✌️ i’m brandon.
I’m an independent musician, builder of web products, writer, technology tinkerer and dad. I’m based in central Massachusetts, USA, with my wife Alicia, daughter Talia and dog Rosie.
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music
I am a classically-trained pianist, studied composer & songwriter, self-taught producer & multi-instrumentalist. I won a few awards for piano performance as a kid. During my teens, I taught myself bass, guitar, trombone, tuba, and now I dabble with software. While in music school at Northeastern University I composed modern avant-garde works for solo 5-string bass and live electronics. I’ve played in an instrumental prog metal group (now known as Earthside), in a Talking Heads tribute band, a grunge rock band, and alongside singer-songwriters and DJs like Mary Esther Carter and The WIG.
I produce my own music as Kid Lightbulbs. My music is vaguely considered alternative rock — minimal and abrasive, yet optimistic, vulnerable and often self-deprecating, with a lot of piano thrown in. You can listen to my stuff or support my music work directly here or on Bandcamp.
I occasionally produce & collaborate with other musicians. I offer songwriting & arrangement help, session piano work, and guidance on blending instruments and electronic sounds in your production. I can even produce your whole project, if we end up a good fit. If you’d like to work with me, please feel free to reach out.
Solo compositions
- Variations on a Lonely Theme, for 5-string bass guitar & live electronics, 2010 — score
- Music behind closed doors, for tape, 2009
- traffic circle, Jamaica Spain, for piano & tape, 2009 — score
- Post-Midnight, for solo piano, 2009 — score
- Something’s in the Kitchen, for tape, 2008
- Futuresights, for piano & cello, 2008
- Kinetic Works, mixed media, 2008
additional credits
Earthside
touring bassist (September 2024)
badyears
producer, arranger, pianist (2024)
- “things I might say to you” (released 3.17.2024)
Sophomores
primary songwriter, producer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist (2009-2019)
- The Sun’s Coming Down Upon Us (The Wig & Panooc), Single, 2013 — featured artist
- Off the Rocker, Single, 2012
- Kid Lightbulb, album, 2010
Mary Esther Carter
co-producer, arranger, pianist (2014-2015)
Private Fortunes
co-producer, engineer (2014)
Socialist Salesmen
songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, engineer (2011-2013)
Bushwhack
composer, co-producer, bassist, arrangements (2004-2008)
- Bushwhack, debut LP, 2007
- Menace EP, 2006
- Greatest Hits? EP, 2005
writing
I write with increasing frequency on this site about creative independence online – how we use the tools afforded to us on the Internet to open opportunities for us while the major corporations try to keep them closed. The best way to read my writing is this site, or my newsletter lightbulbs dispatch.
I consider the following to be some of my best writing:
- Accepting the spotify “problem”
- Some guiding principles for creative independence
- Listening to Earthside’s “Watching the Earth Sink” half-asleep on an early morning flight
- Earworms
- On Prince’s “the ballad of dorothy parker”
I am beginning to explore a few nonfiction book ideas around remote work and creative independence; I also think I have a novel in me at some point in my life.
product
People on LinkedIn know me as a “product guy.” I’ve worked as a product manager and leader for 11+ years in several startups and a few big pre-IPO and public tech companies, mostly in the Boston area. I pride myself on having tackled problems in a variety of industries and focus areas, including consumer & enterprise SaaS, food & furniture delivery, immersive 3D experiences, and the music business. If you don’t know what a product manager does, this is my favorite description of it.
Currently I’m employed as a Staff Product Manager at Buffer, a bootstrapped, values-driven tech company building organic social marketing tools for creators and small businesses. After more than a decade in big tech and startups, I advocate for sustainable independent tech businesses and regularly help artists, creators & fellow product managers retain their independence online while growing their audiences. I’m a massive proponent of the Jobs-to-be-Done framework, asking a ton of questions, and async & remote work. I also have a fixation on improving how teams work together.
