Joshua Ottum

Biography

Degrees

• B.A., Seattle Pacific University
• M.F.A., University of California, Irvine
• Ph.D., Ohio University

About Josh

Josh Ottum is Professor of Commercial Music at Bakersfield College. He holds an MFA in Integrated Composition Improvisation and Technology from UC Irvine and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Ohio University. As a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer, Josh has released several records, toured throughout Europe and the United States, and has music featured in multiple television and radio programs.

Publications:

• Between Two Worlds: American New Age Music and Environmental Imaginaries MUSICultures 45 (1-2): Ecologies (April 18, 2019).
• Compost Listening: Vaporwave and the Dissection of Record Production Perspectives on Music Production (March 22, 2019).
• Listening to Oil Levan Humanities Review (March 29, 2017).
• California Scenario Noise and Silence Magazine (October 17, 2016).
• Sounds Like Garbage: Paddling Through an Imaginary Island of Trash Toward a New Sonic Ecology Social Alternatives (Vol. 33, No. 1, 2014).
• Sounding Boards and Sonic Styles: The Music of the Skatepark Sounding Out! (July 29, 2013).
• Nonsensical Connections: Kurt Rosenwinkel’s “The Polish Song” IASPM-US (May 22, 2013).
• IASPM-US Interview Series: Timothy Taylor The Sounds of Capitalism IASPM-US (April 15, 2013).

Josh has been making production music and doing custom compositions for media for a while. His work appears in ads for Nordstrom and Volvo and shows on AMC, MTV, CBS, ABC, etc.