The Sound Projector

1. Olekranon, ‘Sight Unseen’
   From Cohesion, USA INAM RECORDS 21 CD (2007)
2. Nuit Noire, ‘Enfant Spectre’
   From Infantile Espieglery, UK TODESTRIEB RECORDS TTR012 CD (2006)
3. Menace Ruine, ‘Dove Instinct’
   From Cult of Ruins, CANADA ALIEN8 RECORDINGS ALIENDCD75 (2008)
4. Autopsia, ‘Funeral Music II’
   From The Berlin Requiem, ITALY OLD EUROPA CAFE OECD 084 CD (2006)
5. Batur Sonmez, ‘Way of Final Format 2′
   From Mattin / Gen 26 / Batur Sonmez split, SLOVENIA [&] NO NUMBER 3” CDR (2007)
6. Directing Hand, ‘The Temptation’
   From What Put The Blood, UK DANCING WAYANG RECORDS DWR 002 LP (2008)
7. “Blue” Gene Tyranny, ‘For David K’
   From Out of the Blue, USA UNSEEN WORLDS UW01 CD (2006)
8. C Joynes, extracts from Pianer Magick, UK PALIMPSEST RECORDINDS PR07 3” CD (208)
9. Idea Fire Company, ‘The Island of Taste’
   From The Island of Taste, USA SWILL RADIO 026 LP (2008)
10. Fallen, ‘Never Here or There’
    From A Rare Camouflage, FRANCE COOKANEGG EGG09CD CDR (2008)
11. Tirath Singh Nirmala and Richard Youngs, (Track 1 Side A)
    From untitled LP
12. Robbie Basho, ‘(Variations on) Easter’
    From Bonn Ist Supreme, UK BO’WEAVIL RECORDINGS WEAVIL29CD (2008)
13. Yoshi Wada, extract from The Appointed Cloud (1987)
    JAPAN EM RECORDS EM1076CD (2008)
14. Geoff Mullen, (extract from Side B)
    From Armory Radio, USA BARGE RECORDINGS BRG 003 2 x LP (2007)

The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM

David Thomas and assembled company of talent performed Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi at the South Bank last night (24th April 2008), the first of two such performances. It’s a multi-media experience, offering a semi-theatrical version of the famous Alfred Jarry play along with live music by Pere Ubu, and back-projected animations by The Brothers Quay. It’s about the worst thing I’ve seen on stage in my life, yet I still feel able to recoup some remnants of aesthetic value from the chaotic experience. There’s something perverse about art that is deliberately bad which can still offer some sort of appeal. Some art lovers have no time for most of René Magritte’s work, yet love his ‘vache’ period – a short spell in his career when he turned out crude daubs of the most deliberate vileness, perhaps simply to get up the noses of the power elite of the artworld.

If attempting to capture the true spirit of Jarry’s incendiary, bourgeois-hating absurdist tactics, Thomas may have had it in mind to create something that flew in the face of conventional “good taste”. He succeeded. Everything was bad; it was like watching a bad school play. A catalogue of disasters included missed cues, fluffed lines, missing props, missing scripts, bad lighting, inept positioning of the cast, inaudible lines spoken off-mic, and so forth. It became clear in about five minutes that all of this was, of course, totally deliberate. Thomas decided to present a version of a performance that was going wrong, with himself cast not only as the lead Ubu Roi but also as the irascible, bad-tempered, alcoholic director of the play, constantly breaking character to shout, swear and push around the cast who were getting it wrong. A Brechtian device. But also a very laboured one. And it didn’t exactly add any dramatic tension to what was already an incomprehensible reading of the play; most of the lines, despite amplification, were inaudible, with Thomas himself being the worst offender, electing to speak Ubu Roi’s lines in a strangely twisted accent, swallowing every other word.

Bring Me The Head of Ubu Roi was also incredibly boring to watch. The main visual relief came from The Brothers Quay, who seem to have forsaken their usual stop-frame animation of sculpted miniatures in favour of digitally-manipulated imagery. Key imagery from the play – knives and forks, Ubu on horseback, the mouth of a cave – was rendered into sumptuous and glorpy shapes which moved with the sinuous delight of the red blown-glass horse that Ubu was riding. If you wanted movement from the performers on stage, it was happening – but was mostly invisible, due to the appalling lighting. I have to hand it to the talented cast (including Sarah Jane Morris as Mere Ubu) who were trying their utmost with some imaginative stylised walks and body movements, but their work was all but wasted, due to the indifferent stagecraft and design. One potentially inspired moment of absurdity – a man leaves the stage with a cardboard box over his head, then returns with the head of a chicken – was simply thrown away. The majority of the text was done as a reading, Ma and Pa Ubu standing frozen behind upright mics at the front of the stage. All very anti-theatre and anti-good taste, I’m sure. Also stilted, dull, and lacking in tension.

As to the music, I’m not whether any of the five performers who strode on stage so purposefully posing like Egyptian hieroglyphs were anything to do with past or present incarnations of the band Pere Ubu. Some doubled as actors and extras. They were mostly there to provide musical backdrops, sound effects, and a few perfunctory songs which were intended to illustrate the original story.

After all this negativity, I should once again make the point that Thomas was clearly out to contrive a night of bad entertainment; every “mistake” we saw on stage was, to some extent, done on purpose. And by acting out a second fiction as the out-of-control director freely roaming the set and yelling at the audience to ‘go home’ at the end, Thomas added another layer to the package, even if it wasn’t quite as dangerous as intended. (For full success, the audience should have been incited to riot, but that’s less likely in 2008 than it was in 1896). And what made it all worthwhile for this viewer? For a few precious seconds, hearing Thomas in full baritone majesty belching out that one word he was born to deliver, admittedly with the help of some digital-delay and background sampler effects: “MERDRE!!!”

This bundle of blessingness comes from Jesse Paul Miller, the Seattle-based artist whom we interviewed in issue 11. Everything you see is a CDR packaged by his own artisan’s mitts into little xeroxed packages and plastic wallets. The main event is called Reconstructed Optigan Disc, a very limited (10 copies) CDR mounted on top of an acetate print of a black disk. A small and easily-produced art object. The acetate print depicts an old Optigan record with extremely thick grooves, an image which Jesse has collaged and cut up with all the abandon of Christian Marclay (who glued together shards of actual vinyl LPs, to make a multi-coloured sculpture). Doubtless what we hear on the CDR (50 short tracks) is snippets of the sounds that have resulted from Jesse’s peculiar brand of process-mayhem when he salvaged what he could from one of these antique novelty records. (For more astonishing information on the world of Optigan than you could have dreamed of, see here.) Fragments of bouncy organ music leak out from a morass of deathly, horrifying and unnatural sounds, for the most part happy accidents produced by malfunctioning equipment meeting a damaged object. This overlaps strongly with the excellent work of Michael Gendreau in California. Jesse made something of a name for himself in the Seattle art scene with his ’secret records’, where he recast old vinyl discs in resin and filled the resin with foreign bodies before it set, thus producing many a colourful artefact / sculpture. I commissioned a special one myself (I can see it on my wall as I write). And he produced a 45rpm EP recording what happened when he played one of these recast monsters on a record player. Jesse’s preoccupation with vinyl history extends to his collection of forgotten easy-listening LPs from the 1950s and 1960s (we would call them charity-shop records), which he assiduously collects from yard sales and goodwill shops around the state of Washington. He wrote a little article about his hobby for Eric Lanzillotta’s Bixobal magazine recently. One such item lifted from his box, Love After Midnight by The Moonlight Strings (COLUMBIA MUSICAL TREASURES DS 441, 1969), has had its cover recycled for this Optigan release. ‘Look inside’, Jesse has helpfully written on the back with a fibre tip pen, just in case I missed finding the CDR. Also in the pack: a strange cut-up record I think is made from playing an old Folkways LP backwards, plus one by his band Algae, The Man Who Broke Everything, a project he started with John M. Allen. Also about four CDRs (and a DVD) of field recordings and ‘ambient’ sounds he made during his travels in Thailand and Laos. He’s going there again in April ‘with a little bit better equipment this time, back to SE Asia for six months including Java, Bali, Sumatra, Thailand, Japan, Myanmar and Laos’.

1. Henry Cow, ‘Teenbeat Reprise’ (1973)
   From Leg End, UK RER MEGACORP ReR HC1 CD (1998)
2. Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser, ‘Roy Rogers’
   From Who Needs Enemies?, USA METALANGUAGE RECORDS ML-123 LP (1983)
3. Fred Frith, ‘The As Usual Dance towards the other flight to what is not, part 3′
   From Step Across the Border, UK RER MEGACORP ReR/FRO 03 CD (2002)
4. French, Frith, Kaiser, Thompson, ‘Where’s The Money?’
   From Live, Love, Larf & Loaf, UK DEMON RECORDS FIEND 102 LP (1987)
5. Fred Frith, ‘Channel Change’
   From The Top of His Head, BELGIUM MADE TO MEASURE MTM 21 CD (1989)
6. Skeleton Crew, ‘Learn To Talk’
   From Learn To Talk, USA RIFT RECORDS 08 / SWITZERLAND REC REC MUSIC 05 LP (1984)
7. Fred Frith, ‘Life of a Detective’
   From Prints, UK RER MEGACORP ReR/FRA 02 CD (2002)
8. Fred Frith, ‘Glass c/w Steel’
   From Guitar Solos, UK CAROLINE RECORDS C1508 LP (1974)
9. Art Bears, ‘The Song of Investment Capital Overseas’
   From The World As it is Today, UK RECOMMENDED RECORDS Re 6622 LP (1980)
10. Fred Frith, ‘Alienated Industrial Seagulls etc’
    From Guitar Solos 3, USA RIFT RECORDS 1 LP (1979)
11. Art Bears, ‘The Slave’
    From Winter Songs, UK RECOMMENDED RECORDS Re 0618 LP (1979)
12. Fred Frith, ‘Walking Song’
    From Cheap at Half the Price, USA RALPH RECORDS FF 8356 LP (1983)
13. Fred Frith, ‘Fooled Again’
    From Accidental, UK RER MEGACORP ReR/FRA 01 CD (2001)
14. Lol Coxhill and Fred Frith, ‘Poitiers’
    From French Gigs, FRANCE A.A.A A02 LP (1983)
15. Fred Frith, ‘What a Dilemma’
    From Gravity, USA RALPH RECORDS FF 8057-L LP (1980)
16. Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser, ‘It Sings’
    From With Friends Like These, USA METALANGUAGE RECORDS 107 LP (1979)
17. Art Bears, ‘Albion, Awake!’
    From The World As it is Today, op cit.
18. Chris Cutler and Fred Frith, ‘Meltdown’ (1978)
    From Live Volume 2, UK RER MEGACORP ReR CCFF2 CD (1994)

The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM

A fine bewildering package sent from Allon of Entr’Acte, a UK record label named after the famous Surrealist movie by René Clair and which it looks like might be devoted to the choicest cuts in avant sound-art dronery and electronic buzz-swarm attack. The owner clearly has in his possession a heat-sealing device of some sort and wants to package everything he possibly can in clear vinyl wallets and cellophane wrappers with sealed edges, much like Gen Ken in New York laminates anything that moves. On receipt of this box I felt like the astronauts on the Jupiter mission in 2001 : A Space Odyssey with their packets of nutritious space food. I found that not only were all the records (vinyl and CD) inside individually heat-sealed, but so was the entire package itself. Sensuous shiny shapes result, especially for the 12-inchers. But I still haven’t played a note of music at time of writing. Wait until I find my kitchen scissors. The Idea Fire Company 45rpm single Lost At Sea (E51) will be of interest I am sure – it’s from their European tour of 2005 and Frans de Waard is on the record alongside American avants Scott and Karla. Frans is also responsible for Shifts and Trees / Leaves (E43), which is the ‘quiet guitar’ project of this great Dutch genius. Filter Feeder has produced Pleasure Cycle / Peak Oil / 13/ 11 (E44), an extremely cryptic title which to me reads like a few frames from a Jean-Luc Godard film shot in a gas station. Julian Doyle is Filter Feeder and (from his sleeve notes at least) is a process artist who leaves very little to chance. How will this one sound? Or the one by Kallabris which is called Hund Vor Die Tür (E49), apparently some sort of tangentially-skewed concept LP about dogs and the canine world? All the vinyl records allow a three-columned sleeve note for the artist to present a smattering of contextual ideas for us to chew on, and the label’s design sense is utilitarian and uniform, allowing a clarity right down to the large, no-nonsense serif font that is used for the catalogue numbers, which as you can see are as basic a deployment of alphanumeric references as you could wish for. Lastly, my hands are caressing a fat pouch which probably contains many CDs sealed up in foam packing. On the top of said pouch, the name of Christopher McFall is visible, suggesting he recorded Four Feels For Fire. I’ll have to let you know how these items actually sound when spun and determine artistic merit at later date, but the vibe here is that all material is credible and worthy of attention. Also note the use of red tape on the package, a gesture which can’t help but remind you of the work of artist Eleonora Aguiari (who wrapped Lord Napier’s statue in London), but also the grid-based works of late 1960s conceptual artists…now I feel like I have a cardboard miniature Donald Judd piece of mailart in my home.

