Ben McAllister
I'm an insatiably curious multi-disciplinary artist pulling on threads in music and technology. I play guitar, I compose, I do a lot with computers, I write. I use this site to think, through writing posts and making sounds/demos/audio experiments. Check out minutes for a new minute of sound posted every day. I think out loud on my blog.
Latest Projects (updated Winter 2025)
We've moved from Seattle to Olalla last year, and I posted one sound per day. The practice continues out of joyful habit, and now I'm ruminating on this years challenge. I'm starting a tech-focused weekly log / blog here, and I'm thinking of other compulsions to indulge in as the calendar turns. Including:
Stropes Foundation Archives: The Stropes Foundation is custodian of a massive archive of fingerstyle guitar recordings and artifacts. I'm working with mentor and publisher John Stropes to sort things out and make them accessible as we prepare to publish transcriptions by Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges and others this year. I should have some new pieces up there soon, myself.
The Guitar Cult: The Guitar Cult, my electric guitar ensemble. We plan to regroup and get recordings of my pieces captured before summertime.
Chiwas: This is one of my favorite Chiwas demos. A project with brother Jason Thomson, bass player from Medicine Hat.
Day job: I work here. Our platform tracks lots of data that, at the end of the day, indicates responsible behavior in energy production. There's a lot going on under the hood though - I'll spare you the details for now. I'm stoked to be working with a lot of people I consider friends. If I didn't know how to pull bands together to make music, I wouldn't know how to get teams of engineers together to move toward a goal. It seems like the same thing to me.
Scores and Parts of my pieces are available through Stropes Editions
Past groups, ever a part of my being
Degenerate Art Ensemble | Tuktu | Wizard Prison | C'mon C'mon | Medicine Hat
Email me and let's talk about it
ben@listenfaster.com
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