The Organization of Sound: field recordings & musique concrète (#8)

The world of recorded sound is so vast that you could spend you entire life exploring it – ahem, case in point – and still not have time to really enjoy some of the rare and wonderful treasures that are tucked away in the corners.  While I have always been a sucker for odd music in whatever form it might take, some of the first music I made was sort of along these lines, and as I get older, I find more and more comfort and serenity in a nice, long recording nature, or some atonal cut-ups, than I do in a lot of pop music.

However, I have always been frustrated with the lack of a good, academic overview, á la the best BBC Documentaries, and as I searched and searched for something that would satisfy my curiosity, I found a whole history that I knew very little about.  I was familiar with Stockhausen, but there are some truly unusual recordings made by people before and after that are very mind-expanding.  You can only listen to Negativland long enough before you wonder who did this before them.

So this is my attempt at piecing together an overview of the form as best I can, using the best tool I have available to me: edited audio recordings.

Part II of today’s program is unique, in that there are a handful of submitted field recordings by listeners that made it into the program.  Additionally, I perform my own cut-up / field recording piece, “The World Around You,” which features recordings I made with my friend George Johnson, or my wife, M, while on our Honeymoon.  I think it came out quite good, and it really fits with the overall program.

I also want to give a special thanks to Porest, who was kind enough to return my messages, and send me a radio-friendly version of his album that isn’t even out in the US, yet. As a fan, that was not only really cool, but gives you a chance to hear his stuff before anyone else. So, there’s that, too.

This one is a head scratcher, but in the best possible way.

Enjoy!

Spinitron Playlist

The Organization of Sound: field recordings & musique concrète 

Part I: “Etude, Musique?”

01.) Étude * Jean Barraqué * Oeuvres Completes * Classic Production Osnabrück (1998)
02.) The New Sound of Music * Michael Rodd * The New Sound of Music * BBC (1979)
03.) Musique Concrete, Part I * Written by Jean-Luc Sinclair / Read by Mac OS 10.11.5 “Voice Control” * Organizing Sounds * codehop.com (2011)
04.) Fantasia * Pierre Henry * Le Microphone Bien Tempéré * INA-GRM (1977)
05.) Etude Aux Chemins de Fer * Pierre Schaeffer * Early Moulations: Vintage Volts * Caipirinha Productions (1999)
06.) The Konkrete Etüde ⅕ * Karlheinz Stockhausen * Elektronische Musik 1952–1960 * Stockhausen-Verlag (1991)
07.) [05] * Negativland * Negativland * Seeland Records (1980)

Part II: “Performances Could Be Changed”

08.) stovetop steampunk noise * Jerry Soga (instrumentation: michael graves teapot, tappan range) * stovetop steampunk noise * YouTube.com (2012)
09.) The Moment * (members of) The Waiting Room (Solovino de B, Maritxu de A, Jay Létal & Austin Rich) * The Moment * Facebook.com (2016)
10.) The World Around You * Austin Rich * Field Recordings * unreleased (2015 / 2016)
11.) The Field Recording * Porest * Modern Journal of Popular Savagery * Nashazphone (2016)

Part III: “What you can do with steel you can also do more conveniently with plastic tape.”

12.) Timbres Durées * Olivier Messiaen * Archives GRM * INA-GRM (2004)
13.) Étude 1 * Pierre Boulez * Archives GRM * INA-GRM (2004)