CAMI FLAGE is a musician, midicrafter, and artist based in the East Bay, California, which is the unceded territory and ancestral land of Huichin Ohlone people.
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“You do music, huh?”
Yup, I am a classically trained pianist turned jam band keyboardist. I particularly love the music of the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band, especially when I get to play with my local Deadhead friends on a back porch in July.
I’ve been accused of conspiring with the Seattle-based “theatrical” “ambient” “krautrock” “█̶̢̡͕̱̭̪̗̳̳̉̚̕̚█̷̨̨̡̥̥̙̩͙̰͂̂͜█̷̫̝̲̻̞̩͔̃̆̑̓̓̑͘͝ͅ█̴̡̮̲͖͌̊͠█̴̨̛̜̥͇̄̎̄” described as W̴̱̹̻̽̃͝Õ̵͍̩Y̷̫̚N̴̳̔͛͝Î̴͙̺̤̓C̴̣̈́̔Ĥ̶̢͛͊. I deny any and all allegations.
Most recent release: Beyond Tom’s American, July 2025.
Live-improvised ambient. Synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, & guitar pedals
Some people have said it’s great to study, meditate, or simply relax to
Up next:
gently urgent piano hypnosis?
shapeshifting Berlin School synth duets?
cosmic highway krautrock?
performance art Detroit electro?
Switched-On Hildegard von Bingen?
robot vocoder singer-songwriter?
live jam band commentating like pro sports broadcasts?
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“Midicraft?”
Yeah, that’s the best descriptor for it I think. I make microcontroller-driven MIDI effects boxes, and have also developed some unusual and fun Max4Live MIDI devices for Ableton Live users.
In the hardware realm, I’ve been working on a performance-oriented stochastic sequencer I call the Quartermaster. The alpha prototypes are 90% there and mostly functioning! I’m very excited to get that last 10% nailed down and start sharing it with the world.
On the software side, you can download my free Max4Live devices by clicking the following hyperlinks:
Lefty (Left handed piano transposer)
Remaps digital keyboards to be left handed. You can read sheet music using the treble clef for your left hand, and the bass clef for your right - and any finger markings will be useable too!
Anyone remember Jacob Collier going off about “negative harmony” in that one 2018 youtube video? Well this device does that thing automatically, and goes a few steps further too.
Inspired by this 2022 project.jdm TikTok that is just so brain-scratchingly satisfying it needed to be further immortalized in a MIDI tool
Discontinued M4L device: THE BASELINE. Available by request if you ask nicely. The Quartermaster is already its much more interesting successor!
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“Art too?”
Yes, though visual art is more of a seasonal thing for me than a primary obsession. Joni Mitchell describes it well: “Anytime I make a record, it's followed by a painting period. It's a good crop rotation, painting to clear the head.”
But instead of painting, my focus is instead on studying and expanding on my mother’s practice of one block wonder quilting. It’s led me into the realms of generative animation, video collage, liquid light art, linocut printing, and interactive public exhibitions. It has not yet led to me actually quilting with fabric yet … maybe someday.
My mother and I hosted two public shows together in 2022 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI.