My name is Zoë Colvin & I am increasingly baffled about everything.
Friday, 10 February 2012
It Was There All the Time
Here I was, longing for mindless noise on the radio, and all the time those cunning Germans have been giving me what I want, only I wasn't listening. Until this morning that is, when I switched on Deutschlandradio Kultur - why, you ask, well someone has to - and heard this (I've only put up two minutes, but I've loads and loads more, [it's sound art apparently]):
Thank you for pointing me in that direction. In a perverse way, I think I love them. Given that the clip was filmed in 1983, they are probably all as old - or even older - than I am now. And I bet most of them suffer from tinnitus, something you can be fairly sure of avoiding if you spend much of your life in peaceful, leafy Canberra.
One of the best pieces of sound art, musique concrète, whatever you want to call it, that I heard last year, was Chris Watson's El Tren Fantasma, all made of sounds he recorded on a train trip across Mexico. And looking on his website I see that he's made a series of recordings in a forest. "Light snow cover/light breeze/cold/clear and dry/high pressure ... Ancient oak woodland ... birds recorded included robin, wren, blue tit, great tit, tree creeper, chaffinch, tawny owl, pheasant, crossbill, coal tit etc." He has MP3s: http://www.chriswatson.net/holystone/
When I've finished with Einsturzende Neubaten and Nurse Myra's suggestion, I will turn to Chris Watson. That train trip sounds great - I think a big part of the charm of trains is the rattling
Good heavens, makes Einstürzende Neubauten sound like a dance band.
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing me in that direction. In a perverse way, I think I love them. Given that the clip was filmed in 1983, they are probably all as old - or even older - than I am now. And I bet most of them suffer from tinnitus, something you can be fairly sure of avoiding if you spend much of your life in peaceful, leafy Canberra.
DeleteMy friend Peter is a sound artist. He also creates beautiful images. you can see and listen to some of his work here
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scribbletronics.com/
When I've tired of Einsturzende Neubaten, I will give it a try
DeleteAnd I thought 'squeaky door music' was a metaphor.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is that it is strangely addictive the more you hear of it - possibly some form of Stockholm syndrome at work
DeleteOne of the best pieces of sound art, musique concrète, whatever you want to call it, that I heard last year, was Chris Watson's El Tren Fantasma, all made of sounds he recorded on a train trip across Mexico. And looking on his website I see that he's made a series of recordings in a forest. "Light snow cover/light breeze/cold/clear and dry/high pressure ... Ancient oak woodland ... birds recorded included robin, wren, blue tit, great tit, tree creeper, chaffinch, tawny owl, pheasant, crossbill, coal tit etc." He has MP3s: http://www.chriswatson.net/holystone/
ReplyDeleteWhen I've finished with Einsturzende Neubaten and Nurse Myra's suggestion, I will turn to Chris Watson. That train trip sounds great - I think a big part of the charm of trains is the rattling
Delete