Sample of Creative Projects and Collaborations
At the height of pandemic lockdowns, I bought an analog synthesizer and began experimenting with using the sequencer to accompany my tabla practice. This track grew out of those sessions. Once the foundation took shape, I asked hometown friend and multi-instrumentalist Gina Sobel to add some flute.
“Rise” by Kilo Pascal ft. Sam Cushman (tabla)
When my favorite people recruit me for their projects, I tend to say yes without deliberation. It must have been early 2019 when Tucker Rogers (Kilo Pascal) reached out about tabla for this track. Not one to phone it in with a short, repetitive sample, I recorded several full passes from my cottage in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Minnush, “Avraham” (2021)
VA-based Sephardic band Minnush asked me to collaborate on a remote concert in May 2021. We never even played in the same room, as the pandemic continued into its second year, but it came together nicely!
Tablalan (2017) ft. Sam Cushman (tabla)
Chamber piece composed by Ed Garcia for tabla and Sundanese gamelan. Performed in the UC Santa Cruz Recital Hall at Ed’s D.M.A. recital.
Hamsa (2016), comp. Brian Baumbusch
In November 2016, I traveled to Washington D.C. as a member of the Lightbulb Ensemble to premiere this gamelan-inspired minimalist opus for the Smithsonian.
From the Smithsonian Institute: “In this virtuoso performance, a traditional Balinese gamelan orchestra combines with organ, guitar, and voice to tell the allegorical story of a beggar’s perplexing dreams about the Five Pillars of Islam. With entrancing music by Brian Baumbusch and libretto by Paul Baumbusch, this compelling music puts the shimmering sounds of gamelan in an entirely new context. Presented in 2016 as part of the festival Performing Indonesia: Islamic Intersections.”
Kings of Belmont, IAMIAMI (2011)
After college I played in a jam band for a few years. We recorded this album. Then I quit and moved to California.
Travis Elliott, Swan Dive (2010)
The first full album I ever tracked on drums. Different times.
This track emerged as a final project for a course entitled “Producer as Composer” at the University of Virginia (if you know, you know). I pulled out all the stops with one AT2020 condenser mic and a cracked version of Ableton Suite (I have since paid for a full license). My roommate, Shankar Srinivasan, contributed a few melodic passes, I mixed it down, and the rest is history.