Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant (January 17, 1955 in San Jose, California – February 18, 2015 in Ventura, California) was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, improvisation, installations, and compositions for chamber ensembles. His work has been noted for its use of re-engineered consumer products and cultural artifacts as interfaces for electronic music performances and networked media installations.
Mark Trayle died on February 18, 2015, of pancreatic cancer, in his home in Ventura, CA.
Trayle's music has been the subject of articles in Strumenti Musicali and Virtual (Italy), Keyboard, and "Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century" (Grove/Atlantic), and he has written articles for Leonardo Music Journal (US/UK) and MusikTexte (Germany). He has recorded for the Artifact, Atavistic Records, CRI, Creative Sources, Inial, Los Angeles River, Elektra/Nonesuch, and Tzadik labels. He taught in the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts from 1996 - 2015.
The Hub: John Bischoff, Chris Brown, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Matt Ingalls, Tim Perkis, Phil Stone — networked computers
Bitpanic: Casey Anderson, Scott Cazan, Clay Chaplin, David Paha, Stephanie Smith — electronics
Track 02 is performed by Zachary Mariano, trombone; Scott Cazan, electronics. On Track 04 guest artist Sara Roberts appears with Bitpanic.
Tracks 01, 02, 04 recorded in concert on February 13, 2016 at the Jeannik Mequet Littlefield Concert Hall at Mills College and mixed by Philip Perkins. Momentary audio distortion on Track 02 is a performance artifact native to the feedback process specified in the score.
Tracks 03, 05 recorded in concert on December 3, 2016 at REDCAT in downtown Los Angeles by John Baffa, assisted by Zack Crumrine, and mixed by Clay Chaplin.
All tracks mastered by Xopher Davidson. Package design by Jon Bafus. Trayle photo by Lenny Gonzalez.
Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant (January 17, 1955 in San Jose, California – February 18, 2015 in Ventura, California) was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, improvisation, installations, and compositions for chamber ensembles. His work has been noted for its use of re-engineered consumer products and cultural artifacts as interfaces for electronic music performances and networked media installations. Trayle studied composition at the University of Oregon with Homer Keller, and at Mills College with Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and David Rosenboom. Under Berhman’s tutelage he began building hybrid digital-analog electronics and used those (often with electric guitar and homemade performance interfaces) throughout the 1980s. From the late 1980s through the mid-1990s his work focused on the use of alternative performance interfaces to guide algorithmic compositions, as well as composing for and performing with The Hub.
The Hub is a computer network band that originated in the eighties. Six individual composer/performers – Chris Brown, Scot Gresham Lancaster, John Bischoff, Tim Perkis, Mark Trayle, and Phil Stone – connected separate computer-controlled music synthesizers into a network. The ensemble explored a new genre called Computer Network Music.
The members of The Hub electronically coordinated the activity of their individual systems through a central microcomputer, “the hub” itself, as well as manually through ears, eyes, and hands. The Hub sought surprise through the lively and unpredictable responses of their systems, and instead of trying to eliminate the imperfect human performer, used the electronic tools available to enhance the social aspect of music making.
Bitpanic is a computer music collective based in Los Angeles that explores networked compositional systems, experimental sound practices, and improvisation. The group follows the computer music lineage pioneered by The Hub. Current members are all former students and colleagues of The Hub co-founder Mark Trayle and include Casey Anderson