Three new pieces of beautiful music from the estimable John Clyde-Evans, also known in recent years as Tirath Singh Nirmala. The LP with the tree trunk and other woodland imagery on the back is a record he made under his Nirmala name with Richard Youngs, which maximises the loud and powerful violin droning for which this musician is so justly renowned, with percussion and bells for accompaniment. Not sure if this LP has a title, label or catalogue number even. Very clearly influenced by the music of the Indian sub-continent which he has made his home. The second LP with the randomised markings which almost resemble a disjointed cursive script is Delight In The Stream (AMEN ABSEN 001) and credited to John Clyde-Evans. With three long tracks recorded in 2006, this contains references to Eastern mysteries such as the ‘Etonal Ricedance’ and ‘Plug music for Noah’, references which (however obliquely) show the artist’s continuing preoccupation with water imagery and aquatic themes. Well, there’s Noah with his flood…and you need a lot of water for a rice field, no? And I assume the stream we are invited to delight in is a mountain spring, but perhaps it refers to something more metaphysical. Also a CD (not pictured) on Digitalis Recordings digi044, whose title is hard to pin down, but which features the tunes ‘Apetal Thunderfall’ and ‘Cutting Down Orange Towers’. Both this and the LP feature, I think, evidence of the musician’s experiments with digital recording and editing technology, techniques to which he was introduced by Neil Campbell. The results are certainly interesting to listen to – instruments sound heavily denatured, and all sorts of ‘impossible’ speeded-up events and overlays are taking place in cosmical patterns that would be impossible to reproduce in real time. At first hearing, these works may appear to lack the harmonic confidence of the music he performs with real instruments, and don’t immediately cohere into satisfying mandalas of musical perfection. But I think it’s a question of digesting the complexity over time, allowing the overall shape of these strange compositions to reveal themselves. Clyde-Evans is in no doubt that these new records are ‘much better…more oomph!’

1. Flaming Fire, ‘The Stars that Burn’
   From When The High Bell Rings, USA SILLY BIRD RECORDS SBCD11 CD (2007)
2. The Hospitals, ‘Moving/Shaking’
   From I’ve Visited the Island of Jocks and Jazz, USA LOAD RECORDS LOAD 071 LP (2005)
3. Breast Fed Yak, ‘Infant Shakes’
   From Space is No Place compilation, USA PSYCH-O-PATH RECORDS CDPSP-5 CD (2003)
4. Mouthus, (extract from B side)
   From Mouthus, USA OLD ENGLISH SPELLING BEE OESB-02 LP (2005)
5. The Wooden Cupboard, (Track 1)
   From Boiling the Animal in the Sky, NEW ZEALAND PSEUDO ARCANA PA054 3” CD (2005)
6. Burning Star Core, ‘Catapults’
   From The Very Heart of the World, USA THIN WRIST RECORDINGS TW-G LP (2005)
7. Axolotl, ‘Anola (For Era)’
   From Bound With Skin Volume 3, USA SKULLS OF HEAVEN SKULL001 5 x CD (2007)
8. Plastic Crimewave Sound, ‘New Throb’
   From No Wonder Land, USA ECLIPSE RECORDS ECL-048 2 x LP (2006)
9. Ov, ‘Ghost of the Future’
   From Noctilucent Valleys, USA SOFT ABUSE SAB 018 CD (2007)
10. Willing, ‘Contacted for Multiple Headbirth’
    From Brotherhood of the Backwards Handshake, USA EVOLVING EAR EE19 CD (2007)
11. Raccoo-oo-oon, (unknown)
    From Pre-American Lands, USA NOT NOT FUN NNF042 LP (2006)
12. Woody Sullender and Kevin Davis, ‘City Avenues’
    From The Tempest Is Over, USA DEAD CEO dceo007 CD (2006)
13. Geoff Mullen, (Untitled Track 7)
    From The Air In Pieces, USA LAST VISIBLE DOG LVD096 CD (2006)
14. Southern Man and Pykrete, ‘Distance Player’
    From No More Love, USA PHASERPRONE PPR003 CD (2005)
15. Hintergedanken, ‘It’s Too Piercing’
    From Hintergedanken, USA BARBARIAN RECORDS BARB610 CD (2007)
16. Destructo Swarmbots, ‘Banta’ (fade)
    From Clear Light, USA PUBLIC GUILT PG011 CD (2007)
17. Excepter, ‘Cruel Sensation’
    From Bound With Skin, op cit.
18. Wooden Wand and The Vanishing Voice, ‘Hideous Whisker and His Woman’
    From Buck Dharma, USA TIME-LAG 26 2 x LP (2005)

The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM

Always nice to showcase an attractive vinyl package as best we may….beautiful and striking screenprinted sleeve art on this one, resembling a dust jacket for a mystery novel published in the 1930s, executed with panache by one of the performers on the LP. This is the second release on Anna Tjan’s Dancing Wayang Records label, a small enterprise in West London. For each release, the idea is that she records the music herself in her own studio, and packages the production for issue as a limited edition art object on her own label. “My aim at this point is to release music that I recorded personally utilizing the studio I work in,” Anna reported in December last year. “I’m trying to have a hands-on approach to the label and the recording and mixing of the material is very much a part of that.” Acting as sound engineer, producer, art director and probably distribution manager as well…you can’t get much more hands-on than that! Directing Hand are Alex Neilson (the free drummer who also appeared on this label’s first LP) and Lavinia Blackwall, a Glaswegian singer with a background in studying and performing early music and member of Pendulums in her home town. Who Put The Blood (DWR002) is a record which exploits her beautiful voice and classical training, showcasing it alongside the noisy unkempt drumming of Neilson. One thing the record is trying to do is discover and expose ‘parallels’ between experimental noise, improvisation, and traditional folk music, a project Mr Neilson has been engaged with for some time. I personally have yet to be completely convinced about this line of thinking, but we can’t deny Neilson’s distinctive contributions to the 2005 LP No Earthly Man by Scots performer Alasdair Roberts. Besides being great to listen to (the voice of Roberts is unearthly), No Earthly Man is a fine record which has a very interesting take on notions of authenticity and continuity in the traditions of folk music, debates which have been occupying the minds of those in Cecil Sharp House for many decades. Accordingly on Who Put The Blood we hear their idiosyncratic and doom-laden version of Child Ballad 13 ‘Edward’, and we also hear Blackwall being prompted to turn in a free-form vocalising and wailing episode propelled by the manic drumming of Neilson. The latter experiment is clearly inspired by the Patty Waters LP for ESP-disk, something which has become a common touchstone for young minds everywhere these days, but it’s impressive how the classically-trained Blackwall doesn’t come a cropper at all and turns in a convincing bleat. I wish I could say the same for Neilson’s peculiar singing, but perhaps I will find his style is an acquired taste and concede that it adds a ‘rustic’ charm to the recording.

