This is a multimedia mix, in several senses. Attempts at documenting, dissecting, or preserving a practice that can be both art and artifice, empowering and oppressive, individual and industrial. 

stills from ‘Intermittent Delight’ (dir. Akosua Adoma Owusu, 2007)

00:00. Audio from opening sequence of La Libertad (dir. Laura Huertas Millán, 2017)

01:36. Sound Diaries – “Cumbrian Loom” / “Estonian Loom” (2012)

02:39. Agente Costura – “Maskerade Brigade” from re:flections 04 07 20 compilation (Attenuation Circuit, 2020)

05:51. Andrea Borghi – Tistre #3 (Dinzu Artefacts, 2019)

11:42. Shirts – seventh untitled track from Shirt Noise (Moon Myst Music, 2020)

17:53. Leo Correia de Verdier – “Stygn” [excerpt]

22:21. Kelly Ruth – “Nascent” from Forms (Pseudo Laboratories, 2019)

26:28. Natalia Beylis – Variations on a Sewing Machine no. 3 (Beartown, 2022)

30:41. James Wyness – “Textility” from Dead Sound Ethnographics (self-released, 2016)

36:50. Michal Fojcik – “Weaving Workshop” (2014)

37:30. Audio from opening sequence of The Woven Sounds demo (dir. Mehdi Aminian, 2019)

Further Reading/Viewing

Woman Interwoven documentary series

Mika Tajima, Negative Entropy

Paola Torres Núñez del Prado, Cross-Cultural Tangible Interfaces as Phenomenological Artifacts

Jodie Mack, The Grand Bizarre

Rajee Samarasinghe, Foreign Quarters

This mix collects the spellbinding results of interpretation, intervention, improvisation, imitation, installation, interaction, and many other forms of joining electronics with organics, sterile digital impermanence with living, breathing space. It’s not a one-way street; almost as many of these artists extract the electrical processes coded within our surrounding environment as add to it. (Personally I think “electricity” is mostly, if not entirely, bullshit—oh so electrons are just zipping around everywhere? so where are they? oh they’re invisible, how convenient—but if it makes people feel like they’re in control of their lives, sure, I’ll play along.)

谭硕欣 [Tan Shuoxin], “Field Recordings with Sine Waves”

00:00. Rudolf Eb.er – “Ishikiri (1)” from Om Kult : Ritual Practice of Conscious Dying, Vol. II (Schimpfluch Associates, 2018)

04:35. 谭硕欣 [Tan Shuoxin] – Simultanhalle: April 30, 2021 [excerpt] (self-released, 2021)

10:32. Network Glass – “novh1” from idiot/smiling (dingn\dents, 2019)

13:21. leftear – “Rainforest” from Half Nature (Zoomin’ Night, 2021)

20:47. left.bank – “sefar” from Zentrum Statisch (KOI8-R, 2019)

27:32. Anonymous – “KREC33” from Recordings, Disk 01 (SP, 2013)

28:45. Francisco Meirino – “Various On-Site Testimonies” from Recordings of Voltage Errors, Magnetic Fields, On-Site Testimonies & Tape Tension (Misanthropic Agenda, 2011)

33:36. Bella – “prei-prei” from HADRON (pan y rosas discos, 2019)

37:35. Max Hamel – B side [excerpt] of Sounds of Summer: Field Recordings of Solar Electronics (Refulgent Sepulchre, 2021)

44:41. Thomas Tilly – “Pre-Explosion I (Phonography and Interpretation)” from Codex Amphibia (An Interpretation of the Explosive Breeding Phenomenon (Glistening Examples, 2018)

50:16. No Artist – “Cmentarz żydowski w Podwilku II” from Dawne Cmentarze Żydowskie 2 (Szara Reneta, 2018)

55:27. Jero Route 66 and Shots – Live from Devil’s Den [excerpt] (Pauf Recordings, 2018)

Obnoxious error noises, flash game improvisations, useless pseudo-remixes, server innards, connection, solitude… these are a few of my favorite things.

00:00. Hyperlink – “504: gateway time-out” from Web Timeout (Nmesh, 2016)

00:49. RINGEX PLASTER – excerpts from “Let’s play Super Mario Bros to save Mushroom Princess right now!!! The Mushroom Princess is being held captive by the evil Koopa tribe of turtles. Super Mario Bros. NEW! Hot! Pac-man.. Start Game. … Super Mario World: Peach Blast. NEW! Hot! Mario Forever. NEW! Hot! Mario …” from Super Mario Brothers: New Super Mario Flash Online Game (self-released, 2020)

03:36. Youtube: Naliboki Woods – Dial Up (5 Feb 2021)

07:08. Ketchup Johns – “Bejewelled Frisbee” from Life Simulator (self-released, 2017)

08:56. Network Glass – “5.52 [Minecraft]” from Twitch (Salon, 2020)

14:48. food item – “It’s Actually an Energy Drink, but Who Cares.” from Yeah! Food Item Transmission. (7Form, 2020)

15:25. Windows 98の – BLUE SCREEN 002 [excerpt] (Pizza Beast, 2016)

20:23. Youtube: panicking at the wrong disco – “mr. brightside” but you’re crying in a bathroom at a party because your crush brought a date… (18 Nov 2020)

