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“Schuette stages something of a restoration, challenging recent historical developments by creating works of art that address multiple senses simultaneously and thoughtfully, no matter the context.”
Citybeat Cincinnati
Spring 2024
April 27 – MBET Alumni Day – Final Concert – Caplan Recital Hall, 211 S Broad St. – 8:00
April 11 – The Trepanation Series – Century Bar – 1350 S 29th St, Phila, PA – 7:00
March – Hambidge Center – Resident Artist in Music
Winter 2024
February – Virginia Center for Creative Arts – Resident Artist in Music
Jan. 27 – Thumb ‘N’ Brace from llama/lama released on Belts and Whistles
Fall 2023
Nov. 15 – ‘Out of the Box’ featuring POPEBAMA – Caplan Recital Hall, 211 S Broad St – 8:00
Nov. 8 – The Trepanation Series – Century Bar – 1350 S 29th St, Phila, PA – 7:00
Nov. 4 – Modular on the Spot @ WEIRDO Fest – Philadelphia Brewing Company – 3:00
Oct. 27 – Phenomenal Smith from Road Julep released on Belts and Whistles.
The record got a nice write up on ‘electronica‘ – an ambient, experimental, electronic music blog out of the UK
October 23 – Moonbeams and Satellites – second performance by Network for New Music – Haverford College, Jaharis Hall – 7:30
October 21 – Moonbeams and Satellites premiered by Network for New Music – UArts, Caplan Recital Hall – 7:30
September 20 – Vaster Than Empires on PONDora’s Fish Sauce Bottle – Headlong Dance Theater – Philadelphia – 8PM
Spring 2023
April 28 – Three Days, a new record from Vaster Than Empires, is out on New Focus Recordings
Order the CD on Bandcamp!
“It is a full album of intelligent, extended techniques invention that brings us forward in the experimental language of abstracted Modernism with sound explorations and noise-pitch dialogues for violin (Erica Dicker), percussion (Allen Otte) and sound artist composer-improviser (Paul Schuette). . . It is complicated and ever-changing but it is excellent and without a doubt some of the best of this sort of thing that has come by me in the past decade. Vaster Than Empires is decidedly inspired on this album.”
“Collectively, the group’s sound tends toward a thick sonic impasto drawn from the harsher end of the audio spectrum. Dicker’s contributions on strings, for example, eschew melodic lines in favor of drones, thickly bowed chords, and the more elemental hues produced by extended techniques; her instrumental voice is appropriately complemented by Otte’s tension-filled percussive excursions and Schuette’s abstractions for guitar and synth.”
Daniel Barbiero, AMN Reviews
March 29 – ‘Out of the Box’ is back featuring Julius Masri and his groups Superlith II and Dromedaries! – Caplan Recital Hall, 211 S Board St – 8PM
March 10 – Vaster Than Empires performs with Popebama at Record Shop – 360 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn
Fall 2022
Road Julep, my duo with Jerod Sommerfeldt, is hitting the road and will be performing with Blood Luxury (Erica Dicker / Dennis Sullivan) and Burns+Jacobs (Chris Burns / Bryan Jacobs).
Oct. 5 – 2640 Space – Baltimore, MD – 8PM
Oct. 6 – Rhizome DC – Washington, DC – 7PM
Oct. 7 – ‘Out of the Box’ at The University of the Arts – Philadelphia, PA – 8PM
(Oct. 8 – you can catch Jerod and I doing solo modular sets at Weirdofest in northeast Philly.)
Summer 2022
The Warp Whistle Project was back in action this summer. During an intense week of work in Mary’s Knoxville studio, we completed work on our first ever ‘music video’ made in collaboration with Kylwyria, a NY-based horn trio.
Moonbeams and Satellites
Winter 2021
Jerod Sommerfeldt and I relaunched our collaboration under the guise of Rube Waddell – and we made a tape! Road Julep is out now on Belts and Whistles –
Mix two parts gravel with a glug of Kentucky moonshine – top with a sprig of mint – and you’ve got Road Julep, the debut album from Rube Waddell. Spliced, edited, and mixed from hours of distance-recorded improvisations, this album hones in on the sweet spot between indulgent noise bath and haptic euphoria. Test your mettle while acknowledging your need for the finer things.
