Disquiet

FonoZoo.com is exactly what it sounds like it promises to be: a menagerie comprised entirely of the sounds of animals. No feed bills, no pesky smells, fewer ethical quandaries. The organization’s latest publication is a commercial CD sure to be a big hit with the bioacoustic crowd, The Calls of the Frogs of Madagascar. Samples currently online include the mad whistling of the Boophis luteus (MP3) and the delicate, windchime-like call of Stumpffia gimmeli (MP3). The site, and the disc, aren’t limited to individual performances. Also available, the chatty “Chorus of Guibemantis liber, Blommersia blommersae, and a third unidentified frog” (MP3) and the gorgeous, eerie “Section of a soundscape of two troops of indris” (MP3). Judging by the sound of it, “troops” is a polite term for “orgy.” More samples, plus images of the unwitting amphibian recording artists, at fonozoo.com.

By Marc Weidenbaum