{{Short description|American musician and artist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2015}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Christopher Willits | image = File:20140906-christopher-willits opening-release.jpg | caption = Christopher Willits in 2014 | image_size = <!-- Only for images narrower than 220 pixels --> | landscape = yes | birth_name = | alias = | death_date = | origin = Kansas City, Missouri, United States | instrument = {{hlist|Guitar|computer|electronic musical instruments|vocals|percussion|synthesizer}} | genre = {{hlist|Electronic|glitch|ambient|electroacoustic|experimental}} | occupation = {{hlist|Musician|artist|filmmaker|record producer}} | years_active = 1993–present | label = {{hlist|Ghostly International|12k|Overlap}} | website = [http://www.christopherwillits.com www.christopherwillits.com] }}
'''Christopher Willits''' (born April 8, 1978) is a San Francisco-based guitarist, electronic music composer and producer, visual artist and scholar.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.sfgate.com/loaded/2015/02/20/willits/|title=Christopher Willits talks Noise Pop 'Opening'|last1=February 20|first1=Aidin Vaziri on|last2=AM|first2=2015 at 10:30|date=2015-02-20|website=Loaded|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225424/https://blog.sfgate.com/loaded/2015/02/20/willits/|url-status=live}}</ref> His music is electroacoustic in nature, in that both analogue and digital sounds are meshed into one singular sound.
==Biography== Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Willits began playing guitar when he was about 13. He got his first guitar after a football game when, out of the blue, his father suggested they buy one for him. He had played piano as a child, but up to this point, his main interest had been sports. "I couldn't really stand piano. It felt too boxy and classical," he remembers. "I loved that dynamic energy of sports and the improvisation... I played everything; soccer, baseball, basketball. ... That's really where my understanding of improvisation and teamwork came in."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/christopher-willits-enveloped-in-spherical-sound-2495386590.html|title=Christopher Willits Is Enveloped in Spherical Sound|date=2017-07-11|website=PopMatters|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20}}</ref>
With his own guitar, he began playing all the time, trying to figure out the solos that he heard on his Jimi Hendrix records, and then forming bands in the psychedelic vein. Also a visual artist, he attended the Kansas City Art Institute, where he studied painting, then came to Mills College<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://exclaim.ca/music/article/christopher_willits-tiger_flower_circle_sun|title=Christopher Willits Tiger Flower Circle Sun|website=exclaim.ca|language=en-ca|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225423/http://exclaim.ca/music/article/christopher_willits-tiger_flower_circle_sun|url-status=live}}</ref> in California where he studied with Fred Frith and Pauline Oliveros. An ambient album released while still in college on Taylor Dupree's 12K label launched his solo career.
“A universal talent, not only a virtuosic musician but an adept computer programmer—to create his shimmering walls of sound he uses his own custom software (he began inventing his own guitar effects when he was 13), and accompanies live performances with interactive visuals.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nowness.com/story/christopher-willits-floral-reverie|title=Christopher Willits' Floral Reverie The Meditative Muso and Digital Artist Takes Us On a Head Trip|date=August 6, 2010|website=www.nowness.com|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225425/https://www.nowness.com/story/christopher-willits-floral-reverie|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
The Kansas City native came to the Bay Area in 2000 (After a painting scholarship at KCAI)and received a master's degree in electronic music at Mills College where he studied with Fred Frith and Pauline Oliveros.<ref name=":0" /> Along the way, he advanced his skills in photography, cinematography and new media.
Willits completed a master's degree in electronic music at Mills College.<ref name="Andy Kellman">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/christopher-willits-p553081|title=Christopher Willits – Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography – AllMusic|author=Andy Kellman|work=AllMusic|accessdate=November 10, 2014|archive-date=October 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008102102/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/christopher-willits-p553081|url-status=live}} {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/902742174 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/891585116 cite #1 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. User:GreenC bot/Job 18}}</ref>
Willits, as a solo artist or in collaboration, has released music on the following record labels: 12k (US), Ghostly International (US), Fällt(Ireland), Sub Rosa (Belgium), Ache Records (Canada), Yacca (Japan) and Plop (Japan). He has toured throughout Europe, America, Mexico, Canada, Australia, China, Thailand, and Japan.<ref name="Andy Kellman"/>
Willits has participated in numerous projects, including collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/christopher-willits-collaboration-ryuichi-sakamoto/|title=Christopher Willits on Collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto|website=www.ableton.com|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225425/https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/christopher-willits-collaboration-ryuichi-sakamoto/|url-status=live}}</ref> Tycho,<ref name=":0" /> Zach Hill (drummer from the band Death Grips and Hella), Kid606, Brad Laner (Medicine), Nate Boyce, Latrice Barnett (singer/songwriter and bassist for Handsome Boy Modeling School), Taylor Deupree (12k record label founder), Scott Pagano (visual artist and motion graphics designer), Matmos.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tokafi.com/news/christopher-willits-ryuichi-sakamoto-ocean-fire-burns-12k/|title=Christopher Willits & Ryuichi Sakamoto: Ocean Fire burns on 12k|publisher=Tokafi.com|accessdate=November 10, 2014|archive-date=November 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110165453/http://www.tokafi.com/news/christopher-willits-ryuichi-sakamoto-ocean-fire-burns-12k/|url-status=live}} {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/902742174 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/891585116 cite #3 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. User:GreenC bot/Job 18}}</ref> Willits is also the founder and director of the record label and community building organization Overlap.
