The Music of Michael Chocholak
From acoustic blues to abstract electronics, skin drum to pc.

Without music life would be a mistake - Friedrich Nietzsche

Music is the path of revelation - Alexander Scriabin

Que la musique sonne - Edgard Varese

"You don't need a mouth to communicate, you don't need rules to create."
"Anything is a potential instrument. Play it."
MC

“A Salvador Dali of music.” - Gypsy

“It conjures up visions.” - Brian Aldiss

"I always put you in with Varese and crazy bastards like Bartok... John Cage and friends would be proud. It's sort of classic in a way. The Zen of tones and sonic space. " - John Shirley

“Heaven sent.” - Glenn Branca

“Crazy” - Thurston Moore

“It casts a long shadow over my inner ear.” - Rik Rue

“Audio-cinematic cortical opera.” - Richard Truhlar

"Really evocative and sensitively done. Beautiful." - David Lee Myers

“Pure heat, atavistic futurity.” - Ferret

“Takes the cutting edge of electronic music and slices through your cornea.” - Joey Zone

“When the last song was finished, all the birds fell dead from the sky.” - Richard Schindler

"It conjures visions of superstrings twined around a quantum fork in ten-dimensional space-time." - Keyboard Magazine

"Dark, cold, eerie, and beautiful" - EAR

"Some of the most evocative soundscapes you could imagine" - Eurock

"Dark and moody music that wraps you in tightly like a wet sheet" - Factsheet Five

"This evocative mix conjures up pictures that range from somber beauty to sobering brutality. Here is ambient music of an involving, organic nature, thick with activity... a wholly human approach" - Sound Choice Magazine

"Positively stunning" - Option Magazine


CDs


Alveromancy; the act of conjuring using sound
Abstract electronics, behemoth guitar drones, sonic surrealism. Limited edition of 96 numbered copies, 56 minutes, CDR, full color artwork print in a transparent sleeve. Available from Triple Bath.
(more info )

Seven of my best solo abstract electronic compositions together on a CDR entitled Hollow Bodies released by echOmusic. 71 minutes of resonant sonics; the previously unreleased Transcendent Anomaly along with the remastered tracks Sine Language, Falling Man, Walking Backwards, Sound Houses I - IV, Blue Star Kachina and Albion. More info... SOLD OUT, but check out their other excellent sonics.

Intersections - Matt Howarth's first mainstream mystery thriller novel comes as a PDF file on a CD with my 65 minute soundtrack of "highly infectious, uptempo electronics blending agro industrial styles with dancefloor sensibilities, producing a haunting and harrowing soundtrack for the story." 225 pages, the CD comes with a full color cover by Howarth. Adult material. More info... Available exclusively at the Bugtown Mall

MP3s

I'm not interested in charging anyone per play or download. I have no use for the RIAA, Vivendi, UMG, Copyright Royalty Board and the like. This music is free to stream or download. I simply hope you'll listen, enjoy, and hopefully get something from it. If you want to send me some money, I certainly won't complain. I retain all rights so don't do anything with my work unless we talk first. On the other hand I enjoy collaborating, so if that sounds interesting send me an emu . 'Thx' to all these sites, most of which are free, don't require any registration, have no (or at least relatively few) pop-ups, and would probably appreciate your support.

At each of these sites you can listen to or download individual tracks or stream them as one continuous program.

