I’m Ben McAllister, a composer and guitarist based in Seattle. I’ve played with a string of boundary-pushing groups including Medicine Hat, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Wizard Prison, C’mon C’mon and Tuktu. I co-host the Articulations podcast w/Joshua Kohl. I’m the founder of the Guitar Cult, my current focus, a 7-piece electric guitar group interpreting my pieces. I’m an obsessive journaler and recordist, and have contributed to somewhere north of 30 releases to date, including my Karl-Ove-Knausgård-inspired My Sounds sound journal series, released through Bandcamp.
I am so happy and humbled to be part of the Wayward In Limbo series, right as we’re getting back out of our caves. Thank you all for sharing. Like a lot of us, Covid focus time has healed me in surprising ways, helped me focus my signal where I want it to go, and reminded me of the kind of life I want to live. These pieces are all explorations with guitar sound from this last immersive year – some guitar trios, some explorations w/Paul Vo’s Wond (a variation on the E-bow), and a piece of software I’ve been working on for years which I’ve named the Circular 4-track. I love playing my guitar. RIP EVH.
- Call (0:00)
- Index Study – Pulses (2:05)
- Bach BMV 358 (2:34)
- Index Study – Respiration (5:05)
- Carmina Chromatico (Orlando DiLasso, from Prophetiae Sibyllarum) (7:06)
- Index Study – What happens when the beat drops (9:38)
- Land Bridge Approach (11:08)
- Piano Smells Ok (18:27)
- The Rock (22:05)
- Ascending Injected (26:27)
- Mandala Drafts (35:29)
More detail is available here.
With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.