In 2023, Willits remixed Kenneth James Gibson’s track ''Poured Semi Silently Upon You'' for the remix album ''Further Translations'' on Gibson’s label Meadows Heavy Recorders. Also featured on the album is Jack Dangers, Brian McBride, Scanner, and others. <ref>Admin [https://theletter.co.uk/kenneth-james-gibson-further-translations/ Further Translations review, 9 Nov., 2023] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214021804/https://theletter.co.uk/kenneth-james-gibson-further-translations/ |date=December 14, 2024 }}, ''www.theletter.co.uk'', Retrieved 13 December 2024</ref>
== Education == Willits regularly teaches workshops on spatial audio, music production, the creative process, and leadership. He has taught at California College of the Arts (CCA), San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), Berkeley City College (BCC), The Art Institute San Francisco, Norcal DJMPA, Sound Arts, the Bay Area Video Coalition and Goucher College.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goucher.edu/learn/graduate-programs/ma-in-digital-arts/faculty|title=M.A. in Digital Arts Faculty|website=Goucher College|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225423/https://www.goucher.edu/learn/graduate-programs/ma-in-digital-arts/faculty|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.christopherwillits.com/edu|title=Higher Education|website=Christopher Willits|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-20}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
Willits is also a meditation teacher<ref name=":0" /> teaching at The Center<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecentersf.com/calendar/2018/1/23/forms-of-meditation-with-christopher-willits|title=Forms of Meditation with Christopher Willits|website=The Center SF|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-20}}</ref> (cite ), Habitas, Envelop SF, and his own private workshops.
== Instruments and Tools == Willits plays a custom Moog guitar.<ref name=":0" /> Along with various outboard gear<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.guitarmoderne.com/artists/spotlight-christopher-willits|title=Spotlight: Christopher Willits {{!}} guitar moderne|last=Moderne|first=Guitar|date=September 2012|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225425/http://www.guitarmoderne.com/artists/spotlight-christopher-willits|url-status=live}}</ref> and uses Ableton Live with Max for Live, and Touch Designer for video processing.
== Envelop == Willits is the executive director of Envelop, a nonprofit organization that amplifies the connective power of music through immersive audio venues, and open source spatial audio production software.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.envelop.us/|title=Envelop|website=Envelop|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225425/http://www.envelop.us/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cdm.link/2019/06/ambient-music-sunset-christopher-willits/|title=Ambient music you can time to a sunset, from Christopher Willits|date=2019-06-18|website=CDM Create Digital Music|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225425/https://cdm.link/2019/06/ambient-music-sunset-christopher-willits/|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Overlap == Christopher Willits directs the creative collective <nowiki>http://overlap.org</nowiki> <ref>{{cite web|url=http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies/Christopher_Willits|title=Case Studies/Christopher Willits|publisher=Wiki.creativecommons.org|accessdate=November 10, 2014|archive-date=October 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007181748/https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies/Christopher_Willits|url-status=live}} {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/902742174 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/891585116 cite #6 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. User:GreenC bot/Job 18}}</ref> which is involved in creative community building events<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/2009/03/interview-christopher-willits/|title=INTERVIEW: CHRISTOPHER WILLITS The Secret Life Of A Beach Boy – themilkfactory|publisher=Themilkfactory.co.uk|accessdate=November 10, 2014|archive-date=November 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110170217/http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/2009/03/interview-christopher-willits/|url-status=live}} {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/902742174 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/891585116 cite #4 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. User:GreenC bot/Job 18}}</ref> and runs a studio in Oakland, California.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.overlap.org/studio|title=STUDIO|website=Creating Together|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=June 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620225424/http://www.overlap.org/studio|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Folding== Willits' guitar lines and harmonies are folded into each other using custom-designed software (Willits uses the term "folding" to describe the non-linear, real-time indexing, cutting and re-sampling of guitar and voice).<ref name=mfi>{{cite web|url=http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/2009/03/interview-christopher-willits/|title=INTERVIEW: CHRISTOPHER WILLITS The Secret Life Of A Beach Boy – themilkfactory|publisher=Themilkfactory.co.uk|accessdate=November 10, 2014}}</ref>
