Christian Zanési - Stop! L'Horizon (INA-GRM, 1996)

Christian Zanési is a French composer who studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique under the tutelage of Pierre Schaeffer and Guy Reibel. For the last two decades he's held close affiliation with the GRM while also maintaining a studio of his own. The three pieces presented here are stereophonic workouts intent on establishing, in Zanési's words, "a physical connection with the listener: that vibrant, organic being." In execution, this amounts to wide, dynamic sound environments doused in cavernous washes, interspersed with modulated breaths and not quote identifiable chirps and tinkerings. Played at a reasonable clip, Zanési succeeds in his aural goal, generating a sound field that deeply captivates the ear.

Stop! L'Horizon
& in .flac

Franco Battiato - Clic (Bla Bla, 1974; BMG, 1998)

Can't argue with a somewhat indirect ode to Stockhausen from the inimitable Franco Battiato! Though only some of the signature Battato elements are present--the lush VCS3 giving both dense waves and undulating arpeggatios, heisted classical elements, the clever use of concrète and minimalist touches, his lovely singing voice--the result is unmistakably Battiato. In place of the juicy guitars and heavy drum grooves, we find shortwave radio workouts and moments resembling sound poetry. Particularly fun are the synthesized bagpipes tying together "No U Turn". While his knack for grooves is certainly missed on this release, his imagination shines through on these stylistic exercises.

Clic

Jed Speare - Cable Car Soundscapes (Valient, 1982; Folkways, 1983)

Inspired by R. Murray Schaeffer’s The Tuning Of the World, Jed Speare set out to document the decline of the San Francisco cable car. Beginning with a third part field document of the familiar sounds of the cable car, first with the rumble and hum inside the cabin, then the sounds along the tracks, concluding with the rapture of bells as the conductor alerts passersby of the cable car's approach. He then interviews several passengers and conductors, shedding light on the previous sounds. He concludes by tying the three together in an impressive tape piece. Very much approaching Tony Schwartz territory until the concluding piece, which takes him several steps beyond any semblance of documentation.


Cable Car Soundscapes
Liner notes

Makoto Kawabata - Musique Cosmique Electro-Acoustique (Qbico, 2002)

Among his fondest early musical memories, Makoto Kawabata cites transmissions from NHK Radio of Stockhausen. Of particular interest were the frequencies Stockhausen tended toward, which Kawabata likens to a long-lasting ringing in his own ears since childhood. This small part of his history certainly softens the blow of Musique Cosmique Electro-Acoustique, a zap and splat heavy affair that calls to mind Acid Mothers Temple stripped of everything but the ultra cosmic synth work. Except there are no synths to be found here: the sounds were all conjured by direct contact with effects pedal circuitry.

Musique Cosmique Electro-Acoustique

Trevor Wishart - Audible Design (Orpheus the Pantomime, 2002)

Along with his book on sound transformation Audible Design: A Plain and Easy Introduction to Sound Composition, York by way of Leeds sonic arts legend Trevor Wishart included an audio companion demonstrating some of the detailed techniques in action. Though the book itself is scantly available, Wishart has posted a complimentary essay that might give some context to the madness contained within.

Divorced from its text, the recording acts almost like a bizarre and incoherent book on tape. Wishart divides each chapter into sections, revealing the near endless array of digital media tricks up his sleeves. Simple vocal inflections are run through a gauntlet of audio processes, warping pitch, timing, and sonic character. Though not quite the same without the book's guide, those wishing to give their best Wishart imitation should investigate his Sound Loom software.

Audible Design

Hervé Castellani - Deux Silences (Metamkine, 1997)

Another entry in Jérôme Noetinger's Cinéma pour l’oreille series, this one comes via French composer and Hameçon co-founder Hervé Castellani. Two somewhat short missives here, the first built from the sounds of engines, a thunderstorm, and squeaky cart wheels, with several rises and falls before giving way to an almost too present organ swell. The second calls on a twisting of bird calls and tea kettles that eventually stretch into an upper range drone with hints of third ear action. Plenty of false stops in both, each also tied together by the use of water sounds.

