random sound cavalcade #15

yet another vegasmasses entry into the cavalcade: this particular excerpt comes from the last entry in the lumbering volumes, simply entitled end. fair warning: this excerpt does get much louder in the middle, so let the subtlety ride on, peace frog.

end : excerpt one

random sound cavalcade #12, 13 & 14

more from the vegasmasses volumes. these excerpts come from the great lumbering track trop, recorded -gasp- at the Tropicana casino. though notes are sketchy at best what sort of CoolEdit waveform editing was used to crush, kill and destroy the recorded sound, it highlighted here the underlying drone of the casino, how it really plays upon a simple harmonic system that continues melodic motion without any harmonic motion, regardless of where the recorder wandered. credit should be given to the ever-so-credible phonaut, who encouraged many early parts of the overarching our very lives are being compressed series, including these particular masses. three more excerpts for your mixing, matching, lathering, rinsing and general pleasure.

trop : excerpt one

trop : excerpt two

trop : excerpt three

random sound cavalcade #9, 10 & 11

after watching some of Olivo Barbieri's Site Specific short film series, the cavalcade turns its attention to another most particular series: vegasmasses. wandering around the strips - old and new - of las vegas (visiting the undeniable Overlord of the Mightiest Rock, peter pollack) with a minidisc recorder, the sounds of many casinos were captured, crushed and yes, even compressed.

the beauty of las vegas casinos is the attention to aural and visual detail: every doorknob, faucet and throw pillow follows the theme, every sound from every slot machine is in the same key, creating a mellifluous din.

two volumes of large sound masses were originally passed among the precious few, magnifying the aural detail. here are not one, not two, but three excerpts from the lumbering track grand. mix, match, lather, rinse, enjoy.

grand : excerpt one

grand : excerpt two

grand : excerpt three

random sound cavalcade #8

diggin' deep into the vaults, way down in the hole, if you will, comes today's random sound cavalcade - a bit of musical-instrument digital-interface, or midi action. cleaning out some old files, a chorale study for a music theory course was found - circa 1989, maybe 1990. plopped the old pencil copy into the 'pooter, and behold! the accompanying words for this meagre study were:

intra orbis terrae
opprimat meam animam
ex mearum ostiarum
sanguis incipiat fundere

it has something to do with the earth and a crushing head wound. yes, that's all it really ever is: sabbath, bloody sabbath.

random sound cavalcade #7

from the nineteenth day of the fourth month of, eh, let's just call it 2003, is this excerpt of a live sound-action battle between williwaw and the sound and fury known as chad robinson (who currently rocks bells for dark fog). like several recordings made at the esteemed candlestick maker (recently reopened as brown rice - love any/all references to Don Cherry), the recording was very quiet, until the sound and fury unleashed his batterie - reconstructing some semblance of balance was not wholly successful, but the wholly impromptu sound action is somewhat audible. this is the fifth of what has been called eight great indecisive moments. behold!

random sound cavalcade #6

d'oh! started the new without completing the old - an unfinished project? never! here's another excerpt from the first installment of our very lives are being compressed (based on the inaugural voyage of the williwaw ensemble). tweaked often, but never twittered.

random sound cavalcade #5

the return of the our very lives are being compressed series, ahoy!

as with previous parts of the series, something quite unexpected happened when every thought and action was placed into the smallest dynamic space - on, off, red, green - the compressed life; when we try to resurrect the soft amid the deafening din, things go awry. lame poetics aside, the source material of this excerpt is not a uke through numerous pedals, amps and blown speakers, but a comedy routine by a member of the Second City troupe, recorded without permission because bored hands are the devil's playthings. sadly, then, this is 'ukulele free, but amplified? oh, mercy!

a portrait of your very own shelves

up with availability! the long-player a portrait of shelves is now up in thrilling MPEG-I Audio Layer 3 format (when will the Fraunhofer Society start buying continents with all those residual dollars?).

the album was recorded - channeled, if you will - by the incomparable rick valentin on the thirteenth day of the second month of the two-thousandth year of this current era. it was originally released as a three "mini" (8 cm) compact disc set of extremely limited edition. Subsequent versions had intermissions of public-domain player piano music inbetween what would have been the three discs. it garnered praise from Splendid, including the following pullquote material:

I'm so stunned by the versatility, beauty and ugliness unleashed by this little chunk of aluminum that I took for granted that I don't know whether to love it or fear it.

For those not in on the earlier skinny, also available for your general perusal and up-down-and-side-to-side-loading antics is the extended player the kids are not ready.

DHNC ¡DONE!

it was all whirlwind, heat and flash...

(photos by kim gollings)

the artist seldom known as williwaw was playing a recent acquisition for the most rollicking event: an eight-string 'ukulele - or taro-patch fiddle, for those organologists among us - with a built-in under-the-saddle transducer and pre-amp. the other two-thirds of the unstable entertainment molecule preferred it to the other numerous ukes available - the sound was admittedly pretty keen for several songs of the evening, and the tuning finally settled before the show, but euf! the string tension was revealing repetitive stress disorders the former artist didn't even know they had - wrist pads and isometric exercises for everyone this holiday season, hoo-boy! two amps were used in an attempt for bass and treble, although one of the amps seemed to provide all frequencies and the other just glistening mud. the kids just love that glistenin' mud. for those who didn't get out of bed in time, the set was a hurried six: Fix Me / Love Is Alive / SWLABR / Crash Course In Brain Surgery (the original Budgie way, not that crapulent cover version) / Hot Blooded + Jukebox Hero / We're An American Band

these guys were weird

the mysterious mister charles found the entertainment molecule to be weird, which is fine by the molecule, and he also took a nice snap of the magic aura of driver has no cash.

(photo by the mysterious mister charles)

A limited number of driver has no cash stickers are still available - Inquire within.