Sound
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Ben Vida (b. 1974)



Patchwork (2010)
  1. #0 patch four
  2. #1 patch eight
  3. #2 patch eleven
  4. #3(4) patch twelve and twelve a
  5. #5 patch ten
  6. #7 patch fifteen
  7. #7.1 patch d+m four (patch 20)
  8. #8 patch sixteen
  9. #9 patch two
  10. #11 patch nine
  11. #12 patch five
  12. #13 patch nine a
  13. #14 patch one

All pieces were recorded during fall 2009 in real-time stereo with no overdubs. All tracks are no touch automatic compositions with the exception of tracks #7 and #8 which were improvised. All tracks were created using a moog semi-modular system. Originally released on cassette tape by Autumn Records in 2010.


Music for a Soft Epic (2010)
  1. Soft Epic, or: Synthesizers of the Atlantic East
  2. Soft Epic, or: Savages of the Pacific West

Composed in 2007 as a 5.1 audio soundtrack for the video installation piece Soft Epic, or: Savages of the Pacific West by artists Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib. The 2010 release combined both a stereo mix of the original soundtrack plus a second version that was not used in the installation.

Composed using synthesized and concrete sounds.

Originally released on cassette tape by Root Strata in 2010.


Trading Prescriptions (2011)
  1. Asuna #2
  2. Buuh
  3. Full Damage #1
  4. Stutter Fux’es (w.Monobloc)
  5. Krnk Prt 1
  6. Taap Lungy Bounce 2
  7. Ubsyrs
  8. SM For A And Jpn Friends

The eight tracks that make up Trading Prescriptions explore Abstracted Propulsion and Disjunctive Rhythms.

Created on an analog/digital hybrid synthesizing system. Patches built in Max/MSP function as the control sources for a modular analog synthesizer. All audio materials are analog.

Recorded and edited winter 2011.

Originally released on cassette tape by Los Discos Enfantasmes in 2011.



Ben Vida (b. 1974) is a composer, improviser and sound artist. Ben has worked in collaboration with artists Siebren Versteeg, Doug Aitken, Hisham Bharoocha, Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib.  As an improviser he has performed with Milo Fine, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Taku Sugimoto, Kevin Drumm, Yamatsuka Eye, Jim O' Rourke and C. Spencer Yeh among many others. He has played in ensembles led by Tony Conrad, Rhys Chattam, and Werner Dafeldecker.  Ben led the minimalist acoustic group Town and Country for ten years and has released over twenty records on such labels as Thrill Jockey, PAN, Drag City, Amish, Bottrop-Boy, Hapna and Kranky. Awards, residencies and commissions include an Illinois Arts Council Grant for composition (2006), The Swedish Arts Grants Committee (2011). ISSUE Project Room Emerging Artists Commission (2011), Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona "Composing with Process" Exclusive Works commission (2011). Composer in Residency, Diapason Space, NYC (2011), Composer in Residency, EMS Studios, Stockholm, Sweden (2011), Artist in residency Electronic Television Center, Owega, NY (2008).   As both a solo artist and in collaboration Ben has presented his work in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea and Japan. Notable shows include Elizabeth Dee Gallery, NYC, ICA, London, England, Moonji Cultural Institute Seoul, South Korea, All Tomorrows Parties, Minehead, England; X-Initiative, New York, NY, Shinagawa Gloria Chapel, Tokyo, Japan, Festival Soy, Planètarium à Nantes, France, Gallery Ze Dos Bois, Lisbon, Portugal, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, IL, Podewil, Berlin, Germany, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.