This section is devoted to various sound projects and collaborations in my little corner of the the xee universe which don't fall under the realm of any "established" group or project. Stylistically, there's a pretty wide range of stuff here...

Choose a link that interests you to hear the aural output (and see the associated packaging/artwork, if any) of a given project.

"The Project"

In 1997, Frank Smith and Marchette Dubois applied for an arts grant from the Jack Straw Foundation in Seattle. The piece below was basically our "grant proposal": a roughly 10-minute sound collage, comprised of three discrete sections, which describes two people being "called to" Seattle by mysterious forces (emanating from the Space Needle?) and what happens after they meet. Personnel is

  • Marchette Dubois: Found objects, electronics, sound manipulation, electric bass, voice
  • Frank Smith: Found objects, electronics, sound manipulation, accordion, voice

  • The Project - 9:40

    Snake Fence

    "Snake Fence" was the name I gave to a one-off project that resulted in a (very short) cassette tape that I sent to friends for Christmas in 1997. It's notable (to me, anyway) because it's the first time I tried to produce anything resembling techno or house music. Songs, artwork and more info can be found by following the link below:

  • Snake Fence: Tonal Design

    Stoner Rock/Drone Archives

    Not much to say about these songs...I produced them (on guitar and drum machine) back in 1995 in Somerville, MA; they show the influence, methinks, of the fairly large amount of herbal nourishment I was injesting at the time, heheh... One of the songs, "Maze," appeared on the compilation "Anon," released by Castle von Buhler Records in 1995. You can see the cover to the CD and the artwork associated with my song (each sound artist was paired up with a visual artist, and the illustrations associated with the songs were included on cards in the CD packaging) here (opens in a separate browser window). A certain percentage of the proceeds of the sale of the album went to AIDS-related organizations (and a bunch went to the record label as well). Trivia note: The live performance of Sappho's Fist's song "Invalid Request" which you can find here was taken from the record release party for "Anon" at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA.

    In the linear timeline, I composed and recorded these pieces just before meeting Amy Kirk and forming Sappho's Fist (see above link). In fact, the song "Fazoub" also appears on the first Sappho's Fist album.

  • Stoner Rock/Drone Archives

    Wind-Up Monkey

    "Wind-Up Monkey" was an EP (on cassette) recorded in early 1998. It's another one of my early attempts at something approaching "dance music," albeit a pretty twisted attempt. "Wind-Up Monkey" was originally conceived of as a vox barbara album, but that idea was abandoned once it developed into something sample-heavy, involving synthesizers, and sequenced, and thus in conflict with vox barbara's particular aesthetic. To listen to all of the songs and hear more about the concept and artwork, follow this link:

  • Wind-Up Monkey