Fall 2021
Subscribe to my new (low frequency) newsletter, The Rackett – come and see what all the noise about –
https://paulschuette.substack.com/p/coming-soon
Winter 2021
Feb. 13-14 – “Love Stories” – 7:30-8:30PM – broadcast on G-town Radio 92.9 – presented by The Network for New Music – I am excited to join a group of 5 composers who have been commissioned to produce electronic works based on love stories collected from the Germantown community and presented on Valentine’s Day.
Fall 2020
October 22-24 – the schuette<>sommerfeldt duo performs on the (virtual) Splice Festival IV hosted by the University of Georgia
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Summer 2020
August – Knurled::Nuts on Belts and Whistles (011) – a new record from llama/lama
Knurled (adjective) – having small ridges on the edge or surface; gnarled
Nuts (interjection) – (used to express disgust, defiance, disapproval, despair)
A stereophonic home recording for your dog and your sofa, where prime time is both gripping and ephemeral.
Position your tailbone on the remaining non-speaker node of an equilateral triangle.
Longer tracks require greater distance.
June – I am thrilled to announce that I will be an artist in residence at the scenic Willapa Bay AiR in Oysterville, WA.
Winter 2020
April 9 – ‘Out of the Box’ featuring visiting artist Katherine Young – Caplan Studio Theater – U Arts – 8:00PM
March 20 – the Sam Houston State Percussion Ensemble will premiere my new electroacoustic percussion quartet – Digital Music
Feb. 20-22 – Splice Festival – Jerod Sommerfeldt and I will be traveling to Miami University in Oxford, OH to perform and present a workshop on analog synthesis techniques at the third annual Splice Festival
Fall 2019
Nov. 21-24 – Hamlet – I’m set to make my debut as a sound designer for a campus production directed by our own David Howey – Arts Bank – U Arts – tickets available here
Oct. 3 – ‘Out of the Box’ features visiting artists Michael Foster and Ben Bennett – Caplan Studio Theater – U Arts – 8:00PM
Winter 2019
April 25 – U Arts Handbell Ensemble, under the direction of Jeffrey Kern, premieres Snafu – 8PM
April 16 – ‘Out of the Box’ welcomes visiting artists Peter Evans and Levy Lorenzo – Caplan Studio Theater – U Arts – 8:00PM
March 21-23 – performance with Jerod Sommerfeldt at SEAMUS2019 – Berklee College of Music – Boston, MA
Feb. 24 – the Quincy Senior High School band will premiere Snafu on their Winter Concert – Quincy, IL
Fall 2018
Nov. 17 – llama/lama performs at the University of Illinois – Experimental Music Studio 60th Anniversary
Nov. 6 – loadbang premieres Shout Chorus on ‘Out of the Box’ – UArts – Caplan Studio Theater – 8:00PM
Oct. 17 – the CCM Wind Symphony under the director of Kevin Michael Holzman premieres Still Life with Rhythms and Echoes – 8:00PM – Corbett Auditorium
Summer 2018
July 6 – ‘Out of the Ashes’ – a Pouring Light Studios presentation – Malone, NY – 7:30PM – free
June 28 – July 5 – Vaster Than Empires will be in residence at the Avaloch Farms Music Institute in Boscawen, NH!
June 9 – Re:sound New Music Festival – Brianna Matzke performs Puzzle Pieces – The Bop Stop – Cleveland, OH – 5:00PM
Spring 2018
April 6 – ‘Out of the Box’ at U Arts features bassoonist Dana Jessen – Terra Hall, 16th Fl, 8PM
April 5 – llama/lama performs at West Chester University
Winter 2018
Documentation from The Navigator premiere is now live!
– a new concert work from The Warp Whistle Project – performed by the Network for New Music Ensemble! Sunday, Jan. 21 – 3PM – Caplan Studio Theater – U Arts
About the work
The Navigator is a hybrid work of art: a staged collision of sonic and visual information. The visual components are inspired by Asa Smith’s 19th century astronomical illustrations: outdated planetary charts that served a didactic purpose for his readers. Additional source materials include 1950s science fiction stage sets, clock parts, and mythological scientific instruments. Tensions between the hand-made and the mechanical, illusion and artifice, and function and futility, positions The Navigator as an amalgamation of past representations of ideological futures. Similar to make-believe, the viewer is consumed by an experience on the verge of rupture.
As The Navigator performs its various functions, its true purpose remains enigmatic. While every journey has a destination, The Navigator’s priority is the voyage. In “Wind Up”, the music is energetic and intricate, influenced by strains of minimalism, yet the question of mechanical malfunction begins early on as kinks enter into the clockwork precision. “Unlock” is an hypnotic journey through nocturnal spaces – pointillistic starbursts of sound map a course out of the darkness and into the light. In the final leg, once a tenuous signal is established, The Navigator is ready to “Transmit” to its final destination.
