Interviewed by Max Eastman in Puke Pink, mail art and cassette culture titan Gen Ken Montgomery offers some eternal advice: “I encourage people to listen deeply. Listen alone and with others. Listen to yourself, listen to others, listen to rivers, trees, rocks, and birds. Listen to the voice in your head and the noise in the world and observe where it takes you. Sound is a form of transportation.” The Guanajuato-based Instituto de Psicogeografía takes this credo to heart—to listen to their tapes is to be submerged in another place entirely. To the ears, a location’s true essence is more than just the sounds that are heard; it’s also the sounds that aren’t, and el Instituto duly portrays the noise of the streets and the currents surging through the skies with equal reverence. The A side of II, their most recent release, is a languid mélange of earth and electricity. Abstract musical threads spool outward from a variety of sources and then melt into embraces from the natural world: radio chatter dissolves into insect swarm, emf sputter meets anxious footsteps. So much care was taken in assembling these collages, acts of respect and admiration for the world in all its imperfections. I’m reminded of Frenchbloke & Son’s legendary Bruit dans l’intéret de musique mix, a work I adore for the same reason. Things get a bit more tense on the B, with garbled commentators narrating a nighttime drama of birdsong and obtuse electronics. Already looking forward to the next adventure from this promising new initiative.
Noise Not Music 