benito

brief biography:

Ben Crawford was born in 1979 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but grew up in Mount Airy, North Carolina. He attended Duke University for undergraduate study (B.A. Music, B.A. Mathematics from Trinity College ’02). As a James B. Duke fellow, he returned to Duke for his graduate degree in music composition (Ph.D. expected Fall ’10).

musical interests:

The intersection and interaction of the Western concert music tradition with popular musics, particularly rock, jazz, hip hop, and the polyrhythmic practices of Latin America and West Africa.

“Postmodern” approaches to formal organization, focusing especially on indeterminate formal structures are realized with input from the audience.

general interests:

Political organizing and the relationship between arts/media and political formations.

Cinema, especially the consumption and critique of contemporary popular film.

Social implications of the internet and new media.

linear music:

  • Not a Wave Shall Trouble Thee (2007)—recording in process
  • A Joyful Fanfare (2007)—recording in process
  • Adali, which means justice (2007)—for saxophone quartet (audio)
  • Cello Sonata (2004)—for cello and piano (video)
  • Most people talk a lot. Few are up for the moment. Welcome to Anarchy 99. (2005-6)—for piano solo (audio)
  • Incantation, Part I: Bound in the Shape of an L (2004)—for flute and piano (audio)
  • Themo Davo (2004)—for organ, synthesizer, and percussion

nonlinear music and multimedia:

  • “I don’t think you understand—these boys killed my dog.” (2007)—recording in process
  • “If it’s controlled by moral people, then it’ll be moral.” “Oh, I know I’m not moral. As a matter of fact, I should be arrested for the thoughts I have now.” (2007)—recording in process
  • “It’s like in chess: first, you strategically position your pieces, and when the timing is right you strike. They’re using this signal to synchronize their efforts and in five hours the countdown will be over.” “And then what?” “Checkmate.” (2008)
  • A Cookbook for Life (2009)

web-based pieces (click the title to try them out!)

ongoing projects:

dissertation

My dissertation consists of a series of pieces that investigate possibilities for more democratic musics through audience participation… more info to follow.

’BILLY

Formed in 2008 by benito and Baltimore-based artist Dane Nester, ’BILLY is a radial arts collaborative that seeks to provoke critical social engagement through a radial aesthetic practice. Check out the ’BILLY page for more information…

code:

for beads

Beads is an open-source software library written in Java for realtime audio. It is my favorite Java-based library because it is stable and affords quick development. Since it is Java-based, you can run sound applications in a browser as well as develop stand-alone applications. It's also available in a (slightly) simplified Processing-ready library. I've used it in several projects, including the web-based pieces listed above.

for processing

Processing is “ an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions.” I use it as the basis for my web-based pieces (see above) along with Beads.

FlaxMash

FlaxMash is an extensible Java-based server that I developed which accepts and manages persistant TCP connections from Adobe Flash Player clients, and forwards data to other applications via UDP (and vice versa). I originally developed it for A Cookbook for Life (see above), to allow for communication between Flash and Max/MSP. (Establishing cross-domain TCP connections with Flash is a pain, because of their security model—a good thing of course, but a pain.) The code isn’t ready for publication yet, though if you’re interested in seeing it, drop me a line…

click on entries to show/hide details…

audio:

  • Most people talk a lot. Few are up for the moment. Welcome to Anarchy 99. (2005-6)

    for solo piano; performed by Elizabeth Tomlin

    I
    get the mp3
    II
    get the mp3
    III
    get the mp3
    IV
    get the mp3
  • Adali, which means justice (2007)

    performed by the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet

    get the mp3
  • That's a Fragment of a Complex Molecule (2007)

    performed with The Nein—Finn Cohen (guitar), Robert Biggers (drums), and Josh Carpenter (bass)—along with Crowmeat Bob (saxophone) and Benito (electronics)

    an investigation of certain kinds of badness
    get the mp3
  • Incantation, Part I: Bound in the Shape of an L (2004)

    performed by Nathan Zalman (flute) and Jane Hawkins (piano)
    get the mp3

video:

  • Rules (2009)

    performed by the Duke New Music Ensemble
    youtube link
  • Cello Sonata (2003)

    performed by Brian Howard (cello) and Tim Hambourger (piano)
    youtube link

send me email at:

benitoelbonito over at gmail.com, or at

brc4 in the direction of duke.edu

message me on:

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or see my tweets around the corner at:

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press:

artists:

raleigh-durham links:

funniness: