Entries categorized as ‘radio art’
- Shelley Hirsch
#39 (8:18)
- Gregory Whitehead
How To Pronounce Prosthesis
+ M Is For The Million Things
+ This Is Not A Test (9:49)
- David Moss
Conjure (10:09)
- Jacki Apple/Keith Antar Mason/Linda Albertano/Akilah Nayo Oliver
Redefining Democracy in America (10:05)
- David Wojnarowicz & Ben Neil
The Collapse Of The Illusory One-Tribe Nation (10:39)
- Constance Dejong & Brenda Hutchinson
Vanishing Act (6:39)
Total time 55:36
CD released 1991 by Tellus
Curated by Claudia Gould, Carol Parkinson and Helen Thorington
Cover art & text: David Wojnarowicz
TELLUS issue #25 looks like a continuation from previous endeavors, namely #9 ‘Music With Memory’, 1985 (especially for the Brenda Hutchinson’s interviews collage ‘Interlude from Voices Of Reason’) and #18 ‘Experimental Theater’, 1987, which included impressive readings on gender issues by Spalding Gray and Jerri Allyn, amongst others. Tellus #25 ‘Site-Less Sounds’ is a theater of voices with all contributions based on reading, sound poetry and language, as well as extended use of recording studio facilities (including Studio Pass on tracks #1 & 6). The works on this CD mingle semantics with politics, mirroring racial, political and gender issues with semantics/phonetics. Language is considered the tool of oppression itself (via media overload, political blabber and daily prejudices) and the means of liberation at the same time, providing composers and the people use it as a weapon. Which more or less sums up the political point of view of Tellus producers and allies. Additionally this issue of Tellus can be considered a testament to their creative ethos: a cleverly curated project with well chosen contributors given absolute artistic freedom and access to up-to-date technology. One of the 3 curators for Tellus #25 is Helen Thorington, a US sound artist and New American Radio producer who started her carreer as a writer. As a matter of fact, several contributions on the CD are based on literature. It all starts with the sexy voice of Shelley Hirsch reading from Angela Carter’s Dr. Hoffman’s Infernal Machines Of Desire (1972) with added processed breathing. David Moss’s Conjure is based on Italian writer Italo Calvino. David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992) was a gay writer and performance artist. His ‘Collapse Of The Illusory One-Tribe Nation’ is a shatteringly powerful track in which Wojnarowicz unleashes endless, angry rants on politics and gender issues amid a complex web of noise and sound treatment, apparently the result of many studio hours. Track #4, a collective collage work conducted by Jacki Apple, describes prejudices that prevailed under Ronald Reagan, even if his second term ended way back in 1989. This is an excerpt from a longer work commissioned by New American Radio. It is at times hilarious, and at times scary. At 6:36, a young black contributor says: ‘Make me President tonight’, while at 9:00, a woman says: ‘A woman will be President’. History is only half-way to fulfill these dreams.
Download.
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Links:
H. Thorington: http://new-radio.org/helen/about.html
D. Wojnarowicz: http://www.actupny.org/diva/synWoj.html
Jacki Apple: http://www.jackiapple.com/
Categories: radio art · sound art · spoken word
01 Jacques Sauvageot + Alain Geismar + Daniel Cohn-Bendit (6:30)
02 Manifestations Etudiantes et Témoignages sur la Répression (6:33)
Yuri Korolkoff: location recordings & sound montage
Guy Chalon: interviews
7” single. No label [Acousti], no release date [1968].
Probably released in 1968, along Guy Chalon’s 2 documentary films on May 1968, this single describes itself on the cover as ’sound excerpts from a worker’s film with collaborator Guy Chalon‘. Actually, Chalon, a documentary film maker and May 1968 activist, directed 2 films on May 68 in Paris, inspired by marxist propaganda movies: ‘CCP’, a short collage of b&w photographs denouncing the cops’ violence (pictured above), and the 30′ ‘La Société est une fleur carnivore’, b&w, 26′, both realised on the spot in May 1968. This is probably a promo single for the former. Yuri Korolkoff was a film technician and sound engineer running his own independent ‘Acousti’ company. Please refer to this picture galery for more May 1968 flavor. The 2 tracks are montage of riots field recordings and activist interviews, with the occasional official blunt politician for counterpoint. Recording quality is impressive and the cut-up technique is faultless, comparable to what Xavier Garcia is doing nowadays with radio archive recordings. Sound quality is baffling and the result sounds extremely lively with a sense of actually being there. Riot sounds are so incredible at times, it seems the microphone is set on the pavement between students protesters and the riot police. The A side features excerpts from 3 interviews with ‘68 french activists, but the final mix also embarks street field recordings, passers-by, shoutings and political sloganeering. The B side has more interviews as well as explosion sounds and worker’s union chanting. It’s time to reacquaint yourself with the rebel in you.
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Categories: field recording · french · radio art · spoken word
01 Short Wavelength (39:14)
02 The Papaya Plantations (47:12)
Total time: 86:26
Recorded 1980
Cassette released by Freedom In A Vacuum, 1988
Two Radio Solos is a cassette of 2 playing-the-radio improvisations done in 1980 and released in 1988 by a no longer existing Toronto company (it’s still available though).’
[Michael Snow, 2005, +]
Apart form being one of the greatest experimental film makers of all time, Canadian Michael Snow (b Toronto 1929) has also extensively played piano, trumpet, synth and percussion on numerous records and live performances. His recorded output includes many jazz and improvisation records, with the Canadian Creative Music Collective (CCMC) amongst others. Snow issued several legendary experimental albums on his own as well, like 1975’s ‘Musics For Piano, Whistling, Microphone And Tape Recorder’ [excerpt here] or ‘The Last LP’ in 1987 (full album here]. ‘Two Radio Solos’ was recorded in between those 2 masterpieces and offers lenghty improvisations played on a Nordmende radio receiver (pictured above). Here as well, Snow is dealing with long durations, like in his films ‘Wavelength’ (1966-67) and ‘La Région Centrale’ (1971). The tracks are vast collages of foreign radio broadcasts, static bursts and abstract electronic sounds, all ‘played’ with the radio surfing the shortwave frequencies (2 to 30 MHz). Chinese and Russian languages are recognizable, as well as english. I suspect there was a kind of post-production editing of one kind or another, contrary to what Snow states on the cover: some recordings are noticeably sped up, some passages juxtapose 2 sound sources and some cut-ups are obvious. The B side is a joyous collage of languages from around the world, embarking many exotic world musics, lounge music, electronic sounds and gray noise as well, all sourced from the Nordmende. ‘The Papaya Plantations’ at times sounds like regular electroacoustic music, but mostly like an autonomous sound organism with a noisy life of its own. In the liner notes to ‘Musics for Piano, Whistling…’, Snow writes about the ‘hearing/seeing/thinking experience of certain parts of certain of my films’. I assume one could consider the radio listener as defined by all the wavelengths he receives at a given moment, so that the human being is inhabiting a specific region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Listening to the radio you tune to all frequencies, all at once. This tape conjures such magic. PS: I really wonder where is located the ‘North Canadian cabin’ where this was supposedly recorded. I can’t help envisioning a desolate and isolated landscape like ‘La Région Centrale’.
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Michael Snow solo recordings:
- 1962 ‘Theft/Sunset Time’, 45rpm, Astral Records, Toronto
- 1975 ‘Musics For Piano, Whistling, Microphone And Tape Recorder’, LP, Chatham Square Records, New York (recorded 1970-72)
- 1977 ‘Hearing Aid’, sound environment with metronome, four C90 cassettes, 4 tape players (2002 CD reissue by Supposé and Galerie Klosterfelde, Berlin)
- 1978 ‘Vie D’Or’ LP, Music Gallery Editions 11, Toronto
- 1987 ‘The Last LP’, LP, Art Metropole, Toronto
- 1988 ‘2 Radio Solos’, cassette, Freedom In A Vacuum (recorded 1980)
- 1989 ‘Sinoms’, cassette, Art Metropole, edition of 50 and CD, Musée du Québec, ref. MUQ89D-02 [listen here]
- 1991 ‘They Changed the Lights’ incl. in ‘Masterpieces From The Music Gallery’ CD
- 1992 ‘Somewhere Else’ in Musicworks cassette and CD #54
- 2001 ‘Snow Solo Piano Solo Snow (3 phases)’, 3CDs, Ohm Editions, Québec
Categories: radio art · sound art
01 Soundtrack (52:30)
Herbert Distel remixes Die Reise & La Stazione
Total time 52:30
Unreleased mix, 2004
Originally commissioned in 2004 by a japanese choreographer, this remix version of Herbert Distel’s own‘Die Reise’ and ‘La Stazione’ was broadcasted on ORF, WDR and Deutschlandradio in 2007-8, but remains unreleased on disc format at time of writing. The music is kindly offered by Herbert to the readers of this blog – for more info on Herbert Distel see my Wikipedia article. Composed for dancers and video, this ‘Soundtrack’ (pun intended I assume) is a subtle and nuanced mix enhancing details from the originals and adding dramaturgy in the process. The result is a kind of psychological landscape and less of a train trip or portrait of a train station, since the train sounds are used as a rhythm element here and no more as a psychological, hypnotysing sound. Actually the train sounds only appear 15 minutes into the mix, evidence of a new direction given to the whole project. The work is divided in 2 parts, the first one (till 39:00) being a remixing of ‘Die Reise’ whilst the 2nd part (starting 39:00) is sourced from ‘La Stazione’.
The 15mns opening sequence is a kind of surreal vocals+insect chorale. A female singer returns at 23:00-24:00, a heavenly voice amid the concrète music sounds. Generally speaking, this mix stays true to the original ‘La Stazione’ project, that is to say an opera (ie a composition for voices), enhancing and stressing the role of vocals in these 2 sound pieces. Another prominent element are the numerous electronic sounds brought into focus compared to the originals. Distel deliberately re-install his sound work in the electronic and musique concrète canon. And maybe the cheerfull motorcycle engine at 47:30 signals another, noisier trip altogether. Obviously ‘Soundtrack’ is a fine addition to the 2 previous works on train sounds and the ensemble makes for a perfect trilogy.
On a side note: Possibly inspired by the legendary Distel soundworks, in 2004 Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia commissioned Jan Schacher and Marcus Maeder to create a sound intallation in a train compartment joining different swiss cities where art events took place. A temporary travel agency was launched called ‘Transient Travels’ [+], booking tickets for the ‘Sound Train’ and in 2005 Maeder released the soundtrack for it on his own Domizil label [+]. The works of COH, AGF and Ilios are relevant to the train travelling theme, while others are mere electronic journeys. But you would think there is definitely something special between the swiss people and their trains.
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Categories: radio art · sound art
01 King’s-X Communi/cat(ion)s Company Part I (30:27)
02 King’s-X Communi/cat(ion)s Company Part II (28:45)
Willem De Ridder: vocals, tapes, mix.
Cora Emens: vocals, synthesizers, piano, flute.
Nick Nicole (presumably, Nicole Veldman): vocals, piano.
Hessel Veldman: synthesizers, tapes.
Jon Rose: cello, violin.
Aida: baby-talk
Henry W. Targowski: art work
Produced by Radio Art Foundation and Exart.
Experimental Radio Programme No.1, EA/R 051.
Exart Cassettes 1987.
For the sake of simplicity, I’m attributing this to the All Chemix Radio series (see previous posts), since it is indeed by the usual suspects, familiar from previous All Chemix sonic marvels. One of prolific Willem De Ridder many radio art experiments, ‘King’s-X Communications’ is a kind of study in paranoia. The strategy on ‘King’s-X’ is similar to that on the mammoth ‘Opera’ tape, that is: long intoxicating tracks, slowly accumulating sound material to reach climaxes of surreal/paranoid sonic maelstrom. This is actually the case on side A, while side B is a more peacefull affair, thanks to Cora Emens’ soothing flute playing. Hessel Veldman and Willem De Ridder instill their paranoia into us with their tapes: for instance, at beginning of side A, we hear a phone ringing that is so Cold War it is almost frightening. The tape abound in speech cut-ups, mourning vocals, meaningless syllables, throat singing, violin/cello improvisations, hypnotic electronic loops, synthesizers overtones, concrete sounds, etc. Note interesting piano+drums duo at end of side A, the former played by Cora or Nicole. Wether this was recorded live in one take is not said, though this was the methodology for many All Chemix Radio episodes. I think the reason so much of this group of people’s tapes works so perfectly is because they don’t give clues as to what we have been hearing. If there is a message, it’s up to you to devise one – the music is provided as is, with all its mysteries, and ultimately you’re left with more questions than answers, therefore you’re more clever at the end of the tape than at the beginning.
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Categories: radio art · sound art
01 LIGNA ‘Future of Radio Art’ (2:23)
02 Kode9 ‘The Last 3 Digits’ (0:54)
03 Kristen Roos/Jackson 2Bears ‘Echo Location: The Parking Lot Transmission’ (15:29)
04 Jason Kahn ‘Space Stream’ (7:10)
05 apo33 ‘POULPE — fragment de flux (Bourges)’ (5:34)
06 Steve Bradley/John Hudak/Joe Reinsel ‘ShadowCast: Out of the Dark’ (6:51)
07 James Sey/James Webb ‘Book of Imaginary Wavelengths: Book 2’ (2:29)
O8 James Sey/James Webb ‘Book of Imaginary Wavelengths: Book 5’ (2:45)
09 James Sey/James Webb ‘Book of Imaginary Wavelengths: Book 12’ (2:06)
10 Disinformation ‘Bexleyheath To Dartford’ (6:40)
11 Ellen Waterman ‘Found An Angel’ (7:53)
12 Steven Cuzner ‘Ensam med Gud/Alone with God’ (1:26)
13 Marie Wennersten and Steven Cuzner ‘SR c in the big window’ (1:05)
14 Susanne Skog ‘Sovarna/Sleepers’ (1:37)
15 Jean-Louis Huhta and Ninni Hasselberg ‘Familjen-ett gisslandrama’ (1:39)
16 Mark McLaren ‘Bedside Manner’ (1:12)
17 Joanna Rose and Matti Kallioinen ‘In i det svarta hålet och kanske ut igen/Into the black hole and maybe out again’ (1:31)
18 Anna Friz ‘Radio CRTX’ (6:47)
19 elpueblodechina a.k.a. Alejandra Pérez Núnez ‘puebloJana’ (2:29)
Total time: 78:00
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The accompanying CD to the Radio Territories book is quite varied in content, ranging from spoken word to electroacoustics, from written music to field recordings. Track #3 by Kristen Roos/Jackson 2Bears is a long urban soundscape, actually made from mobile phones field recordings collected in a parking lot in Victoria, Canada. Its pseudo cell phone conversations and overall menacing atmosphere reminds me of some old Scanner CD (Robin Rimbaud, remember?), reacquainting us with the paranoia of the so called 1990s isolationism. #05 by Sophie Gosselin aka apo33 is plain electroacoustic music a la française. For the very nice Steve Bradley/John Hudak/Joe Reinsel collaboration (#06), the 3 musicians put a microphone outside of their respective homes and the field recordings were then processed and mixed in live streaming. The Ellen Waterman is a beautiful piece for flute and radiophonic sounds. Tracks #12 to 17 are from a series of provocative experiments on Swedish National Radio by SR c [www.sr.se/p1/src/], led by Marie Wennersten, and involving guest people in strange situations: talking to god in an anechoic chamber (#12), putting a microphone along their bed during sleeptime (#14), a drummer performing with 20 sticks, a woman masturbating for the microphone, a couple documenting their mother’s suicide (#15), etc. Anna Fritz [+] submits a piece for accordion, voice and various FM transmitters & receivers that is both lively and surprising. To my liking, each individual track on this compilation is worthy and interesting.
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Categories: radio art
01 Invasions (1978) 13:45
02 Resava Cave (1977) 12:35
03 The Island of the Dying Donkeys (1988) 20:10
04 Ma Maison (1993) 19:40
CD released on La Légende Des Voix, 1994
Serbian composer born 1932 in Belgrade, Serbia, now living in Croatia, Arsenije Jovanović has been active as a theatre director and stage director for Belgrade and ex-Yougoslavia theaters since the 1970s. He additionaly composes music for theater, film and radio. His works for radio earned him many international prizes. Spanning his entire carreer as a sound composer, this CD offers nonetheless an impressive style and quality consistency. He creates his music from organic sounds like low rumbles and drums, breathing and voice, using objects eg: bottles used like flutes, pieces of wood used like marimbas. So no synth here, but more of a sound performance for each piece, involving ‘actors/singers’ and slightly processed concrete sounds, with more or less a neo-primitive mood. The way Arsenije Jovanović let human voices scream and moan as if free from the boundaries of civilization is typical and reminds me of Dubravko Detoni, a composer born in Zagreb, Croatia, in 1937, founder of Acezantez Ensemble, whose recording output is mainly issued on Jugoton. Additionnaly, I guess performers on this CD were all actors, hence the theatrical aspect of the first 3 tracks, sounding like a ‘theater of voice’. The last track ‘Ma Maison’ (My House) is the most electroacoustic on offer here, build upon heavily processed concrete sounds recorded in the composer’s home. It was commissioned by french national radio.