The ballad ‘Edward’ of course is known in many versions (including some American variants), and I’ve long wished to write an incisive essay that accounts for the existential gloom that this mysterious story exudes (like all good death ballads, it can be read as an unexplained detective story that dwells on the violence and anguish and doesn’t begin to solve the motive for the murder at all), and might somehow tell the tale of how we arrived at the version that was used as the soundtrack for the 1949 avant-garde film The Lead Shoes by the American visionary film-maker Sidney Peterson. When I first saw this astonishing film I was mystified for days by the unforgettable images, but also by the music, with its strange combination of unbalanced Dixieland jazz, wild drumming, and free-form vocalising that extemporises freely around the lyrical content of this ancient ballad. The credits don’t reveal much about how it came about, simply stating ‘Sound by The Three Edwards and a Raven’, but I recall reading that Peterson used the services of some enthusiastic college students. It’s not a random choice of music; the story of The Lead Shoes itself is a modern update on the same ballad, believe it or not. You can see this meisterwerk here and find out for yourself. At all events, perhaps this is an example of the same seam of commonality among musical forms, which Neilson is trying to mine.

Following a friendly greeting from label owner Simon Reynell, the entire catalogue of his label Another Timbre is now in my hands. These are eight CDs of what promise to be cutting-edge examples of quiet, minimal and reduced improvised music. A relatively new venture, yet already the label has a clear identity in terms of its thematic unity (which, in places, appears very Zen-like) and the visual harmonising of the cover artworks; uniform typography, lower case lettering (natch!), and restrained yet striking imagery. at06 is A life saved by a Spider and two doves [01], which features the veteran players Evan Parker and Max Eastley playing alongside the subdued computer of Graham Halliwell and unobtrusive percussive work of Mark Wastell; Parker’s trademark bubbling soprano sax is used to delineate the swarming activities of ‘Human Fireflies’ on track 2. Endspace (at05) conversely is a much more bleak affair, showcasing the chillingly sharp violin of Angharad Davies and the scrapey piano wires of Tisha Mukarji; on this stark release, the music, titles and artwork are about as minimal as it’s possible to get, creating the impression of a conceptual art installation which you can use your ears to explore [02]. The great harpist Rhodri Davies (brother of said violin player) is on Hum (at04) with Matt Davis, Samantha Rebello and Bechir Saade, playing ultra-quiet woodwinds and brass. This quartet would appear to offer you the last word in restraint, yet just listen to the understated power on the second track for example, which is like being slowly simmered in a frying pan with one ounce of clarified butter [03]. Also out: An account of my hut (at08) by Clive Bell and Bechir Saade; the analogue synthesiser of Thomas Lehn on Obdo (at07); Tempestuous (at01) by The Contest of Pleasures, that excellent pan-European trio; Phil Minton’s groaning voice on Tasting (at02); and Frank Denyer’s Music for Shakuhachi (at03), all of which I look forward to exploring in greater detail. Another Timbre is perhaps shaping up to be a label of the same quality of Erstwhile, For4Ears, or the much-missed A Bruit Secret.

More ultra-minimal soundworks, but of a very different kind, from the label winds measure recordings in New York. Like Another Timbre, this label has a very distinctive visual identity and also favours lower-case typography. The best thing about the packages is the extraordinary use made of letterpress, a craft which I always assume has all but vanished in the age of digital typesetting. Even the address label on the envelope [04] sent to me has a series of concentric rings embossed in blind (and I suppose it won’t be long before the meaning of the term ‘in blind’ is forgotten too). Two fine limited-edition CDR releases were sent. Asher and Ubeboet have cell memory (wm 09), with two long tracks whose ingenious titles seem to cancel each other out while the long-form drifty sound art seems to be transacting on the same microscopic level as the cells whose memory they celebrate [05]. Civyiu and Ilya Monosov have made cartolina postale (wm 07), a title which seems tailor-made for the landscape-format wallets which this label uses for all its releases. Sure enough, the CDR is mounted on a piece of sturdy card, again decorated with letterpress, and each release individually numbered. The front of the card [06] shows, in text and illustration, the instruction for the composition; the improvised music (which is barely discernible), is something to do with toothpicks, a music box, a metal object and a piece of vinyl without any grooves. Extremely challenging to hear this; you may wonder if something so apparently vacant can possibly contain the artists’ notions of ‘place / time / memory / distance’.