Deux Silences

Dick Raaijmakers - The Complete Tape Music of Dick Raaijmakers (Donemus, 1998; Basta, 2006)

Over the course of nearly forty years, Dutch forever-innovator Dick Raaijmakers produced an unspeakably imaginative catalog of tape music that depicted a unique soundworld devised from his singular vision. His earliest pieces are constructed from simple techniques using tape, filters, and modulations, but the results betray that ease of creation, instead conveying complex field of concept and associations. Many of his pieces were created over a short time, which, through his thorough understanding of cause and effect with tape, came out sounding intricately constructed through endless labor.

Just as essential as his techniques were his sounds. Though often his building blocks were sine tones, Raaijmakers also found sonically intriguing sources, which in turn responded well to his approach in the lab. Among his tool and muses were action-heavy piano attacks, short wave and telegraph feeds, a game of ping pong, and early examples of samples, pulled from the works of Berio, Edith Piaf, and events of nature. On their own, the sounds are captivating, but with Raaijmakers at the helm they take on a vastly different light. It is Raaijmakers' ability to get inside his sounds, to stretch them, tear them, turn them on their sides, that turns them into something magical.

The material in this box covers a wealth of activities, sound for films and theatre, and stand-alone sound works. As different and varied as they may be, they all carry an unmistakable energy that is entirely Raaijmakers'. He remained dedicated to the simplicity of his earliest studio, rarely straying beyond an array of reel-to-reel machines and an arsenal of filters, and in doing this he has instilled in his works a human touch that gives realness to his fantasy world of sound.


Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3

Space Machine - Modular Series, Models 101, 102, 201, 202

Space Machine serves up Maso Yamazaki's polar opposite to Masonna, springing half out of cosmic curiousity and half out of physical necessity. Maso has long collected early synthesizer equipment, so it was but a natural extension to journey deep into space. Among his fleet are a EMS VSC3, Roland System 100 & 100M, PAiA 4700 Modular, Doepfer Modular, as well as a Maestro Echoplex Ep-3. Space Machine is often a solo venture, though recorded instances have also featured Hiroshi Hasegawa (Astro) on Model 101 and Makoto Kawabata for Model 102.


Model 101 - Dimension Degenerator (P-Tapes, 2004)


Model 102 - Orbit Vector Generator (P-Tapes, 2004)


Model 201 - Space-Time Echo (P-Tapes, 2005)


Model 202 - Zone of Avoidance (P-Tapes, 2005)

Modular Series, Models 101, 102, 201, 202

Graham Lambkin - Poem (for Voice & Tape) (Kye, 2001)

Graham Lambkin, "Faces"

Graham Lambkin has involved himself in all matters of visual and audible activities for what is eerily coming close to two decades. Bands were his mode of operation for much of the 90s, when you could find him at the helm in the Shadow Ring, Footprint, and Tart, as well as often rearing his head on Idea Fire Company releases and performances. The last several years have seen Lambkin drifting out on his own or at most in duo settings, and this album is among the earliest of those. The idea is a streamlined one: atop a stream of running water (a common motif for Lambkin), most likely a gentle rain, a recording of some recitation by Lambkin is played. However, the tape is played incredibly slow, rendering his voice enormously low and indecipherable. His enunciations become lurching tonal masses and the room sound takes on deep droning.

Poem (for Voice & Tape)

Tony Schwartz - The New York Taxi Driver (Columbia, 1959)

Another masterwork from the always brilliant Tony Schwartz, this among his earliest. He hopped in the back of New York's taxis, mic in hand, setting to tape a wild array of stories and musings, editing to portray the drivers as modern day sages. A narrator sets the tone and subject, then it's left to the drivers to set the listener straight. Where works like A Dog's Life made possible what is commonly viewed as NPR-style radio-journalism, The New York Taxi Driver set the stage for Taxi Cab Confessions.

The New York Taxi Driver

Christian Marclay - Footsteps (RecRec, 1989)

Christian Marclay is one of those for whom the line between sound and art is completely invisible. Take Footsteps, for instance: Marclay makes a one-sided LP comprised solely of footsteps, first steadily paced walking in hallways of The Clocktower in NY, then Keiko Uenishi's tap dancing feet are added as well. One its own, an interesting idea, though it doesn't quite have legs.

Next step: line the floor in one of the Shedhalle galleries in Zurich with the entire pressing of said LP. For visitors to reach the next gallery, they must walk through, in the process embedding the footstep-filled LP with even more footprints, as well as scratches and the remnants of dirty shoes. All the while, the record is never played.