Booklet notes reprinted on this page.
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Categories: contemporary european · radio art
01 Globalgroove ‘Happy New Year’ (3:35)
02 Tara Rodgers ‘Unspeakable Items: for Bruce, Fred, and Victoria’ (6:18)
03 Alessandro Olla ‘Orfes’ (7:09)
04 Paolo Angeli ‘Anchor Song – The Hand That Bites’ (5:30)
05 Marco Dibeltulu ‘Microclima II’ (5:56)
06 Geoff Soule ‘Expelled II’ (6:59)
07 Michele Martini ‘Noise – Hiroschima 1945′ (9:38)
08 Stella Saladino ‘Equilibri cittadini’ (1:57)
09 Damir Niksic ‘If I wasn’t muslim’ (3:56)
10 Alessandro Olla ‘Janterstelk’ (3:52)
11 Martin Bedard ‘Topographie de la noirceur’ (Topography of darkness )’ (3:57)
12 Globalgroove ‘Dadasophe’ (2:49)
Total time: 60:00
http://www.radiopapesse.org
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Based in Siena, Italia and broadcasting from Palazzio Del Papesse — hence the name, Radio Papesse is a net radio run by Ilaria Gadenz, Carola Haupt and Cristiano Magi (+ Marcello The Cat!). Their headquarters are located inside the museum of contemporary art, so part of their activites is issuing audio guides and documenting lectures on contemporary art held inside the building. On the other hand, Radio Papesse launched several calls for submission to soundworks like ‘Borders Sounds-Sounds from the borders’ and ‘GenderBender’, from which some of the tracks I selected come from, the other being culled from their archives. Obviously, I selected tracks I found surprising and exciting — and there are many on this fine podcast radio. There is undoubtly a Tellus flavor in this compilation, and indeed, Joseph Nechvatal submitted his ‘Viral Symphony’ for broadcast, so maybe Tellus founding member felt at home on Radio Papesse, which is evidence of it’s quality, I think. Additionaly, most tracks have vocals, be it speech or singing – either because Radio Papesse stresses the voice as their instrument of choice as a radio program, or either because I felt attracted to those tracks. Some even verge toward sound poetry, like Globalgroove, whose ‘Happy New Year’ is made of pop music samples (including audience applause) and found speech cut-ups. Tara Rodgers was featured in the ‘Gender Bender’ series and her track has readings from feminist and gay writers, some heavily processed through speech synthesis programs (‘I’d rather be a cyborg than a goddess’). Alessandro Olla’s lavish electroacoustic piece ‘Orfes’ is a luxurious electronic composition using exotic bird-like sounds that transport the listener in the Amazonian forest. It’s hard to believe cellist Paolo Angeli is playing solo and live on this gorgeous recording, as classical guitar and rainstick can be heard along. Marco Dibeltulu ‘Microclima II’ is build upon beautiful location recordings from Sardinia, including a male choir, bell chimes, folk musicians, insects and birds. The Geoff Soule track is a piano+drums+voice trio rehearsal leading to a piano+drums improvisation and finally to the solo purring of a cat, while the drummer is playing as if trying not to awaken the cat. Michele Martini’s track starts like a survey of the Hiroshima soundscape the day of the bombing, based on interviews and electronic sounds, before morphing into poetry reading along electronic music. Stella Saladino uses spoken words in italian with added sound effects and electronic. Damir Niksic ‘If I wasn’t muslim’ is the ironical lament of a muslim in the form of a very funny entertainer song, with lines like: ‘When you are a christian, you are always civilized, no matter what you do’. Alessandro Olla’s Janterstelk has bleak electronic sounds and female voice. Martin Bedard is an electroacoustic composer, using the typically rich sonorities from an electro-acoustic studio. Globalgroove’s Dadasophe is a funny rendition of avantgarde sound poetry a la Raoul Hausmann or Kurt Schwitters along a depressing disco beat sample.
Ecco.
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This post is dedicated to Ellen Zweig, who curated ‘Tellus #22 – False Phonemes‘ back in 1988, a compilation cassette making extensive use of computerized voices and speech synthesis. I’m reminded of this cassette while listening to Radio Papesse. Additionaly, Ellen kindly provided a picture the other day to adorn my Tellus post.
Categories: radio art · sound art
