honeycutt, Lawson Indada, Christine Williams.

Lawson served as Poet Laureate of Oregon and has won numerous book awards including the Oregon Book Award, and the American Book award. Damon is currently pursuing an MFA in Music Composition at The Vermont College of Fine Arts. He has traveled extensively worldwide and has preformed with Pilobolus Dance Company. Christine is a classically trained singer and actor, and has performed at Barbican Centre in London, the Growtowski Institute in Poland, and eight seasons at OSF. She is currently developing her own form of solo music theatre. Todd was composer at Oregon Shakespeare Festival for over forty years and is now creative consultant to Buchla Electronic Music Instruments. Bruce is a self-taught visual artist and video designer. Together, Todd and Bruce form the music performance duo Control Voltage Therapy.

tickets $15 general / $10 seniors + students
online brucebayard.com/tickets
outlet Studio A.B 621 A Street Ashland
 info 541-482-2253

Seating for this performance is limited and advance tickets are recommended.
A very special thank you to Medford Fabrication for sponsorship of this event."

For more information and tickets go to: http://brucebayard.com/2015/09/transmissions-ii-at-the-dancespace/

Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard

Published on May 30, 2014 Mail Tribune·919 videos

"Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard present an improvisational electro-acoustic response to the installation Flood Control by Avantika Bawa at Noon on Friday, May 30."

Also see: Elegies Soundtrack by Todd Barton Featuring Buchla & Omnisphere

Update: Some additional info via Todd: "Just came across this short clip from yesterday's concert at the Schneider Museum of Art on the campus of Southern Oregon University. I'm playing waterphone and BEMI Music Easel Bruce is playing amplified/effected cello and a Buchla 208r."

Elegies Soundtrack by Todd Barton Featuring Buchla & Omnisphere

ELEGIES from Bruce Bayard on Vimeo.

"In collaboration with Todd Barton, music; Suzee Grilley, dance; Jonah Bornstein, poetry; and Christine Williams, vocals and Bruce Bayard, video, visual effects and editing. See more of Bruce's work here: brucebayard.com/ and Todd's work here: toddbarton.com/"



via Todd Barton: "Here's a soundtrack that uses a lot of BEMI Easel and 208r plus a few samples and a bit of Omnishpere. Oh, and, of course, some stunning vocals and words. best wishes, Todd"

Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard Easel Duet at Schneider Museum, SOU Ashaland

Pic in via Brian Comnes

"Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard Easel Duet at Schneider Museum, SOU Ashaland. Bruce's Easel is actually a Russian Clone [I'm guessing it is a Roman Filippov Easel clone]. And the bigger Buchla to the right of Todd was used mostly for spatial movement in a quadrophonic set up. They will do this every month here for the next few months."

The performances happen the first Friday of the month. You'll find details posted here.

Todd Barton Pulses Buchla Nomad Release

Published on Jun 5, 2020 Todd Barton

"June 5, 2020 my new 7" 45 rpm single of Buchla goodness via my Bandcamp https://toddbarton.bandcamp.com
Deep gratitude to my patrons at https://www.patreon.com/synthtodd
for their ongoing support, enthusiasm, curiosity and creativity!!
Mastering by Nathan Moody at Obsidian Sound http://obsidiansound.net
Jacket design by Bruce Bayard https://brucebayard.com
And endless thanks to producer/visionary Greg Christie
Best wishes, Todd"

Two of my favorite contrasting tracks using the Buchla Music Easel, Buchla 200e, Buchla 100 and the Haken Continuum. The high energy of Pulses is contrasted with the ambient/world music vibe of Buchla Nomad.

released June 5, 2020

executive producer Greg Christie
mastering Nathan Moody at Obsidian Sound
jacket design Bruce Bayard