Claustrophonic Hospital MP3

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Between its scene-setting title and its tantalizing mix of overheard noise, Richard Crow‘s Imaginary Hospital Radio, at just over 40 minutes in length, serves as a kind of plot-free radio drama. It’s one in which the witness wanders the dim hallways of a municipal hospital, overhearing intimate and coldly executed conversations about numerous maladies. Much of the claustrophobic (claustrophonic?) picaresque occurs in near-silent corridors of the powerless. The sound of routine check-ups is regularly interspersed with the mechanical wheezing of the location’s massive HVAC system (MP3).

[audio:http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/touchradio/Radio52/Radio52.mp3|titles=”Imaginary Hospital Radio”|artists=Richard Crow]

The track is the 52nd in the estimable Touch Radio series, which in the past has dealt primarily with raw, if expertly produced, field recordings, but that has, of late, emphasized the artful treatment of found sounds. This is how the project is described:

Imaginary Hospital Radio mimics and subverts conventional hospital radio and its aim to relieve its listeners/patients through the collaging and dissecting of the visceral and surgical sounds associated with illness and disease. The hospital’s unwanted sounds and noise provide an unexpected artistic source, as a kind of sonic tableau ”“ an invisible operating theatre in which the sonic/audio auscultation/surgery occurs ”˜live to ear’.

More on the recording at touchradio.org.uk.

Luke Moldof Live (MP3)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The skittery vocalizing and dusty rumble that open Luke Moldof‘s recent live performance on Rare Frequency have a ritual vibe to them — not the tabla-banging drum-circle vibe of post-hippie space music, but a sense of ritual purpose nonetheless. This may have to do with melodic fragments that could be mistaken for distant, obfuscated Native American chanting. Or it could be the result of the sheer intense concentration inherent in Moldof’s music, a music in which small scratchy noises take center stage only to be slightly nudged one way or another (MP3), and the occasional appearance of guitar is less a matter of playing in the traditional sense, and more a matter of yet another sound object a mix that emphasizes deep quietude:

[audio:http://www.rarefrequency.com/podcasts/Podcast_Spec_Ed_46_Moldof.mp3|titles=”Podcast Special Ed. 46: Live on Rare Frequency 04/29/10″|artists=Luke Moldof’]

Interview with Moldof at rarefrequency.com, in which he talks about his interest in extremes of volume:

I think that things that are very quiet and sparse can often be way more “extreme”than things that are deafeningly loud with all the spaces filled up. I guess my main reasons for being drawn to extreme volume is that the sound becomes more of a physical presence and can be felt in the body. There are also things that come out in high volumes that wouldn’t otherwise be apparent. For instance if you listen to Phill Niblock extremely loud, you will hear a lot of things that you wouldn’t hear at a moderate volume.

Original post at rarefrequency.com.

Pandora’s Drone Box (MP3s)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The retro-futurist work of instrument designer Arius Blaze involves Edison-era-looking electronics that are, in fact, devices of exploratory music-making.

Packed inside the wooden box that is Drone Scape X, shown here, is just such a sonic engine. Its capabilities are described by Blaze as follows: “Based on step shifting oscillation run through a built in delay — capable of extremely tight notated repeats and up to about 1.5 seconds.” To further show off the piece, he’s recorded these six drones. The results range from chaotic noise-mongering (MP3) to raging industrial shudders (MP3) to glitch-laced white noise (MP3) to sheets of bright static (MP3) to android vocalizations (MP3) to field recordings of alien mission control (MP3).

[audio:http://folktek.com/arius/current/dronescape/dronescape1.mp3|titles=”Drone Scape 1″|artists=Arius Blaze] [audio:http://folktek.com/arius/current/dronescape/dronescape2.mp3|titles=”Drone Scape 2″|artists=Arius Blaze] [audio:http://folktek.com/arius/current/dronescape/dronescape3.mp3|titles=”Drone Scape 3″|artists=Arius Blaze] [audio:http://folktek.com/arius/current/dronescape/dronescape4.mp3|titles=”Drone Scape 4″|artists=Arius Blaze] [audio:http://folktek.com/arius/current/dronescape/dronescape5.mp3|titles=”Drone Scape 5″|artists=Arius Blaze] [audio:http://folktek.com/arius/current/dronescape/dronescape6.mp3|titles=”Drone Scape 6″|artists=Arius Blaze]

More on the equipment, which is for sale in a limited edition, at folktek.blogspot.com.

Funki Porcini Talks & Spins (MP3)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Seven years after Fast Asleep, Funki Porcini is back in the downtempo business, with a slew of one-off EPs and singles, and a full album, On, on his longtime label, Ninja Tune, released earlier this month. Ninja Tune has several podcasts, including one from its hip-hop imprint Big Dada, one from founders label Coldcut, and one of its long-running Solid Steel radio shows. Funki Porcini, born James Braddell, appeared on its fourth cast, the proper label podcast, recently to talk about his new work, the extended break between releases, and some of his favorite music (MP3):

[audio:http://podcasts.ninjatune.net/ninjacasts/ninja_cast_8.mp3|titles=”Ninja Podcast May 2010 – Funki Porcini”|artists=Funki Porcini]

More on Porcini at myspace.com/funkiporcini and funkiporcini.bandcamp.com. More on the Ninja podcasts at ninjatune.net.

Image of the Week: The Mainstreaming of Interactive

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

A look at the distribution of the Top 100 iPhone/Touch apps. Music is in a respectable slot, above healthcare/fitness, finance, even social networking, though well below games, books, and utilities. Overall, this makes for a healthy outlook for mainstream adoption of interactive sound:

Original post at macrumors.com, found via the-palm-sound.blogspot.com.