Or try some selections from The Difficult Listening Hour

	Nearly five hours of music at ArtistServer (used to be ElectronicScene). Direct linking you can stream from here for a preview including abstract (Albion hifilofi), ambient (9 hifilofi), trance (Passage hifilofi), techno (Monoster Brillman Remix#2 hifi), acid jazz (Tendrel hifilofi), electronica (Parallax hifilofi), soundscape (Lu Sang hifilofi) soundtrack (Telophase hifilofi ), and my complete soundtrack to Misha's cyberpunk novel Red Spider White Web. All tracks available for AudioFeed/Podcast. Plus abstract ringtones (no kidding) and my sonic 'blogs'. Also check out my links for some cool sonic connections.
	yep... myspace. 6 tracks and check out some of the great contemporary abstract composers under 'friends'. and check out Misha's page as well.
	imeem - this is the site that cut a deal with the major labels so in addition to my music, there's lots of other great music to stream. Misha has got a page there too.
	Various playlists of my music collected as albums at lastfm under the Peripheral Music label. 3 1/2 hours of music.
	Brandy of the Damned; abstract and ambient electronic music at SoundClick including collaborations with Hein Pijnenburg, Richard Truhlar, Conrad Schnitzler, Misha, and Richard Dunlap and my soundtrack to Greg Bear's novel Blood Music. 3 hours of music.
	Coaxial; a (growing) collection of collaborations between myself and other sonic beings including Michael Gibson, Richard Dunlap, David Farewell, Christopher Orczy, Misha, and Men From San Diego. 1 1/2 hours of music.
	Ambience and smooth electronics at Soundlift. Deeplinking. For a preview, you can stream the following tracks from here; Nanoforest lofi 40 kbps mono hifi 128 kbps stereo and Chatoyancy lofi 40 kbps mono hifi 128 kbps stereo. Over an hour of music.
	All guitar; mostly rock & blues, some jazz, and even a few blister tracks at Soundclick. Selections include the soundtrack to Misha's novel Yellowjacket, the HotWired solo studio tracks, highlights from Minds in Collision; a collaboration with cyber rocker John Shirley, Insect Hands minimal garage rock by Leather Smile and a few unreleased tracks. Nearly two hours of music.
	DMusic featuring Staring into the Sky - an hour long track about getting lost in the blue with the cloud people. somewhere between a drone and an ambience... and a dream. also the Trance Fusions collection; techno, electrobeat tracks, and a few cyclical vignettes ala vintage Bill Nelson. Over an hour of music.
	Two tracks using material from David Farewell of Farewell23 at ArtistLaunch.
	Collaborations with Misha Nogha at Soundclick including Conrad Schnitzler, Richard Truhlar and myself, and her complete live performance text pieces done with Jonathan Golove at SUNY Buffalo New York in December, 2002. Eleven tracks.
	Brilliant Brillman remix. "A very quickly made remix of the excellent "Monoster" track by Michael Chocholak. Thanks to Michael C. for letting me play around with it;-)." Original track is at Dmusic and a second Brillman remix is on my ArtistServer page.
	pattern shuffle, ridge, uchuu aspu, siren song, johann variations, sedimental journey, prairie trance, sky pie, afterthick, grasshoppers revelation, head out on the highway, jamjar blues and something on the porch at Soundclick; pieces by Richard Dunlap on his dadala site using altered and blended source material from me. Also our three duets at The Asterisk Lounge and more collaborations at my Coaxial page. And check out his new CDs at CD Baby .
	The Sinking of the Ehime Maru, The Secret Signal and Kursk at Soundclick; compositions by David Farewell using some of my source material and base tracks. And more at my Coaxial page.
	Garden in Rain at Soundclick; collaboration with AHL-i Nafs put together by David Farewell.
	Christopher Orczy's Harmonium Diaries which include my reconstruction of his December 17 entitled Red Storm After Midnight on his Altered Days CD .
	The Men From San Diego collaborative projects of Thomas J including The Daimones Frogmen and Loose Axons.
	Chill Crush at Artistserver, Brainbelly's "cold landscape excursion" that uses my sonicblog 121607.

At any of these sites you can do a free 128 kbps download of a quality stereo version of each composition, stream individual tracks or stream them all in series as a playlist. The 'lofi' and Realaudio plays are as low as 24 kbps which is lousy reproduction. You may not hear anything but garbled noise. Even if you can hear what appears to be a complete piece you are definitely NOT hearing what I intended. My advice is listen 'lofi' if all you have is a modem connection and if you like what you hear, download it.

If you are a web radio station, all the tracks at ArtistServer and Soundlift are deeplinking - help yourself.

I like to let the music speak for itself, but here's a bio and there are short blurbs and reviews at all of the above websites. Beyond that, do an emu.