The very wonderful erikm from Marseilles is here again with Stéme (ROOM40 RM426), a piece of severe electronic music apparently derived from pure process [07]. It’s something to do with deliberately damaging the media on which pieces of music and recordings had previously been burned, and modifying the results yet further in various elaborate ‘real time live music systems’. This talk of playing merry hob with compact discs is making me nostalgic for the times when Bruce Gilbert used to do it in the 1990s, performing live with a random selection of damaged CDs, which he deliberately spray-painted black so as to make the process even more random. He managed to summon up great thunderstorms of noise that made you think the world was ending. erikm however is producing something much more precise and controlled on this record, tossing digital micro-shards around like so much tossed salad. There are some overlaid and interrupted field recordings too.

Got a nice little box from Noise / Order Recordings in Seattle, which has been spray-painted red so as to reveal their logo stenciled on the back [08]. One of their releases is quite a curio. Analog America: A four course meal of Found Sound is a compilation of recordings put together by Amber Kai Morgan and Garrett Kelly [09]. ‘Found sound’ in this instance means tapes from telephone answering machines rescued from thrift stores in the USA, and occasionally I would guess home-made cassettes, taped letters, that sort of thing. They’ve been collecting this material for many years and have lots of anecdotes to tell inside the cover. It reminds me somewhat of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players (also from Seattle), who collect discarded family slide photographs at yard sales and junk shops to use as visual backdrops for their music. Plus there’s that website which specialises in exhibiting photographs of obscure and odd messages found lying in the streets. To me it feels uniquely American somehow, this interest in recycling overlooked detritus from the past. However, while John Trubee was interested in creating nasty prank-call recordings to capture glimpses of the seamier side of blue-collar America, this collection is much more gentle and surrenders freely to the charms of serendipity. The strange acoustic qualities of these old and distressed recordings only adds to the charm. Also sent: Release The Cheerfulness, China – Ground Up 2, which is one hour’s worth of field recordings and street music from China made by Jason Kopec [10]. I’m personally more attracted to the chaotic street sounds he fetches back, but Kopec is equally interested in making straight documentaries of the music he has found in that country. While not a patch on the work of Rob Millis or Mark Gergis, this promises to be quite a grower.

1. My Solid Ground, ‘Handful of Grass’
   From My Solid Ground, original issue BACILLUS 6494 008 (1971)
2. Virgin’s Dream, ‘The Gallant Knight’ (1971)
   From The X-Tapes, PRIVATE PRESS CD (2003)
3. Ihre Kinder, ‘Kennst du Den Mann’
   From Werdohl, original issue KUCKKUCK 2375 013 (1971)
4. Tomorrow’s Gift, ‘Allerheiligen’
   From Goodbye Future, original issue AAMOK 28515 (1973)
5. Haboob, ‘Keep On Pushing’
   From Haboob, original issue HOR ZU REP 34002 (1971)
6. Eiliff, ‘Gammeloni’
   From Eiliff, original issue PHILIPS 6305 103 (1971)
7. Pinguin, ‘Die Nachtmusik’
   From Der Grosse Rote Vogel, original issue ZEBRA 2929 001 (1972)
8. Twenty Sixty Six and Then, ‘At My Home’
   From Reflections on the Future, original issue UNITED ARTISTS UAS 29314 (1972)
9. Dzyan, ‘Magika’
   From Time Machine, original issue BELLAPHON BLPS 19161 (1973)
10. Eela Craig, ‘One Niter Medley’
    From One Niter, original issue VERTIGO 6360 635 (1976)
11. Orange Peel, ‘We Still Try to Change’
    From Orange Peel, original issue BELLAPHON 19036 (1970)
12. Cluster, ‘Rosa’
    From Zuckerzeit, original issue BRAIN 1065 (1974)
13. Witthüser and Westrupp, ‘Illusion 1′
    From Trips und Träume, original issue OHR OMM 566.016 (1971)
14. Guru Guru, ‘Baby Cake Walk’
    From Känguru, original issue BRAIN 1007 (1972)

The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM