Michael T. Bullock
Curriculum Vitae
Download PDF: CV
Education
Ph.D., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, iEAR Studios, 2010
Dissertation: “’The Kind of Music We Play’: A Study of Self-Idiomatic Improvised Music and Musicians in Boston.” Committee: Curtis Bahn (advisor), Michael Century, Tomie Hahn, Pauline Oliveros, Christian Wolff
M.M., New England Conservatory of Music, Department of Contemporary
Improvisation, 1999
A.B., Princeton University, Music, Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Certificate in Music Performance, contrabass
Fellowships and Awards
2008 Leonardo/EMS Prize, Electroacoustic Music Studies Conference, Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France
2007- Teaching and Research Assistantships, working with faculty of the Electronic
2008 Arts and Architectural Acoustics Departments, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2006 Philip H. Parthesius Fellowship, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
1998 Pangaea, Honors Ensemble in Contemporary Improvisation, New England Conservatory
1996 Isadore and Helen Sacks Memorial Prize, Princeton University Department of Music
1994 Aspen Music Festival, Contrabass studies with Stuart Sankey
Residencies and Workshops
2012 •(Anticipated) June Workshop Residency at Sonic Art & Design, part of Le Quai: L’École Superieure d’Art de Mulhouse, France
•(Anticipated) April Workshop in electroacoustic improvisation at Oberlin Conservatory as part of FestivOINC
2011 “The Unheard World: Microphones and Listening.” Workshop at University of Massachusetts, Boston
2010 “Beware the Mikes of March,” five week residency at Weirdo Records, Cambridge MA
2009 Solo residency at Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM), Amsterdam, NL. June 2009
2007 Ensemble residency with trio MAWJA at STEIM. August 2007
2006 Residencies with The BSC (8-piece ensemble) at Wesleyan University and Princeton University, December 2005 and Spring 2006
2004 Weekend residency at Les Voûtes, Paris, with Vic Rawlings and
Benjamin Renard
Audio/Video Installations and Presentations
2011 Empty Cinema, audio/video installation at Midway Theatre, Boston, MA
2010 •Untitled audio/video work to accompany a performance by The Please (MTB,
Linda Aubry Bullock, and Brendan Murray) at Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY
2009 •Organ Pipe Resonance, live performance/installation at PONDER 2,
Middletown CT
2008 •Prequel. Site-specific sound piece for headphones situated in the basement of the Woolworth building on the Princeton University campus. Presented as part of the Sonic Fragments conference
•Halfway to Flag Day. A sound and video performance/installation by rise set twilight. Presented at Troy Night Out, Troy NY
•Sunlight Parties. Stop motion animation in collaboration with Linda Aubry Bullock. Presented at the Onedotzero Festival at EMPAC, Troy, NY
2007 HOME. A sound and video performance/installation by rise set twilight. Presented at Revolution Hall in Troy, NY, as part of Troy Night Out. Featuring the animated short “Birds in Situations.”
2006 Auditory Thresholds 1. Sound performance/installation. Transducers attached to windows, field recordings, live computer-based performance with touch interface. MFA show, RPI iEAR program
2005 Give Words Back as Signs. Online video installation at TubaExotica.com
2004 In/At Tension. Video short presented at 2:13 Festival, Athens Greece, 5 Dec 2004; and Synch Festival, Athens
Publications and Conference Papers
“The Material of Time: Understanding Electroacoustic Improvised Music.” Poster presentation at EMS 2011 NYC
“Imaginary Listening I-IV” and “Nine Études for Improvisers” in Deep Listening Anthology, Vol. 2. Deep Listening Publications, Kingston, NY
“ ‘The Kind of Music We Play’: A Study of Self-Idiomatic Improvised Music and Musicians in Boston.” Dissertation for the PhD in Electronic Arts, RPI, August 2010
“Drinking Water in the Crosswalk,” a regular series of columns about experimental sound performance practices. Intransitive Magazine, ongoing since 2010. http://www.intransitiverecordings.com/the-magazine/
“Extended Techniques of the Contrabass.” Lecture and Presentation at the Acoustical Society of America conference, Baltimore, MD, 23 April 2010
“Self-Idiomatic Music: An Introduction.” Published in Leonardo, Volume 43 Number 2, 2010
“Open-backed Transistor Radio,” short video for companion DVD to Handmade Electronic Music by Nicolas Collins. Routledge, 2009 (second edition)
