The KLRU show "Arts in Context"  just did a great documentary on Troublepuppet Theater Company and used my music thrtoughout the piece.  Big thanks to Lauren Burton and her crew.  Check it out!
http://www.klru.org/artsincontext/ 

 Happy holidays everyone.  Okkervil River just released a collection of cover songs for free download called Golden Opportunities 2.   We recorded them all in one  live session here in Austin.  I played keys on a few tracks and guitar on a few tracks.  Super fun to play, and they sound great.  Check them out at okkerviriver.com    

 I wrote, recorded, and mixed the music for White Road Dance Media's "North Country" which premiered in Brooklyn last spring.  They're bringing the show to Austin this month.  Go and see this fine dance performance at the George Washington Carver Cultural Center Thursday October 27 to Sunday October 30 at 8pm.  Download the music for free below.  This soundtrack features Michael St. Clair (horns), Lauren Gurgiolo (lap steel), Lindsay Greene (bass), and Gray Parsons (drums).      

North Country's Facebook Event Page 

"Music for Puppets" is a compilation of music produced for Troublepuppet Theater Company over the last three years.  These recordings include music from their adaptations of Frankenstein (Shelley), The Jungle (Sinclair) , and their newest show - Riddley Walker (Hoban).  "Music for Puppets" has been a labor of love and a way to bring together some of my favorite musicians together on a recording.  Here's a list of the wonderful people that contributed their time and talents to creating Troublepuppet's music:  

Lindsay Greene, Jason McKenzie, Karla Manzur, Gray Parsons, Andrew Beaudoin, Steve Bernal, Will Landin, Rob Kidd, Travis Nelson, Scott Brackett, Patrick Pestorius, Lauren Gurgiolo, Thomas Van der Brook, Joseph Shuffield, Brandon Brown, Will Landin, Wayne Myers, Leigh Mahoney, Jennifer Bourianoff, Johnny Vogelsang, Jonathon Doyle, Kelli Bland, Lacie Taylor, Mark Stewart , Jay Young,  Leila Henley,  Michael St. Clair, Robert Kraft, Cami Alys, Jessie England, Joseph Smith, Gilbert Ellorreaga, unknown elderly Romanian pianist that Lisa Shawley brought over to my house one afternoon whose name might be Louis, Chip Miller, Wayne Duncan, David McKnight, and Michael Crowe.    
 

I thought people might be interested in how this music was made. Here's a little information about each show's music:
The Frankenstein music was the first score that I recorded for Troublepuppet. I had performed "The Gunpowder Plot" and "The Cruel Circus" live with the troupe in 2007, but my touring schedule in 2008 made it impossible perform the whole run of Frankenstein. In fact, the entire score was recorded in four days in between tours with Okkervil River. I invited people over, rehearsed whatever song it was, put up one microphone (either in the kitchen or the shed in the backyard) and pressed record. I like these songs because they sound like Eastern European field recordings and have the freshness of people playing music they learned an hour ago. I also experimented with a few special effects that proved useful later on. Two of my favorites were the waterphone (a great instrument) and pitching down my roomates' Tuvan throat singing an octave so it sounds like a very large demon/monster. Also, there is one song from the Frankenstein soundtrack that is solo piano. It's not me. It's a wonderful elderly Rumanian gentleman named Louis that my friend Lisa Shawley brought over. Louis dazzled us with his piano playing and stories of his Rumanian childhood and I never saw or heard from him again. I heard he came to one of the Frankenstein shows and was pleased with the music. If anybody reading this knows how to contact Louis, please let me know. I would like to get him a copy of this recording.
I wrote the music for the Jungle the next year, I moved to a new place and had a little more space and a little more time, so a lot of that music is multitracked and recorded with a little more finesse. Again, a lot of the soundtrack was based around Eastern European music, but because the Jungle is a story that is still very relevant I felt it was appropriate to add some more contemporary elements. Gypsy violin melodies are squashed by guitars feeding back and delicate zithers are pounded by aggressive, mechanical drumbeats. I took five strings off an electric guitar and tuned the bottom E so low I could bend it across the entire fretboard with ease. I thought it sounded a lot like a cow getting bashed in the head and then dying slowy and painfully.
So this year I wrote and recorded the soundtrack for Riddley Walker, but I could not be here to install the music in the show. Many thanks to Mark Stewart who edited all the music I had recorded and Eliot Haynes who placed the cues in the show. I watched the The Road Warrior several times while writing the music. I built a drumkit out of railroad ties and scrap metal. I bought a kalimba and an ocarina. I found out I can play neither of those instruments well. Most of the percussion on the Riddley score was performed by the amazing Jason McKenzi  and the angelic voice is the very talented Karla Manzur.

 Exciting news! Renowned Dallas artist Christopher Blay has submitted our collaboration "Time Machine Beta" to the Fusebox Festival for Spring 2012.  Chris does killer art installations and curates art shows in North Texas.  If all goes well, we'll be bringing this performance piece to Austin this Spring.  Here's some video of the first one (with animations by Leah Lovise).  

Time Machine Beta