Participation

Here is a few of the most recent musical endeavors, in chronological order from most recent to least recent, that I have participated in and am most proud of. Please share this music if you feel compelled to do so, and tell whoever you share it with to do the same.

Enjoy.

Things Falling Apart - Practice for a Show : 27m

Loud, quiet, fast, and slow post-rock

In early September 2009 I was asked to play a show with Things Falling Apart at Otto's in DeKalb, Illinois on October 9th. I had never felt so honored in all of my musical career. I agreed to play whatever they needed me to. I was asked to come up with a guitar part for "Asleep on a Riverbed" and "Refracted Rays", and I did. This recording comes from the first and only practice I had with the full band, so if there are any noticeable screw-ups on guitar, that's me, but for the most part I am very confident in this recording. It was recorded by Tim Walker on his hand-held Tascam. The show at Otto's happened, and the band broke up shortly after.

Things Falling Apart, on this recording, is...

Bob Aspatore: guitar

Brandon Welch: bass, trumpet

Ben Aldis: drums, glockenspiel

Tim Walker: guitar

Dan Monaghan: guitar

Good People - Live Set in Two Parts : 20m

Experimental poppy sound

Recorded in John Benson's hallway in DeKalb, Illinois sometime in the fall of 2009, by John Benson, on both an analog and a digital recorder. Both tracks were synched up during mixing. The digital recording was panned completely to the right, and the analog recording was panned completely to the left. However, both tracks are never perfectly synchronized, because it is impossible to do so. This gives the end product a cool Zaireeka-esque feel.

Good People is

Mic Anderson: guitar, keyboard, electronics

Tommy Gilbert: bass, keyboards, electronics

Dan Monaghan: drums, keyboard, vocals, electronics

Information Deliver Service - 3^2-1/5 : 30m

Freeform jazzy noise

Recorded live at the Ars Nova Arts Festival on the steps of Jack Arends hall at NIU in DeKalb, Illinois in the spring of 2009. With a total of eight musicians, the idea was to start with one drummer who would sound a horn to bring a new musician at five minute intervals until every musician was on stage. This set was recorded by me on my cellphone, so the quality is not the best. Things unfolded in a chaotic manner, as one can assume, with the end product resulting in two or three extra musicians and multiple instrument changes. The most interesting part of this set was seeing a crowd of 20-30 dwindle to maybe 3-4 by the end of the set; it was a very powerful feeling to have seen this happen. Liberating. Refreshing.

IDS is

Everyone: everything.

IDS was (during this set) in order of appearance

John Benson: drums, electronics, horn

Jacob Boulay: drums, electronics

Matthew Judson: drums, electronics

Dan Monaghan: electronics, drums

Jim Schram: tenor saxophone

Brett Hedrick: alto saxophone

Jonathan McQuade: trumpet

Jeff Swanson: guitar

added mid set...

Dave Click: electronics

Micah Isaacson: electronics

Ears and Eyes - Trying to Capture Fire : 30m

Spastic prog-noise.

We wrote all of this material in short bursts of coffee induced creativity February-May 2008. This album was recorded on one day in June 2008 at the 7th st. Space in DeKalb, Illinois by Tim Walker. It was mixed in an hour or two. Every song was recorded live with no overdubs, and most of the tracks were first-take. It is important to note that this band consisted of, at the time, two solo musicians. We would generally play our solo material, as well as Ears and Eyes material, at a majority of our live shows. We each recorded one of our solo songs, both of which appear on this album.

Ears and Eyes is

Andrew Erickson: guitar

Dan Monaghan: drums, guitar

Dan Monaghan - An Ideas : 50m

Jangly experimental folk

An Ideas is a collection of written material and improvisations. All of the material was conceived between summer 2007 - spring 2008. Sure, there are aspects of this album I'm not entirely proud of, but I feel it represents my creativity during the time quite accurately. The last track "B66od" contains dialogue from the movie Buffalo 66. James Bishop contributed to the tracks "Watching the Sun Set from a Space Ship" parts 1 and 2, as well as "Sounds from Underneath Your Bed on Mars". This album was recorded on the roof of my house in West Dundee, Illinois and in my bedroom in DeKalb, Illinois.

Dan Monaghan: acoustic guitar, electronics, editing, field recording.