Aashray Harishankar

is a composer, producer, and keyboardist from Irvine, CA. He has musical foundations in Carnatic keyboard, jazz piano, composition, and audio engineering. He earned his B.A. in Music Technology from Stevens Institute in Hoboken, NJ and is currently pursuing his MFA as a Performer-Composer at CalArts.

Flight

“Flight” is a 2019 concept album mirroring the timeline of human life, from birth until death and beyond. Each song, lyrically and sonically, represents a different time period, but all are reflections of life as a whole. Beginning with “Liftoff/Zephyr”, we rise into a period of birth and infancy, of wonder and innocence, carrying into the youthful bounce of “The Sweetest Thing” and onto the teenage angst of “Break the Chain”. “Never Had Much Faith” introduces the first feelings of love as a young adult, building to the hardened ambition of “Pilot”. In “Gemini” we hit mid-life, a period split between youth and old age. As we reach old age, “After Dark” and “Oceans” bring in feelings of isolation, nostalgia, and loss of purpose, but a love of life is reborn in “Another Dawn” and leads to enlightenment at the end of life as we pass to “The Other Side”, escaping the atmosphere and into the unknown.

Kiera Dillon, Michael Cozine, Matt Renzo, Julian Hernandez, Eddie Wilkins Jr., Andrew Chrepta, Andrew Alvarez, Tristan Demetri, Sumika Inoue, Carlos Schmitt Dissenha, Justin Tanksley, Erik Rabasca, Alex Kaufman, Kavi Srinivasaragavan, Justin Kilpatrick


Bo Li

From 1942 to 2020 Why are you making this piece? Since the beginning of the epidemic, I have followed the notice from the local authority to stay at home and stay alive. Since the food in my house has become thinner recently, I have to go out to hunt. Firstly, I found that I was completely expired, so […]

Matthew Pagoaga

Parallel Self Embraced “Parallel Self Embraced is an upcoming interactive light art installation to be installed at Burning Man 2021. Parallel Self Embraced presents two panels with human figures outlined in their center. Radial lines extend outward from the figures and beckon as doorways for entry. Entering the piece trips a variety of sensors and […]

Socks Whitmore

Quarantine Acoustics When Jacob’s estranged sister Ashley asks him to reprise a role from his past, the two must come to terms with their relationship to his younger ‘female’ self in order to save their own. “Pass” is a queer one act musical in development. It had a staged reading on January 26, 2020 in […]

Steve Weir

Alleys The Alleys series documents a lesser-known casualty of the construction boom in Seattle—alleyways. While they often carry a negative reputation, they are an integral part of the urban landscape.

John Tejada

Future Stars class compilation album John Tejada, a frequent guest on Touched Music compilations, hatched the idea of turning the final project for his CalArts “Advanced Electronic Music Production” class into a compilation album for the established label. John Tejada Presents Future Stars features 15 of Tejada’s students at their best, as well as an […]

Sven Golden

Blake The Sorcerer Blake The Sorcerer is a recently released album of original piano solo pieces with different moods and subjects Fortune Freeway –

Joanna Keler

DEEP INSIDE “CalArts. A game-changer in the education of professional artists. CalArts. Grounded in openness, experimentation, critical engagement, and creative freedom. CalArts. Transform ourselves, each other, and the world. Let’s go, stranger I’ll show you CalArts. From outside to inside. To all our concerns, frustration, and alienation. To all what will always stay in counselor’s […]