Solo: UnPlugged from a Band
My new solo album, The Green Man, will be released on Don Giovanni Records (LP/Cd/digital) on Sept.18, 2026, with pre-sales HERE starting August 18. This is my “Unplugged from a Band”, singer/songwriter/guitarist w/minimal loops, music. All new songs except for a cover of the Syd Barrett/James Joyce song “Golden Hair.”
Aug.14: Brighton Music Hall. “25 Years of Fenway Recordings”. Free but you must secure tickets ahead of time. With Minibeast, Consonant, and others.
Sept.17: Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Foufs (with Storey Littleton)
Sept.18: Hamilton, ON @ Mills Hardware (with Storey Littleton)
Sept.19: Windsor, ON @ Phog (with Storey Littleton)
Sept.20: Toronto, ON @ BSMT254 (with Storey Littleton)
Sept.21: Angry Mom Records, Ithaca, NY
115 E State St., Ithaca NY
I will be performing in New England and other area shows in the fall. Response to recent shows has been rather good. New songs are showing up at a regular rate, and the follow-up album is mostly written.
SPROTON LAYER
The second full-length album from Sproton Layer, “Press Your Hand and the Whole Room Fluctuates”, will be officially released on 12XU Records on July 12. Side I is songs from 1969, while Side II is free-rock improvisations from 1971. This fills out our album “With Magnetic Fields Disrupted” from 1970 (World in Sound, and New Alliance Records), which was the end result of the full band. The 1969 side shows how we got to WMFD, and the 1971 side is a more radical take on rock music improvisation, essentially, free improvisation blended with rock music. At this point the band was an instrumental trio.
HERE is the 12XU bandcamp site where you can listen to one song now, and purchase.
HERE is 12XU mail order.
There will be a listening party on Friday, July 16, 8pm. HERE (soon!) is the link.
There will also be an associated digital EP, “Emit Time”, which is from the reunion tour of 2013. There are two live tracks, and also three songs from 1969 which were not recorded until 2013.
Sproton Layer was:
Roger Miller: Bass guitar, vocals.
Ben Miller: Guitar, vocals.
Larry Miller: Drums.
Harold Kirchen: trumpet (1969/1970).
Steve Smith: trumpet (2013).
B. Mez
July 20, Epsilon Spires, Brattleboro, VT
B.Mez in Brattleboro! Miller will be playing a fully prepared grand piano, plus electric guitar, with three long-time members of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic: Rick Scott, Michael Bierylo and Ken Field. The ensemble will improvise to films of the Lunar Landing from July 20, 1969. Space Music indeed!
Their album “Under Circuitous Skies” is available from Cuneiform Records.
“What distinguishes “Under Circuitous Skies” from many contemporary improvisational releases is its refusal to settle into either serenity or confrontation. The music constantly negotiates between consonance and friction, familiarity and mystery. Moments of beauty emerge naturally, only to be interrupted by textures that complicate their meaning. Yet nothing feels arbitrary. Every gesture seems connected to an evolving collective logic that remains invisible but undeniable.” Vito Camarretta, Chain D.L.K.
“Scorchingly beautiful… moving and interesting… I can only give this my highest recommendation.” Peter Thelen, Expose.
The Anvil Orchestra
Fri., July 31: Oak Cliff Film Festival, Dallas, TX: The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Sat., Aug.29: Middlebury Film Festival, Middlebury, VT: The General (Buster Keaton)
Sat., Sept.12: George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY: Metropolis
Sun., Sept.13: Hamilton College, Clinton, NY: Man with the Movie Camera and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
In May we recorded our score for “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” at the amazing Guilford Sound Studio. The music slants heavily towards the magical and the middle-eastern, especially because the animated movie (1926) is based on two stories from “1,001 Arabian Nights.” We love playing this kind of music, and feel it is one of our very best scores. A Cd will be released by the Dallas Oak Cliff Festival at the end of July, and will be sold only at shows.
Trinary System
Shows in the Spring were so great. The band played really well, and despite a couple insane drives, we survived in good spirits. Every night, by the middle of the first song, the audience was very much with us. A good way to rock. We played with some really great bands too: The Messthetics, Sapling, Bunnies, Paris Monster, and more.
HERE is our recent album, THE HARD MACHINE, on Cuneiform Records.
Expose Magazine:
“It has more in common with Mission of Burma than most of Miller’s other projects, being an honest-to-goodness rock band… “On the Ground (Complete the Circle)” is a group composition that ventures into noisy improvisation, resulting in an eerie dirge at odds with energetic songs like “Monkeys (on Your Back),” “Pop!” and “The Golem.” The Hard Machine is a great set of songs, no matter how you want to label them.” Jon Davis.
We don’t get much traffic on our street