24:10. Ned Paige – A side [excerpt] of Ad Tape (Podunk, 2019)

28:04. XoArK – “ghted Bid Pric8 $26.es Weighted Bid” from CR061-1. 5ThLi cf 3 44lsy. 6/9-Z CY. 230. 30Z- c-,`. 414/5y Scp. IlenOMMIND. SrRvc-l’akt–. 11-5. 5-6 … cLe)( d’AfX1 1/z,ci70 .)(it 40 “/r) 1’1. WhAf. … English. TON. 5/2013 – 5/2014. Unit price quantity breakouts. Unit Price Statistics. Min Quantity. (7Form, 2020)

30:29. ~~~ – “:;:” from ~~:;:~~ (Absolute Trash Media, 2021)

32:42. RINGEX CLASSIC – Live @ Roblox Mall V.6.0 Apr 22nd 2020 (self-released, 2020)

Someone from elsewhere is trying to tell you something. They’re trying to reach you through any primitive sound-producing devices you may have lying around—dictaphones, radios, megaphones, old broken speakers, the vibrations of the air itself—fiddling with knobs and dials and settings to accomplish varying degrees of successful communication. It could be useful advice, or a desperate cry for help from somewhere on the other side of oblivion. Better listen and find out.

00:00. Cássio Figueiredo – “Lembrando Aspectos Mortos” No. 1 from Lembrando Aspectos Mortos (Banana, 2017)

01:53. Sammartano – excerpt from Walkman Jazz (Canti Magnetici, 2019)

05:20. Posset – “Memory Piece for Shipley Art Gallery” from Totally Corporate! (Kirigirisu, 2018)

08:37. Angélica Castelló – “Lepidóptero II” [excerpt] from Lepidóptero (Thalamos, 2018)

11:52. Modelbau – excerpt from side A of A World of Difference (Regional Bears, 2019)

15:13. Michael Barthel – “Sammlung. Musik Für Sammlung” 1 from Stapel. Efeu-Fährten (Tochnit Aleph, 2013)

22:24. Aki Onda – excerpts from side A of A Method to Its Messiness (Thalamos, 2019)

25:50. Daniel J. Gregory – “Mechanical Medicine Trap” from Heard Under Orphan Eyelid (self-released, 2020)

31:34. Alyssa Festa – “websdr_recording_2017-07-06T22-50-42Z_131725.0kHz” [excerpt] from Alyssa Festa (A R C H I V E, 2018)

37:33. Graham Lambkin – “Ghost Boxes (Dedicated to Friedrich Jürgenson)” from No Better No Worse Vol. 2 (self-released, 2018)

Think of this one like stations on a dying shortwave radio. Static, garbled voices, jumbled beauty.

00:00. CC – “Haunted Sideband” from AM (Crooked Acres, 2017)

02:36. Thought Broadcast – “The Immaterial Eschaton” from Abduction (Chained Library, 2019)

04:40. Jack Taylor – “Somnii” from Somnii (Dinzu Artefacts, 2017)

09:35. Rolf Julius – “Fast Schwarz” from (Halb) Schwarz (Edition RZ, 2001)

11:33. Philippe Petit – “04” from Nyctalopia (Electronic Musik, 2011)

15:34. Joe Panzner – “Less Than a Feeling” from Clearing, Polluted (Copy for Your Records, 2011)

20:24. fringe limb – “victuals” from endling (self-released, 2019)

26:14. [N:Q] – “November” from November Quebec (Esquilo, 2006)

33:01. Andrea Marutti & Fausto Balbo – “Winter” from Detrimental Dialogue (Afe, 2010)

34:24. Surface of the Earth – “Shield” from Interference (Fusetron, 1997)

If you can’t tell, I’m just a bit fascinated by the ability of creatively captured environmental recordings to convey profound emotion. With this mix I’ve compiled a collection of my favorite instances where a phonographer or composer has used unadulterated sonic vignettes to explore elements that may not have been present before, where the line between the objective reality of what’s being recorded and the much less identifiable, much more abstract presence of the music becomes blurred.

00:00. Daniel Löwenbrück & Marcellvs L. – second untitled track from Stallgewitter (iDEAL Recordings, 2014)

03:54. Toshiya Tsunoda – “Seashore, Venice Beach_31 July 01” from Ridge of Undulation (Häpna, 2005)

07:13. HDL – “Laying Eggs in the Exhibits” from Whales Have Hind Legs (Sacred Tapes, 2018)

10:28. Yeast Culture – “IYS*” from IYS (Petri Supply, 1989)

15:20. Abby Lee Tee – excerpt of “Simulacrum I-VII” from Imaginary Friends I (Czaszka, 2018)

19:44. Joe Colley – “Icewater.05.02” from Desperate Attempts at Beauty (Auscultare Research, 2003)

22:35. Seattle Phonographers Union – fourth untitled track from Live on Sonarchy Radio (Accretions, 2003)

26:24. Lucas Norer – “Das Unerreichbare Dort” from Portbou (self-released, 2018)

30:20. Szara Reneta – “Cmentarz żydowski w Czarnym Dunajcu” from Dawne Cmentarze Żydowskie 2 (Szara Reneta, 2018)

37:04. Ola Saad – “Cairo-Rec1” from her Soundcloud page (self-released, 2019)