“Goody Two Shoes: Adam and the Ants.” Published in Radio Memory, edited by Brandon LaBelle. Errant Bodies Press, 2008
“Noise to Signal: Instrumentalization and Self-Idiom.” Text, Media, and Improvisation Conference, presented by McGill University in Montréal, QC, Canada, 21 June 2008
“Noise to Signal: Instrumentalization and Self-Idiom.” Electroacoustic Music Studies Conference (EMS08), Université Paris-Sorbonne, France; winner of Leonardo-EMS Award for Excellence. 6 June 2008
“Consumer Audio and the Growth of Extended Techniques.” International Society of Improvised Music Conference, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. 15 December 2007
“Solo Meta-Performance Practice: What to Do When You Run Out of Music.” FO(A)RM #5
Wow & Flutter Festival review, Signal to Noise Magazine, Winter 2005
“Why ‘Songs’?,” notes from CD “Songs” by Howard Stelzer and Jason Talbot. Intransitive Recordings, 2003
Interview with composer Brendan Murray. Boston’s Weekly Dig, Vol. 5, Issue 32, 2003
“The Idea of Northeast.” Notes from LP of the same name. Intransitive/Math/Chloë, 2001
Selected Performances
2011 • Blowing A Round, composition for wind instruments and 4-channel electronics.
Premiered by the Community Music Center of Boston’s Senior Wind Ensemble
At the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
•Together Festival (live video with Twin Stars), Boston MA
•Splatterpool, Brooklyn NY
2010 •The Flying Duck, Glasgow, Scotland UK
•The Apricot Gallery, London UK
•Floating Points Festival (w/ The Please), Issue Project Room, Brooklyn NY
•Diapason Gallery (with rise set twilight), Brooklyn NY
•The Stone (w/ Rawlings/Bullock duo), Manhattan NY
•Third Life Studio (solo and with The Brendan Murray Quartet), Somerville MA
•Upstate Artists Guild, Albany NY
•Mobius Artists Space, Boston MA
•Goethe-Institut, Boston MA (through Non-Event)
•WZBC, Newton MA
•Red Room (with Triple Point: Pauline Oliveros, accordion; Doug van Nort, laptop; Jonas Braasch, s.sax), Baltimore MD
•Buoy Gallery (with New England Phonographers Union), Kittery ME
2009 •PONDER 2: contrabass with Andrew Lafkas – contrabass, Vic Rawlings – cello and electronics, Bryan Eubanks – electronics, Linda Aubry Bullock – synth and harp. Full day of performances and installations in Middletown CT, presented by Michael Pestel
•Solo Contrabass at Open Sound, Third Life Studios, Somerville MA
•free103point9’s Radio Festival NYC. “(Cross)Talk Radio” by rise set twilight
Vintage transistor radios, video projection, and multichannel audio, at The Ontological Theatre, St. Mark’s Church, Manhattan NY
•BAO trio and friends at STEIM, Amsterdam. With Mazen Kerbaj – trumpet,
Linda Aubry Bullock – electronics, Raed Yassin – bass, Sharif Sehnaoui – guitar,
Charbel Haber – guitar
•PhD recital (w/ rise set twilight, The BSC and Pauline Oliveros) at The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), RPI, Troy NY
•Le Cagibi (with Tisane), Montréal QC
•Studio Soto: Das Kleine Field Recordings Festival (w/ New England Phonographers Union), Boston MA
•The Democracy Center (w/ NE Phonographers), Cambridge MA
•Pyramid Atlantic (with Jonathan Zorn), Silver Spring MD
•Staalplaat: Das Kleine Field Recordings Festival, Berlin, Germany
•CABLE# Festival (w/ rise set twilight), La Bitche, Nantes France
•The Bridge, Charlottesville VA
2008 •Goldsmith College: INTERLACE – banjo and electronics (w/ Jamie Coleman – trumpet, Angharad Davies – violin, John Lely – unspecified, Sebastian Lexer – a piano+, Seymour Wright – alto sax
•Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
•PONDER 1: contrabass with Andrew Lafkas – contrabass, Vic Rawlings – cello and electronics, Bryan Eubanks – electronics. Full day of performances and installations in Middletown CT, presented by Michael Pestel
•Monkeytown (w/ rise set twilight), Brooklyn NY
•The Official Unofficial Troy Night Out Afterparty (live video with various DJ and bands), Troy NY
•Share NYC
•Smash Palace Festival (w/ The BSC) at Cambridge YMCA
•The Tank NYC
2007 •Stars Shine Like Eyes 1. Multichannel computer sound diffusion with hand-built touch interface. MFA show, RPI iEAR program, Troy NY
•Stars Shine Like Eyes 2. Multichannel computer sound diffusion with hand-built touch interface. Issue Project Room, Brooklyn NY
•Mawja and friends at STEIM, Amsterdam. Mazen Kerbaj – trumpet, Vic Rawlings – cello; with Christine Sehnaoui – alto sax, Sharif Sehnaoui – guitar,
Jean-Léon Pallandre – recordings. Part of a weeklong residency by Mawja.
