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phonography.org: compositions using field recordings 2
01. Murmer - Liquid Solid (compressed)Source material: freezer, rain, flourescent lighting, airplane landing gear, shop alarm. Composition and source recordings were made in 2000. This "compressed" version was created in 2002.
02. Rob Rowlands - Outside [MP3 - 4.5 MB]
Industrial hum, wind through a ventilator, rain on butterbur leaves, Skipton church bells, digging rusted metal from rocky ground, granular synthesis, data bending.
03. Jon Tulchin - ___
04. Dale Lloyd - Zazen: A Consideration Of Work
Thanks to Bill Thompson and Yuko Nexus6 for some of the sound sources used in this piece. All other sound sources were recorded in Port Townsend, WA and Snoqualmie, WA, in the Cascade Mountains, 2002.
05. Cal Crawford - Held By The Visigoths And Moors [MP3 - 4.4 MB]
06. Yannick Dauby - Rain, Reconstructed
07. Gydja - Unseen Rain [MP3 - 4.7 MB]
08. v.v. - Sequel
09. Bill Thompson - Xmas '99 (edit)
This is an edit of a longer piece exploring the idea of using "repetition" and the fine line between recognizable sounds and electronically altered ones. The source recording was made in El Paso, TX, Christmas of 1999.
10. Cedric Peyronnet (Toy.Bizarre) - KDI DCTB 053B
"The kdi 053 extract is a simple stereo recording of a storm with mics in airducts, made in Limoges (87), France, in June 1997."
11. The Beige Channel - Arizona Underground
Slowly opening a bottle of Arizona Ice Tea in the basement with ambient sounds of the kitchen filtering through.
12. Sawako - Yukidoke
Yukidoke was made for 2002 IMEB Work Overture Project "The Seasons."
13. Josh Russell - Hospital Death
This is a narrative song about somebody's last minutes in a hospital ward. Sound sources: balloons, cell phone, shortwave monitoring station, computer.
Review
Phonography.org: Compositions Using Field Recordings Vol. 1 & 2 - Michael Bernstein (e/i magazine autumn 2003)Phonography.org is a repository for phonographers, or 'sound writers'. The term phonographer is used in place of 'musician' or 'composer' to connote a lower level of sound creation more akin to curatorial functions than compositional ones. Artists who choose their music as opposed to writing it belong in a special category, and now there exists a website to being these like-minded people together. As a website, phonography.org allows phonographers to publish their ideas within a dedicated section; as a record label, phonography.org publishes the work of dedicated phonographers who choose to use as source material 'found sounds'. This takes the musician out of the studio and into the field where a microphone and a DAT Walkman are the weapons of necessity. The first two volumes in a series of "compositions using field recordings" include works by more than 30 different phonographers, the contents either straight-up, manipulated, or an acousmatic combination of the two.
In the source material chosen by each artist, there is a sense of provocative fluctuation in their application of 'natural' and 'artificial' sounds into the compositional matrix. Rain, wind, and open spaces get the same treatment as refrigerators, office equipment, and human voices, footsteps, etc. The line between what is 'real' and unreal becomes unimportant, and the pure sounds, broken down to their basic frequencies, rhythms, and timbres, become the main focus of attention. While these mixtures provide the most intriguing moments during these two compilations, they occasionally create jarring juxtapositions that are hard to ignore. The sequencing is well-executed, but certain tracks clash with each other in spite of themselves. Excellent unadulterated work by Jon Tulchin and barely-touched tracks like "Calisthenic" by Quiet American sit alongside time-stretched granulations deserving of their own forum. As with any emerging art form hoping for a validity, the rewards of the phonography artist, and this introductory document in particular, merit closer, focused attention.