Streaming Stations

	The Other Shore; a stream of 'experimental', ambient and alternative musics I put together at SoundClick. 5 1/2 hours of exotic dreamscapes and surreal vistas.
	Tho Ether Shore; more experimental, abstract, ambient, avant garde musics - continuing to color outside the lines, or at least with little regard for them, at SoundClick. 2 hours of strange but alluring sonics.
	Strung; a stream of alternative and experimental guitar tracks I arranged at SoundClick. Over 3 1/2 hours of things done with strings.
	Songs From the Void; a stream of compositions based on short wave, vlf, satellites... audiostrology. 1 1/2 hours of music.
	This is the other me at lastfm; badgerking. If you page down a bit there are radio stations you can click on for an eclectic mix of artists and music as well as a playlist featuring abstract ambient tracks from the Peripheral Music label.
	Black Light ; my streaming station at ArtistServer with various playlists. It's free and well worth it. Also check out Brillman's Ecclectic Groove , Cold Warning's Beyond the Norm, AgentA's Channel X, Sperimentale by radiozapping and Beggar Station by Beggar .
	various playlists at imeem that cover everything from classic electronic to traditional bulgarian to ripping guitar to my own work. check out the playlists in my favorites as well. gotta join to listen but it's free.
	SoundClick stations playing Brandy of the Damned SoundClick stations playing Coaxial SoundClick stations playing MC guitar SoundClick stations playing Misha
	Video...
	Vincent (previously entitled The Crawl) is a short independent film written, produced and directed by Scott Virtes which uses my composition Underworld Transit in the score. "A crime drama with a shocking ending."
	Dorks vs Ninjas at Youtube by Renegade Projects - "There you go - one remixed student film! Would you like fries with that? ;)" uses my composition Tsuchigumo from the Red Spider White Web soundtrack
	Memories in Spaces at bliptv by lulu - "Originally made in 2005, re-edited for inclusion on Channel 4's FourDocs site" uses my compositions Jade Bees, Monoster and Labyrinth of the Long Night
	YASHKOOKMOE Channel at YouTube - a collection of cool vids.
	More music...
	That's right! It never left! Back Forward is back! The archive of Will Ferret's weekly strip with midi muzak by moi.
	Peripheral Music; a project under development that is somewhere between a portal and a net label featuring the musics of Richard Dunlap, jopy, Phenotypo, and myself with various points of entry; pm at peripheral music.org pm at SoundClick and pm at lastfm
	The 1991 compilation CD from Realization Recordings, As Yet Untitled. It includes my Owl Famine Windigo and tracks by AMK, Arcane Device, Architects Office, Dimthingshine, Thomas Dimuzio, Randy Greif, Hands To, The Haters, Illusion Of Safety, PBK, Murray Reams, Static Effect, John Wiggins and Wisconsin Conservatory Of Noise... "If you know these folks, then you know to buy this already. If you don't know them and are remotely interested in collage work, noise drones, electronic music experiments, or generally unusual sounds, seek this out. If not ... well, you're dead already so never mind." -- File 13 #13.
	Northwest Passages, a compilation cassette from the former Eugene Electronic Music Collective including my tracks Port Au Prince, The Salamander Man, and Tau Tau
	No Borders 1988 compilation LP from Generations Unlimited. Includes my composition Second Object and tracks by Conrad Schnitzler, David Lee Myers, and others. but if you don't need to have the actual out of print vinyl, there's a free download of the album here .
	Insane Music For Insane People Vol. 21 1987 compilation cassette release from the Belgium label Insane Music includes my composition Zaibatsu
	Insane Music For Insane People Vol. 24 1988 compilation cassette release from the Belgium label Insane Music includes my composition Triste
	Glenn Branca still lists some of my vintage (and impossible to find) cassette releases for sale including the Minds in Collision collaboration with scifi/horror writer John Shirley, HotWired electric guitar instrumentals, Blood Musics (which includes my soundtrack to Greg Bear's novel) and the soundtrack to Misha's cyberpunk/slipstream novel Red Spider White Web. And, of course, links back to Glenn's incredible sonic worlds.
	And check these sites out...
	A semi-comprehensive list, with links and contact info, to Oregon composers.
	Dutch wiki page listing info on composers, music theory, styles, techniques, notations, and related links
	The Schreck Electroacoustic Ensemble site. A 15mb mp3 download of Quadrigemina is available here (and page down to the end of the list). This is a cool site that, in addition to music & software downloads, offers samples, patches, scores and more.
	More musics well worth your savant ear; AgentA, Briarmon Smetrach, Richard Dunlap, drt/Phenotypo, jopy, Lunatinker, David Lee Myers/Pulsewidth, Nokalypse/Triple Bath, rachMiel, Rik Rue, Conrad Schnitzler, Arie van Schutterhoef, Richard Truhlar
	A huge collection of very cool music links at the doorstep of Matt Howarth and Bugtown. "Matt has many outlets for his twisted creativity. And all of them are notoriously "strange"... It may stop, but it never ends."
	Squidoo Lense By Steve Miller of Neon Egypt ; "In my travels around the web as a musician, webmaster, and web researcher, I've discovered some highly unusual, even unique music, musicians, and musical instruments. The most outstanding are collected here for those who wish to explore this fascinating realm."
	SUBSTATION 7 INDEPENDENT MUSIC LINK ARCHIVE; "an archive of musicians of all genres put together by coldwarning.com, mainly focusing on electronic ambient and industrial music but will also listing other genres such as classical, jazz, country, etc, etc..."
	Audiobulb Records. Click on the 'projects' switch & check out the Root of Sine; "dedicated to music derived entirely from sounds originating from the sine wave tone." Cool concept with a fascinating range of responses. Includes my Sine Language track. Plus software, samples, tracks, & links.
	Redistort; quality links to experimental and electronic music sites all over the world. and check out the music & art forums.
	Alphacore's blog on experimental music with some streamable albums of algorithmic compositions and a slug of great links to software and abstract sonic artists
	Cassette Mythos (including my essay Sonic Darwinism ); before the internet and email, independent artists made and traded cassette tapes and other bizarre 'mail art' using the postal service. It broke open all musical genres and allowed for the creation of the independent music scene as we know it. The K7 scene may be gone (or actually evolved), but the ideas behind it are as relevant now as they were then. For one perspective (out of multitudes) of what some of it sounded like, try Hal McGee's Homemade Alien Music - hour long programs (download or podcast) of primarily cassette musics from that era & kulture.
	"Electro-music.com is a place where artists and musicians meet, collaborate, sell our wares, and nurture our audiences. Here we create our own critical mass, so we can develop music on its own terms. Electro-music is new music; still undefined; happening all over our planet." If you're into electronic or electroacoustic music, this is a good place to hang out. plus I think there's still a few of my tracks buried in there somewhere.