•The Gasholder (w/ rise set twilight), Troy NY
•The Knitting Factory (w/ Seth Cluett and Julien Ottavi; also w/ rise set twilight), NYC
•Phoneme festival (w/ The BSC), Circle of Hope, Philadelphia PA
•Schenectady Museum Suits-Beusche Planetarium (w/ rise set twilight),
Schenectady NY
•Issue Project Room, Brooklyn NY
2006 •The Center for Independent Media (w/ rise set twilight), Troy NY
•Gilded Pony Performance Festival (w/ rise set twilight), Valley Falls NY
•Issue Project Room (w/ The BSC), Brooklyn NY
•Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano Performance (SICPP) (w/ The BSC and Christian Wolff), Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston MA
2005 •The Lucy Parsons Center (w/ Rawlings/Bullock duo), Boston MA
•Seattle Improvised Music Festival (w/ Rawlings/Bullock duo), Seattle WA
•Klaster Bechyne (w/ rise set twilight), Czech Republic
•Tonic NYC (w/ Rawlings Bullock duo), Manhattan NY
•FFMUP, Terrace Club, Princeton University, Princeton NJ
•Improvised and Otherwise Festival (with Rawlings/Bullock Duo), Brooklyn NY
2004 •FO(A)RM #3 launch party, Manhattan, NYC. “Birds also walk on the ground,” Solo performance with recordings of birds and hallways, bass feedback, and a crawling/sounding of the floorboards using tuning forks.
•Les Voûtes (w/ Rawlings and Benjamin Renard – electronics), Paris France
•Le Théâtre sur le Pavé (w/ Rawlings/Bullock duo), Paris France
2003 •Tour of France with Rawlings/Bullock duo, including:
•Les Instants Chavirés, Paris France
•Les Entre Peaux: La Flibuste Collective, Toulouse France
•La Malterie, Lille France
•Le 102, Grenoble France
•Dance piece for solo contrabassist. Boston Dance company, Cambridge MA
•Berwick Research Institute, Boston MA
2002 •Tour of Northeastern US with Rawlings/Bullock duo
•Diapason Gallery (w/ IIbasSpit), then located in Manhattan NY
•Berwick Research Institute (w/IIbasSpit), Boston MA
2001 •Tour of Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast US with David Gross – sax,
Tucker Dulin – trombone
•High Zero festival, Baltimore MD
2000 •Solo tour of Northeast US and Eastern Canada, with Stelzer/Talbot, including performances in Montréal, Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, and Columbus OH
•Tour of southern US with Saturnalia String Quartet (Rawlings and Jonathan LaMaster – violin) + Daniel Carter (sax)
1999 •Celebrate Brooklyn Festival (w/ Klezperanto), Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY
•Tonic (w/ Klezperanto), Manhattan NY
•Vision Festival (With Saturnalia String Quartet + Daniel Carter), NYC
1996- •Frequent performances at Playground New Music Series, Zeitgeist Gallery,
2002 Cambridge MA
Ensemble Affiliations and Collaborations
•New England Phonographers Union
•Rawlings/Bullock Duo: contrabass and electronics, with Vic Rawlings, cello and electronics
•Mawja: contrabass and electronics, with Rawlings and Mazen Kerbaj, trumpet
•The BSC: contrabass, with Bhob Rainey (director) – soprano sax, James Coleman – Theremin, Greg Kelley – trumpet, Rawlings, Howard Stelzer – tapes, Liz Tonne – vocals
•Bullock/Lafkas Duo: contrabass duo with Andrew Lafkas
•rise set twilight: multimedia performance and installation, with Linda Aubry Bullock