Willits, in an interview, further expanded on the term 'folding,' "It has a lot to do with time. I actually wrote a whole thesis about this, if you want to go to the Mills library and check it out [laughs]. It's a very simple process of recording something to memory and then indexing at different points. But instead of it being a granular process [a form of synthesis in which a sample is separated into 'grains'], I'm actually skating to different locations within this memory. So there's this continuous rupture of time that creates these rhythmic patterns, so these melodic patterns start to emerge out of this time processing technique."<ref name=mfi />
==Discography== *''New Moon'' (Ghostly International) - 2025 *''Gravity'' (Ghostly International) - 2022 *''Sunset'' (Ghostly International) - 2019 *''Horizon'' (Ghostly International) - 2017 *''The Art of Listening (An Original Score Soundtrack)'' (self-released) - 2014 *''Opening'' (Ghostly International) – 2014<ref>{{cite web|url=http://exclaim.ca/News/christopher_willits_announces_opening_visual_album|title=Christopher Willits Announces 'OPENING' Visual Album|publisher=Exclaim.ca|accessdate=November 10, 2014|archive-date=September 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912154959/http://exclaim.ca/News/christopher_willits_announces_opening_visual_album|url-status=live}}</ref> *''Ancient Future'' (Ghostly International) - 2012 *''GOLD'' (Overlap) – 2011 *''Live on Earth – Vol. 3'' (self-released) – 2011 *''Tiger Flower Circle Sun'' (Ghostly International) – 2010 *''Live on Earth – Vol. 2'' (self-released) – 2009 *''Live on Earth – Vol. 1'' (self-released) – 2009 *''Plants and Hearts'' (Room40) – 2007 *''Surf Boundaries'' (Ghostly International) – 2006 *''Pollen'' (Fallt) – 2003 *''Little Edo'' (Nibble) – 2003 *''Folding, and the Tea'' (12k) – 2002 *'':plateaus, centers, stoma...'' (self-released CDR) – 2001 *''storks and wires'' (self-released CDR) – 2000
===Collaborations and band projects=== *Willits + Sakamoto (Christopher Willits and Ryuichi Sakamoto) – ''Ancient Future'' (Ghostly International) – 2012 *Boyce + Matmos + Willits - ''Subconscious Attraction Strategies'' (2011) *Willits + Sakamoto (Christopher Willits and Ryuichi Sakamoto) – ''Ocean Fire'' (Commmons/12k) – 2008 *Christopher Willits + Taylor Deupree – ''Listening Garden'' (Line) – 2007 *The North Valley Subconscious Orchestra – ''The Right Kind of Nothing'' (Ghostly International) – 2006 *Christopher Willits + Taylor Deupree – ''Live in Japan 2004'' (12k) – 2005 *Flössin – ''Lead Singer'' (Ache Records, Yacca) – 2004 *Christopher Willits + Taylor Deupree – ''Mujo'' (Plop) – 2004 *Christopher Willits + Taylor Deupree – ''AS08'' (Sub Rosa, Audiosphere) – 2003 *''Saturn 138'' (HWTBL) – 1998
=== Remixes ===
* Tycho - ''Montana'' (Christopher Willits Remix) * The Glitch Mob - ''The Clouds Breathe for You'' (Christopher Willits Remix) * Harold Budd - ''Olancha Hello'' (Christopher Willits Remix) * Alejandro Bento - ''Heartbeat'' (Christopher Willits Remix) * Clarinet Factory - ''Nautilus'' (Christopher Willits Remix) * Tmymtur - ''050912/0'' (Christopher Willits Remix)
=== Compilations ===
* Various artists – ''Idol Tryouts'' (Ghostly International) – 2006 * Various artists – ''SMM vol.2 – Breathe in Seven Sections'' (Ghostly International) – 2004 * Various artists – ''E*A*D*G*B*E – Seven Machines For Summer'' (12k) – 2003
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.christopherwillits.com Christopher Willits official website] * [http://mikeypod.com/2008/03/17/mikeypod-120-conversation-with-christopher-willits-206-202-4175/ MikeyPod Podcast interview] with Christopher Willits (2008) * [http://mikeypod.com/2017/02/27/christopher-willits/ MikeyPod Podcast interview] with Christopher Willits (2017)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Willits, Christopher}} Category:Living people Category:American electronic musicians Category:American experimental musicians Category:Artists from Missouri Category:Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri Category:Kansas City Art Institute alumni Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Guitarists from Missouri Category:American male guitarists Category:1978 births