Fall 2017
Nov. 16 – llama/lama performs on Brooklyn Bound at So Percussions studio
Oct. 24 – ‘Out of the Box’ at U Arts features composer/synthesist/pianist Ofir Klemperer and percussionist, Zach Larabee
Oct. 1 – llama/lama performs at the Unruly Sounds Festival – Princeton, NJ
Spring 2017
May 13 – llama/lama performs at the New Music Gathering after party! Bowling Green State University – 10PM
April 7-9 – smudge, my tuba solo, has been selected as a finalist in this year’s ElectroBrass Competition to be held at Tennessee Tech, Cookeville, TN – performance by Andy Larson
April 3 – ‘Out of the Box’ at U Arts features The Gate – Terra Hall, 16th Fl – 8PM
March 5 –Vaster Than Empires performs at Constellation – Chicago, IL – 8:30PM
Winter 2016
Dec. 12 – Vaster Than Empires performs on the Parlour Tapes+ release show at Spectrum, NYC – pre-order the album now!
New record out on Parlour Tapes+!
Fall 2016
Nov. 15 – ‘Out of the Box’ at UArts features composer Jerod Sommerfeldt with Ashely Tini and Eric Derr, percussion
Oct. 2 – llama/lama performs on the Unruly Sounds Music Festival, Princeton Public Library, Princeton, NJ
Sept. 30 – flowers – Closing Reception – 7:00-9:00 PM – U Arts Sculpture Gallery – featuring the debut performance of llama/lama
Sept. 13 – flowers – a solo exhibition from The Warp Whistle Project opens in the U Arts Sculpture Gallery. Fine Arts Visiting Artist’s Lecture in the CBS Auditorium at 1:00 PM.
Spring 2016
May 16-22 – ISEA 2016 – Hong Kong – Mary and I (aka The Warp Whistle Project) have been invited to present an Artist’s Talk on this years International Symposium of Electronic Art. We will be presenting an installation, nightly light from suns, that we completed at VCCA this past summer.
May – I am happy to announce that I’ll be in residence at Signal Culture this May. I am really excited to check out the awesome gear that these guys have.
April 19 – The Booleans – U Arts Laptop Ensemble – performs ‘The Sinking of the Titanic’ by Gavin Bryars in the Caplan Recital Hall – Terra Hall – U Arts – 8 PM
March 15 – ‘Out of the Box’ in the Caplan Black Box at U Arts – 8 PM – Philadelphia, PA – Erica Dicker performs in quadraphonic sound with our 4-channel violin pick-up
Fall 2015
Dec. 2 – ebb:flow performs Media Counterpoint at Tapp’s Art Center in Columbia, SC
Nov. 30 – ‘Out of the Box’ in the Caplan Black Box – Philadelphia, PA – Eric Derr performs sliced attractor
Nov. 13 – New Music DePaul – Chicago, IL – DePaul’s new music group, Ensemble 20+, performing Look to Third – Eric Derr performing sliced attractor
Sept. 21 – Brianna Matzke performs Puzzle Pieces at Malone University – Stewart Room – 7:30PM
Sept. 18 – Brianna Matzke performs Puzzle Pieces at SUNY Fredonia – Mason Hall, Rosch Recital Hall – 8PM
Summer 2015
Aug. 26 – Leroy and The Unexpected Vibe at the Listing Loon, Cincinnati – 10PM
July 29 – Leroy and The Unexpected Vibe at the Listing Loon, Cincinnati – 10PM
New work from the Warp Whistle Project’s summer intensive at VCCA – check out the video documentation here.
Spring 2015
March 26-28 – My solo percussion piece, sliced attractor, will be a part of this years SEAMUS Conference at Virginia Tech.
May 1 – Vaster than Empires heads to Potsdam, NY for a featured performance on the Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts and a series of clinics at the Crane School of Music
May 17 – Pianist Brianna Matzke will debut new works for piano by Molly Joyce, Danny Clay, Dylan Sheridan, Tyler Niemeyer and yours truly as a part of The Stockhausen Response Project
May 31-June 3 – Erica Dicker and I will be performing at this years NIME Conference at Louisiana State University
Winter 2015
I’m happy to announce that I was the inaugural guest on John Lane’s podcast ‘Standing in the Stream’ – check it out – http://www.john-lane.com/standinginthestream/
Jan. 26 – newly formed improv group Leeroy – including fellow synthesist Ofir Klemperer and percussionist Zach Larabee – debut at the Comet (Cincinnati) – 10 PM
Fall 2014
Nov. 19 – 8 PM – PASIC – Indianapolis, IN
My set of Oscillator Etudes (written for a quartet of handmade instruments) will be part of the Focus Day evening concert at PASIC.
I’m off to Amsterdam in early October to do some work at STEIM! They are going to help me make improvements to the ‘four-channel violin pick-up’ – see my Electronics page to learn more.
Summer 2014
The Warp Whistle Project will be featured in a show of emerging artists at the Phyllis Weston Gallery in Cincinnati – opening reception July 17
Vaster than Empires is hitting the road this summer –
June 6, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Abrons Art Center, 3:30 – event
July 12, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, 7 PM –
July 13, Constellation, Chicago, 8:30 PM – event
Spring 2014
March 15 – Percussion Group Cincinnati will be premiering my work Space-time Julienne which I wrote for them last May while in residence at the Ucross Foundation.
March 28 – Erica and I are happy to announce that we will be performing on the SEAMUS Conference at Wesleyan University. Stay tuned for more information about a potential NYC show the week before.
Winter 2013
Well the Vaster than Empires crew (Al Otte, Erica Dicker and myself) made it up to Chicago to be in residence at ESS, and I’m happy to report that we have much to show for our efforts. I’ve been hard at work sifting through and editing the large amount of material from this initial session, and it’s coming together nicely – take a listen –
In other news, The Warp Whistle Project is rolling along. I picked up a new group of paintings from Mary over Thanksgiving, and I am really excited to start adding some sound to them. Each piece has a different kind of material (paper, metal, plastic, canvas and burlap) embedded into it which I’m going to amplify via a piezo disk.
I had an exceptional group of students in my Audio Hardware Hacking class this semester at CCM. Check out some of their projects –
Fall 2013
I am very pleased to announce my upcoming residency at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago! This fall I’ll be traveling to ESS multiple times to record with violinist, Erica Dicker, and percussionist, Allen Otte.
Erica and I hope to use our time in the studio together to naturally progress our improvisations. By letting prior sessions pave the way for new sounds, each of our sessions will build upon the last. And we’ll be doing so with a new homemade device in hand – a 4 channel violin pick-up. See pictures under Electronics.
Here are a couple of test tracks that we’ve made here in Cincinnati:
Improvisation 1.0
Improvisation 1.1
Allen Otte will turn our duo into a trio with the addition of his “prepared yang-chin” (Chinese dulcimer). A renowned prepared pianist, Al has created a very personal approach to this traditional Chinese instrument. While in residence at the Ucross Foundation this past spring, I wrote a graphic score specifically for he and Erica to perform. View the pdf.
Stay tuned for details about a concert and gallery opening at ESS this December!
(This project will be supported by the 2013-14 Artist Residency Program at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.)
Summer 2013
New electronic music from my stay at Ucross
Space-time Julienne (Part I)
Spring 2013
I’ll be traveling to South Korea at the end of May to present mobile #2 on the NIME festival.
Winter 2013
circuit painting no. 1 – new work from my stay at VCCA – see the video under Circuit Drawings
Fall 2012
Origami performs at the Contemporary Arts Center
Saturday, September 14, 2012
Listen to a recording of the performance:
COMPOSITIONS
Exhibit installed at the Semantic Gallery, May 2012, Cincinnati, OH
Click here to view the catalogue – compositions_catalogue.pdf
Use this link to access of review of the show from Citybeat Cincinnati – reviews.pdf
FRINGE FESTIVAL
my show Music for Newspapers and Radios was featured on the 2011 Cincinnati Fringe Festival
View the program – program.pdf
Read the reviews from The Cincinnati Enquirer, Citybeat and others here – reviews.pdf
Teaching Tools
Demystifying Max/MSP is a set of tutorials for students beginning to learn computer music programming. It specifically attempts to cover initial vocabulary and other basics that the Max tutorials glance over at best. All objects are clearly explained before they are used in example patches, and the tutorials seek to highlight the unique capabilities of Max as a tool for creating music. (This text is based on Max 5. While in need of an update, I still find it a useful teaching tool.)
View the pdf – DEMYSTIFYING-MAX:MSP.pdf