•Twin Stars: VJ tag team with L.A. Bullock
•Twilight of the Century: bass guitar, with L. A. Bullock – guitar, Eric Hardiman – bass guitar, and Ray Hare – vocals
•The Please: bass guitar, and electronics with L. A. Bullock – guitar and electronics, and
Brendan Murray – drums and electronics
•IIbasSpit: contrabass and electronics with Seth Cluett – bass guitar, voice;
and Tucker Dulin, trombone
•Tisane: contrabass with Linda Aubry Bullock – electronics, Liz Tonne – voice,
Chris Cogburn – percussion
•The Brendan Murray Quartet – contrabass with Murray – electronics,
James Coleman – Theremin, and David Gross – sax
Other collaborations with: Newton Armtrong, Curtis Bahn, Theodore Bikel, Ran Blake, Olivia Block, Kyle de Camp, Phil Durrant, Charbel Haber, Tomie Hahn, Giuseppe Ielasi, Seth Kim-Cohen, Joe Maneri, Lionel Marchetti, Stephan Moore, Hankus Netsky, Andrea Neumann, Jérôme Noetinger, Lê Quan Ninh, Eddie Prévost, Stéphane Rives, Steve Roden, Domenico Sciajno, Christine Sehnaoui Abdelnour, Sharif Sehnaoui, Scott Smallwood, Alex Waterman, Jack Wright, Raed Yassin, and Otomo Yoshihide
Discography
2011 •Mild Disappearances, two electroacoustic works for contrabass, analog synthesizer, and computer. CD release on Songs From Under the Floorboards, a division of Intransitive Recordings
•The Eastern Realm, electro acoustic composition from field recordings. Mini-CD release on TaqueOT (Ukraine)
•Accordion to Bass, duo with Pauline Oliveros, accordion. Cassette release on Cassauna, an imprint of Important Records
2010 •Ceremonies to breathe upon, site-specific improvisation for two contrabasses at the Gasholder building, Troy, NY. Collaboration with bassist Andrew Lafkas. CD released on Winds Measure Recordings
•“Line’s Dead” and “A Specific Gravity” from Linda Aubry Bullock’s CD Ray of Dark, Sedimental Recordings
•Music for Cinema, Two electroacoustic compositions on cassette tape.
Released by YDLMIER
•The BSC: 23% Bicycle and/or Ribbons of the Natural Order,
Self-released digital download
2009 “A turn of the pike (for AR)” and “A Swim to the Gateway” for banjo and feedback. Recorded at STEIM, Amsterdam NL. Web release on Compost & Height
2008 •A mountain (coming around), for contrabass and field recordings. Presented live in Boston and Philadelphia in October 2007. Web release at Homophoni.com
•The Eastern Realm, electroacoustic collage. Presented on Rare Frequency
radio program, WZBC Newton
•untitled, or not yet. Steve Roden (electronics), James Coleman (theremin), David Gross (alto sax) and MTB (contrabass) [1.8sec records]
2007 •Live One, MAWJA: Vic Rawlings (cello, electronics), Mazen Kerbaj (trumpet), and MTB (bass & feedback) [Chloë]
•Studio One, MAWJA [al Maslakh]
•The Vinyl Countdown, collage piece for turntable and test-tone LPs, composed for the video 15 by Shawn Lawson
2006 •Great Marsh, solo electronics [Herbal]. Recently re-released as download
•On that which is best, and the best that can be done under the circumstances, with Vic Rawlings [Fargone]
2005 This Will Cheer You Up, solo contrabass 3″ CDR [Kissy Records]
2004 •Heat, with Nick Hennies – percussion, Tucker Dulin – trombone.
