Live Electronic • Psych-Funk • Guitar-Driven Jamtronica
The wildly prolific project of Pittsburgh producer John O'Hallaron, fusing guitar, synths, and electronics into colorful, danceable instrumental music that lives somewhere between the laptop and the jam band.
The Short Version
Who Are They?
Chalk Dinosaur is the project of Pittsburgh producer and guitarist John O'Hallaron, and it is one of the most prolific and hard-to-categorize acts on the jam-electronic circuit. Guitar, synths, drums, and electronics all fold into bright, melodic, danceable instrumental music.
The trick is the blend. Chalk Dinosaur sits right between two worlds: the precise, produced feel of electronic music, and the loose, improvisational energy of a jam band. Live, it shifts between a duo that leans electronic and dance, and a four-piece that leans funk and jam.
Founded in 2008, the project has released a small mountain of albums and EPs across indie, surf, psych, funk, and EDM. It is bottomless, colorful, and made for moving.
The cosmic, colorful headspace the music comes out of.A Bottomless Catalog
The Story
One producer, one restless imagination, and a lot of records.
2008
The project begins
John O'Hallaron founds Chalk Dinosaur in Pittsburgh as a home for a colorfully diverse, prolific songwriting habit.
2016
Flow State
One of the key electronic records, and a great snapshot of the guitar-meets-synths sound at its most danceable.
2018
Star Blazer
A bright, cosmic set that leans into the psychedelic and melodic side of the project.
2023
Punch Funk Love
A funk-forward record that shows off the jammier, four-piece side of the band.
2025
Electric Biscuit
A recent, wide-ranging album, and proof the well is nowhere near dry after two dozen releases.
Three Videos, One Introduction
Start Here
Two official videos and a full-band live set. Watch how the guitar and the electronics fuse.
01 · The Single
"Right All The Time"
A bright, hooky music video that captures the melodic, guitar-forward side of the project.
A studio project that becomes a live band, in two different sizes depending on the night.
From a laptop-and-guitar duo to a full funk-jam four-piece.
John O'HallaronGuitar / Keys / Electronics / VocalsThe founder and producer; the whole project starts and ends with him
Nick O'HallaronDrumsThe live engine of the band
Jon HendersonGuitarThe extra guitar layer in the full-band lineup
Michael BergerBassThe low end that turns the electronic tracks into a jam
Two Bands in One
Chalk Dinosaur plays as a duo (more electronic and dance) and as a quartet (more funk and jam), each with its own repertoire. It is the same project wearing two different hats.
The Roots of the Sound
Influences
Chalk Dinosaur lives in the livetronica lineage, where electronic production and live-band energy meet.
The Jamtronica
STS9
Sound Tribe Sector 9, the band that basically invented instrumental livetronica, and the closest spiritual cousin to Chalk Dinosaur's live side.
With two dozen releases, there is a lot of rabbit hole here.
Duo vs band. Seek out both live formats: the electronic duo and the funk-jam quartet are genuinely different experiences.
The deep catalog. Past the essentials, records like Sunset, Bounce, and Sprout are full of finds.
The scene. Follow the thread into the livetronica world of jam and electronic festivals like Domefest.
The visuals. Chalk Dinosaur shows lean on projection and light; catch one in a dome if you can.
The Way to Listen
Do not try to file Chalk Dinosaur under one genre. Put on "Flow State," let it move between electronic and jam, and enjoy the fact that it refuses to sit still.