Once the exhibition concludes, each record is its own entity, shaped and morphed by its presentation as an object, not a sound work. But the sound work itself tells the tale of its former life in an aleatory fashion. Certainly, the case could be made that its presentation here removes the work from its own lifespan. Perhaps then it's best to view this as merely a portrait.


Footsteps

Gianfranco Pernaiachi - Sillabe D'ombre (Edipan, 1991)

Gianfranco Pernaiachi is a Rome-born composer with a keen sense of space and silence. His phrasings certainly call to mine the patience and dedication to each note that make much of Feldman's work so compelling. He often ascends just above the threshold of audibility, where the listener can bear witness to the full life of each note. In addition to composing, Pernaiachi is also a poet, with many of his writings taking on life as dialogues within his pieces. To this he often ties electronic treatments that he often grants far more soundspace than his acoustic instruments. Where a piano might take on the character of a water droplet, the accompanying sweep of filtered echo grows more like a mighty gust of wind. Juxtapositions of this sort pull the listener inside his works and carry his sounds around the room.

Sillabe D'ombre

Pietro Grossi - Battimenti (Ants, 2003)

Italian electronic maestro Pietro Grossi composed Battimenti in 1965, using 94 near frequencies sectioned into groups of 2, 3, 4, or 5. The overlapping and interfering frequencies create a shimmering bed of sound, rich with harmonic beatings and deep overtones. The piece progresses additively, beginning with a study for two simultaneous sounds and growing from there. Originally considered just the building blocks for a latter piece, Battimenti stands on its own as a profound forerunner to later minimalist activities.


Battimenti

CCMC - aCCoMpliCes (Victo, 1998)

CCMC in this incarnation is the improvising trio of Michael Snow, Paul Dutton and John Oswald (they were much larger in number and varied in clientele some twenty years prior), recorded here during a slew of live performances beginning in the summer of 1996 and covering three more performances. The dates find Snow largely behind the piano and synth and Oswald forgoing any plundering in favor of a particularly guttural alto sax. Dutton remains true to his rep as Canada's favorite vocal acrobat. Despite the scattering over time, there is a surprising level of fluidity between the pieces. Oswald and Dutton mesh particularly well, sputtering as if the two are leeching back and forth off the same pair of lungs.

aCCoMpliCes

Malcolm Goldstein & Matthias Kaul - Christian Wolff: Bread & Roses (Wergo, 2003)

Four Wolff-penned workouts, dished out via violin, percussion, voice, and hurdy gurdy by Malcolm Goldstein and Matthias Kaul. Despite the title, the bulk of the material here stems from Wolff's 1964 game composition For 1, 2 or 3 People for any instrument, dividing their interpretations into three sections with the remaining pieces--Exercise 27, Bread & Roses, and Edges--interspersed as dividers.

The score of For 1, 2 or 3 People is comprised of loose sheets distributed to the player which contain symbols indicating that the players should either wait for another sound to begin and play until it stops; start anytime, hold until another sound begins, and finish with it; start at the same time as the next sound, but stop before that sound; or start anytime, hold until another sound begins, and continue until after that sound has stopped. As well, directions are made as to the type of sound, 22 types total. The piece is highly demanding of the performers, but Goldstein and Kaul shine in light of such requirements. Of particular delight are the renditions tackled largely with voice, for the added physical demands that the score could impose.

Bread & Roses

Solid Eye - When The Snowman Starts To Talk (Senseworks, 1997)

Third or so missive from LAFMS luminaries Solid Eye, the warp and warble trio of Joseph Hammer, Rick Potts, and Steve Thomsen. Following their previous overlaps--i.e. Dinosaurs with Horns and Swan Trove--gives an indication of the direction, but as is to be expected with this lot, little stock can be put on expectations. They wade in a pool of sound that is both murky and colorful, rife with Hammer's expertise with the tape, Potts' ability to render instruments unidentifiable via various household accoutrement, and Thomsen's ear for the absurd. The resulting improvised collages dish up the cosmic schmaltz as if the kettle were bottomless.

When the Snowman Starts to Talk

Hermann Nitsch - Harmoniumwerk Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 (Cortical Foundation, 2000)

Harmoniumwerk occupies a rather atypical facet of Vienna Actionist Hermann Nitsch. In general, his music is a mere component of a larger being exploring ritualistic endeavors and bloodstained excess.
Harmoniumwerk is without a visual element and the only excess is in volume, as Harmoniumwerk covers 40 volumes of organ works recorded on his own organ at Prinzendorf Castle. The result is a surprisingly gentle (particularly for Nitsch) and beautiful work that slowly explores the sounds that inhabit the castle. Each piece is harmonically rich with an intimacy owed largely to the bareness and directness of the recording, allowing even the soft click of the keys to remain.

Harmoniumwerk Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4

Francis Dhomont - Frankenstein Symphony (Asphodel, 1997)

A high momentum, stitched-together mash of personal and student works from Dhomont, a heavyweight in the INA-GRM arena. The project began when a compilation curated by Dhomont was proposed, to which Dhomont scoffed. Perhaps objecting to the removing of context that a compilation can impose, he opted instead to assemble a new context for a selection of otherwise dislocated pieces. Scrapping together parts from 22 composers in total, Dhomont created a four part work with no filtering, only cut and splice assemblage, resulting in a potent but disruptive work that functions well beyond the sum of its parts.


Frankenstein Symphony

Eric La Casa - The Stones of the Threshold (Ground Fault, 1999)

One of many great recordings from Parisian Eric La Casa, an often claustrophobic look at the relationship between the sounds of the world and the microphone. The album is bookended by pieces comprised solely of field recordings--of water and fire, urban sounds, gusts of wind, and human utterings--and these represent La Casa at his most striking. His recordings have a knack for capturing every sonic artifact of an encounter, down to the interwoven sounds of wind that fill the otherwise lack of sounds, and bringing them viscerally into the forefront. Any faint murmur, barely audible, can be counted on at any moment to emerge as a great rumble, and this is part of the excitement to his recordings.

The Stones of the Threshold

Aki Onda - Cassette Memories

For many years now, Aki Onda has been among the many proponents of the resurrection of the cassette. One of his most noted contributions to this cause is his Cassette Memories series of performances and recordings. Culled from two decades worth of sound diaries, Onda has taken to re-constructing and re-imagining personal and public memories through his cassette collages, in essence producing an improvised reality. He has resigned himself to site-specific solo performances, reserved for spaces with their own specific memory. This makes for a synergistic effect where, in his own words, "Memories make memories."



Onda thus far has produced two entries in his recorded Cassette Memories series. Their shape is more meticulously crafted than his performances. When recording, Onda is able to cover several years worth of tapes and subsequently memories in a matter of seconds, though he is often more inclined to juxtapose several memories and let imagination take hold.

Aki Onda - Ancient & Modern: Cassette Memories Vol. 1
Phonomena Audio Arts & Multiples, 2003
Liner notes

Aki Onda - Bon Voyage!: Cassette Memories Vol. 2.
Improvised Music from Japan, 2003
Liner notes

Else Marie Pade - Face It (Dacapo, 2002)

More from the Danish queen of the tape, this one differing rather significantly from Et Glasperlespil in its more pronounced use of concrète elements and the near-presence of a narrative. Three pieces here, the first, "Symphonie Magnétophonique", an absolutely outrageous tape collage from 1958, following closely on the tails of her introductory tape piece "Syv Circler" (as found on Et Glasperlespil). Following are a pair of text-sound pieces: the whimsical, forty-three minute (!!!) adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Mermaid", also from 1958, and her 1970 titular piece, a bizarre anti-Nixon march bearing shades of Åke Hodell. Really a blue ribbon showing through and through. Waiting patiently for more of her material to fall from the sky.

Face It

Max Neuhaus - Fontana Mix-Feed (Alga Marghen, 2003)

Of the six interpretations of Cage's Fontana Mix featured here, four came from an LP issued by Mass Art, another from Neuhaus' Electronics & Percussion, and the last previously unreleased. Fontana Mix is an indeterminate score, the structure of which is determined by the performer who superimposes several sheets and transparencies with a grid. On its own, the piece is intended for tape, although it may be used in conjunction with other Cage scores for instruments and voice.


For Neuhaus' approach to the piece, which he subtitled Feed, he attached four contact mics to the skins of two timpani and routed those mic signals to a pair loudspeakers, each aimed at the timpani. The mics and thus the ensuing feedback loop were controlled by a mixer, with the volume levels determined through the Fontana Mix score. This relatively simple configuration allowed for a complex variety of outcomes, as the oscillations that occur are influenced by the room itself, the drums used, the size and location of the loudspeakers, as well as the other objects in the room and even the climate. The date and location of each performance follows:

1 Solo Recital, Mandell Hall, University Of Chicago, April 13, 1965
2 Solo Recital, New School For Social Research Auditorium, New York City, June 4, 1965
3 Solo Recital, Festival ZAJ1, Madrid, November 27, 1965
4 Solo Recital, Carnagie Recital Hall, New York December 1, 1966
5 Columbia Records Studios, New York City, 1968
6 West Deutsche Rundfunk Studios, Cologne, 1965

Fontana Mix-Feed

Vittorio Gelmetti - Musiche Elettroniche (Nepless, 1997)

Vittorio Gelmetti found himself amidst many activities in the 1960s, composing for film, completing orchestral work, and then, as we find here, creating electronic works. This collection focuses on two aspects of his work with electronics: the harsher, more drone-oriented tape pieces and the more playful, but goofy plunderphonic exercises. His tendency toward continuous sound forms is a rare trait in tape-based works, and is certainly the attraction here. These works, which bookend the collection, are built from layered sheets of sound which take on a variety of timbrel characters over time and are quite ominous in tone.



Musiche Elettroniche

Osso Exótico - VI: Church Organ Works (Sonoris, 1998)

On this Osso Exótico outing, David Maranha, André Maranha, and Patricia Machás find them at the helm of a pair of church organs. The disc is divided in half according to organ, beginning on a catherdral organ in Lisbon and concluding with a church organ in Marvila. Each organ is given a number of solo treatments along with a duet by D. Maranha and Machás. The pieces are slow and methodical, often softly drifting across the organ's registers or settling into careful periods of repetition. The conclusion is a fourteen minute, six-handed hydra of a work that explores the full range of the organ rather that the implied dexterity of three simultaneous players. Shades of Descending Moonshine Dervishes or Schlingen Blängen emerge, although the three find their own way through these exercises and seem to maintain an overall ethos of simplicity.

Church Organ Works

Syllyk - O Comme Icare (Musica Maxima Magnetica, 1992)

Syllyk is an early entry in the Eric La Casa catalog, a duo with Sylvie Laroche that, like his works under his own name, implore field recordings as the base for sonic sculpting. O Comme Icare is the first in a trilogy concerned with the musicality of nature. Unlike later releases, there is less of an emphasis on magnifying the sonic artifacts of the recording, instead opting to interweave the recorded events into a broader narrative. Fragments are looped and manipulated via filters, delays, and reverbs. As well there is prominent use of voice, whether it be La Casa's or Laroche's, that adds a nice human counterpoint to the abstracted material.

O Comme Icare

Yannick Dauby - Glasshouse (Fargone, 2005)

Yannick Dauby is a French field recorder and sound artist with a rapidly growing catalog of dense and evocative soundscapes. Glasshouse develops slowly, beginning with a soft hum that gains momentum over several minutes, giving way to a rustling followed by crystalline drone that descends back into that opening hum of open air.

Glasshouse

Michel Waisvisz - Crackle (FMP, 1978)

Michel Waisvisz was a Dutch musician perhaps most noted for his invention, the Crackle Box. The Crackle Box is a self-powered, self-amplified synthesize, the use of which is completely gestural. Inspiration for the box came from childhood experiences touching the circuitry of shortwave radios. His Crackle Box was initially produced by Steim in a run of 400. Sadly, the world lost Waisvisz in June of 2008. He is survived by the resumed production of the Crackle Box.

Crackle was produced for FMP in 1978 using the Crackle Box, a mouth organ, a bizarre VC3, and a springboard created by fellow instrument builder Hugh Davies. The resulting performances are lively and playful, but with a viscerality sometimes absent from electronic creations. The hands-on nature of its creation is clearly translated and is certainly a key component in the album's attraction.



Crackle

Jan Boerman - The Complete Tape Music (Donemus/NEAR, 2005)

Jan Boerman ranks highly among the heavyweights of Dutch tape music, though rare in his use of concrète elements. From his first introduction to the Philips studio in 1959, Boerman remained completely enamored in tape and electronic music, crafting a wide ranging catalog with an uncanny knack for timbre. This collection--among the many enormous assemblages of tape music released by Donemus--covers Boerman's tape works from his beginning in 1959 on into relatively recent works from 1997. Despite technological advances, Boerman remained true to the tape despite his studio at the Royal Conservatory at the Hague being equipped with modern sampling equipment. Further overview of the collection can be found here.



Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Disc 5

Pierre Bouchet - La Méthode Du Discours (Suicide Commercial, 1995)

Pierre Bouchet is one of the many guises of Philippe Blanchard; among the others are Lieutenant Caramel, Felipe Caramelos, and Moly. The Method of Discourse is culled from recordings at home in Annecy and is centered around the delivery of a text by an assortment of people. Bouchet's task is then to take these well-delivered recitations and render them otherwise, some times to the point of near destruction. Sounds that surrounded the readings as well as acousmatic sources help to warp the original material. One of many fantastic works by Blanchard.

La Méthode Du Discours

Max Neuhaus - Electronics & Percussion (Columbia, 1968)

I'm not going to mince words: I love this guy. Max Neuhaus was a maniac about everything he'd ever done and the mere thought of him makes me a maniac too. If he were just a bonkers percussionist, I'd still love him. But he's more. He designed and implemented some of the most ridiculous sound works and took the training wheels off of electro-acoustics. He passed away in February of 2009, leaving behind a legacy of absolute brilliance.

Electronics & Percussion is sort of a Neuhaus vs. New Music venture, winner takes all. And Neuhaus doesn't back down. One by one, he wipes 'em clean out. Included are the following:

1. Four Systems - For Four Amplified Cymbals (Earle Brown)
2. The King of Denmark (Morton Feldman)
3. Coeur Pour Batteur - Positively Yes (Sylvano Bussotti)
4. No. 9 Zyklus for One Percussionist (Karlheinz Stockhausen)
5. Fontana Mix-Feed (John Cage)

The last two are the most of note. Neuhaus absolutely made "Fontana Mix" his own, but more of that in the future.

Electronics & Percussion

This record somewhat soured Neuhaus to the notion of himself as a musician and he turned to sound art and installations. He surreptitiously installed a sound work in a subway vent in Times Square and ran it off the city's juice for twenty years, only pulling the plug when he decided to leave the city. Neuhaus was urged to reinstall the piece, doing so in 2002. A short video from street side of what can be heard follows:

Musique Concréte Soundtracks To Experimental Short Films, Vol. 5 & 6 (New England Electric Music Company, 2006)

Last batch of the series and it's a doozy. Time frame has shifted betweem 1970 to 1975, with the soundtracks to three animated films by Piotr Kamler, each pretty great in and of itself. Robert Cohen-Solal has INA-GRM connections, but this and "Les Shadoks" are his only available works, sadly enough. Received conflicting report as to the director of L'Écran Transparent, some saying Parmegiani directed it himself. Can't say that I know!

The fifth volumes contains:

Robert Cohen-Solal - Délicieuse Catastrophe (dir: Kamler, 1970)
Bernard Parmegiani - Le Pas (dir: Kamler, 1975)

And on the sixth we find:

Bernard Parmegiani - L'Écran transparent (dir: Kamler/Parmegiani?, 1973)

Three for three on the films this time! Though be advised that the first and last come from a Russian host and may be a little on the slow-loading side.

Enjoy!

Richard Youngs - 171 Used Train Tickets (Fusetron, 2003)

Could be seen as an oddball piece for Richard Youngs, who can sometimes come off a bit austere when on his own. As a preamble to a 1990 A-Band performance in Nottingham, Youngs appeared onstage armed with a handful of train tickets, 171 in number, and proceeded to read them, really giving it his all. Youngs' traveling routine was far from impressive at the time and thus most stations receive frequent mention, lending a hypnotic, almost circular effect to the reading, not dissimilar to Ben Patterson's "A Simple Opera". Probably fits into Youngs' overall air more so than I'm giving credit.

171 Used Train Tickets

Wolf Vostell - Dé-Coll/age Musik (Multhipla, 1982)

Much of Wolf Vostell's work deals with the idea of de-collage--just as it sounds, rendering the whole into parts. He put this into practice with video and with sound, with his sound contributions being of interest here. The recordings are offered chronologically, beginning in 1959, around the same time he was unveiling his TV dé-coll/ages, and extending to 1981. Real-life events, dialogues, and existing recorded materials are spliced apart, ragged at the ends. For any interested in his video work, I've included "Sun in your Head" from 1963 as well.

Link removed by request