[Edition Manifold]
•No Idea Festival CD. [Coincident, Spring Garden Music, Ten Pounds to the Sound]
•Enterprising Mass of Cilia, with Masashi Harada Condanction Ensemble [Emanem]
2003 Fall of Song, with Vic Rawlings [Chloë]
2002 •Good, with the BSC, Axel Dörner – trumpet, Andrea Neumann – innenklavier [Grob]
•Initial, solo contrabass and feedback [Chloë]
•Seismic Plant with Bhob Rainey, Masashi Harada [CIMP]
•Enter the Continent with Masashi Harada Condanction Ensemble [Emanem]
2001 The Idea of Northeast, LP b/w Stelzer+Talbot [Intransitive/Math/Chloë]
1999 •object, with FETISH: David Gross – saxes, Tatsuya Nakatani – percussion [Tautology]
•there the eye goes not, w/ Bhob Rainey, Tatsuya Nakatani, Brenda Hopkins [Tautology]
Recent Interviews and Reviews
2011 •Ed Pinsent: Review of Ceremonies to Breathe Upon in The Sound Projector
2010 •Richard Pinnell: Review of Ceremonies in The Watchful Ear
•Brian Olewnick: Review of Ceremonies and Live One in Just Outside
•Justin Snow: Reviews of Ceremonies and Music for Cinema in
Anti-Gravity Bunny
•Keith Moliné: Review of Ceremonies in The Wire Magazine
•Frans de Waard: Review of Ceremonies in Vital Weekly
2009 •Interview with Twilight of the Century, SUNY Albany Radio
•Interview with rise set twilight, JetFM radio, Nantes, France
•Susanna Bolle, interview with rise set twilight on Rare Frequency,
WZBC Newton
Curating and Distribution Experience
2010- Assistant Art Editor, Drunken Boat Magazine
present
2002- Chloë Recordings: Independent record label specializing in electronic music
2009 and electro-acoustic improvisation
2007- Curatorial work with the Albany Sonic Arts Collective
2009
2005- Plus One Presents: Experimental, Improvised, and Electro-Acoustic music series
2007 in the Boston area during 2005; recommenced in Troy, NY in 2007. Co-founded with Linda Aubry Bullock
1996- Guest curator, Playground New Music at the Zeitgeist Gallery, various occasions
2002
Teaching Experience
2009- guest lectures and workshops at University of Massachusetts, Boston;
2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA; Franklin Pierce University, Rindge, NH; and Emerson College, Boston, MA
2008 Research Assistant, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of the Arts. “Haptics and Telepresence Seminar.” Working with ensemble Tintinnabulate; the Arts and Architecture Departments at RPI; and via telepresence with other institutions. Assisted Profs. Pauline Oliveros and Curtis Bahn of the Electronic Arts Dept, and Prof. Jonas Braasch of Architectural Acoustics
2009 Teaching Assistant, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Arts.
“World Music.” Worked with undergraduates from several departments at RPI.
With Prof. Tomie Hahn
2007- Teaching Assistant, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Information
2008 Technology. “Creativity in IT.” Worked with undergraduate IT majors at RPI.
With Prof. Tomie Hahn
2002- South Shore Conservatory of Music, Hingham MA and Duxbury MA. Private
2005 Instructor of Contrabass and Bass Guitar
1996- Teaching assistant, Third Stream Ear Training Courses, New England
1999 Conservatory of Music
1995- Instructor of Beginner Jazz Ensemble, Princeton University
1996
Professional and Academic Service
•New England Forum for Acoustic Ecology
•International Society for Improvised Music
•International Society of Bassists
•College Music Society
•Acoustical Society of America
Professional Consultation
•Vidvox LLC, Troy, NY: user interface consulting, web presence consulting, and beta testing for VDMX and GridPro video performance software
•Molecules to the Max: audio production consultation for Molecularium movie
Design, Quality Assurance, and Marketing Experience
2002- Plus One Design: Private business in web design and development,
2006 graphic design, and copy writing. Work for corporate and individual clients in the music, advertising, and food industries
1996- Full-time freelance work with Arnold Worldwide, Interactive Division: production
2001 art, traffic management, content and design consultation, market research,
quality assurance
1998- Quality Assurance Coordinator, Circle.com
2000
Language Proficiency
•French (reading, speaking, writing)
•German (some reading, speaking, writing)
Technical Skills
•Programming: Max/MSP/Jitter, Supercollider 3, HTML/CSS, WordPress
•Analog Electronics: Soldering, Arduino, hardware hacking
•Audio: Standard Digital Audio Workstation software (Logic, Digital Performer, ProTools, Ardour, Peak); spectrographic analysis
•Video: VDMX, Final Cut, iMovie
•Image: Photoshop, Illustrator