sounds of war

march 19, 2003.

"... war did it better ..."

There's all these journalists, of course, and numbers of cameras along with their sound (wo)men. But would also some of the 'sound activists' be heading out there? Like the Itialian futurists, who, when WWI broke loose - interrupting a European concert tour - hurried to enlist, and praised their luck to be able to "fight in the midst of the marvelous and grand tragic symphony of modern war." (Luigi Russolo (1887-1947), 'Noises of war', in: The Art of Noises).
Ah well. It's a safe enough guess that almost all will watch Baghdad burning on their tellie.
Just like me.

Though I seriously think that I would seriously consider any serious offer, would it come my way.

From thumping, snorting and roaring of horses, clinking and clanking of metal on metal, to wheezing jets, supersonic booms, electronic beeps ... but anytime and all along, a hellish lot of awe-full noise ...

[ www.afghanan.net
Sounds of weapons used in the Russian Afghan war, and the sounds of mujahideen fighting against the Russians (real audio).
Sounds of Vietnam
On www.manchu.org, the web site of the 9th United States Infantry Regiment, a selection of sound clips, originally recorded by American soldiers on reel to reel recorders in Vietnam, then sent home to the US and transferred there to cassette. ]

while the world waited

march 27, 2003.

"... day 8 ..."

Now available: "While the World Waited - Volume One", a compilation of 'experimental' tracks released on Cory Thrall's Samsa Records label, including my Sans paroles (speechless) and "Les Années Pop".

The second of these is a short montage, based upon the announcement of the murder of John Kennedy ('années pop' !) by the radio announcer Matthey Doret, 11.23.1963, on Swiss national radio. I removed from this announcement all the words, and kept only the vocal noises, lips smacking, breathings, in between, as basic material. The result is the kind of mix of abstract and highly emotional that I find pretty compelling...

All tracks can freely be listened to online (one by one), which I just did ... I think it's an intriguing and tasteful collection of audio obscurities that Cory managed to get together here, but, well, I guess I am kind of biased :-) .... Needless to say: this is a li-li-limited edition, collector's-only item ... Grab one ... if you can ...
("While the World Waited" can be ordered online, but apparently this is a US-only service ... )
[april 2004][ well, okay, you had your chance ... now it's too late ... :-) ]
[Other contributors : shapethrower, dexter methorphan, konemies, andy kisaragi, darph/nadeR, 13RXTNLE, Ratobasher, marufura fufunjiru, abstract evil barbie, a radio with guts, ellende, 4m33s, palsecam, sound_00 and man with tea gum ....]

[ next related SB-entry: language removal ]