It proudly proclaims a liberal use of the Dolby Noise Reduction system on the insert!?
David St. Hubbins wife told us that "(Sound Poetry) should never be recorded in Dobly"....which is probably true.
Is Tape Hiss part of the performance? Is it as important as the other 'sounds'?
There have been at least two or three cassettes that comprised entirely of Tape Hiss.One tape of pretentious Tape Hiss that particularly stands out in my mind, was by 'Anti-Art' Artists, The New Blockaders' " Epater Les Bourgeois " . Although what happens to that concept when you switch the Noise reduction ,on, is another matter entirely.The Dobly, or Dolby,to be accurate,noise reduction system was always pretty shit anyway.Not only did it suppress the tape hiss on the cassettes,it also suppressed the frequencies of the music.You lost most of the high-end when that button was pressed,and everything had a muffled quality,no matter which version you used, 'A,B,C or professional'.So embrace the Hiss,and swith the Dobly,and the Dolby,OFF!.
Hiss aside, this tape features Richard Truhlar in his group of Canadian Sound Poets, Owen Sound.Captured live from 1976-78 in places like the "Cabaret Voltaire" Art Gallery,mmmmm fancy(?),in Toronto.Which is a nod towards the Dada-esque origins of this kind of vocal sound manipulation.And before the more well know Cabaret Voltaire had released a record.
I can reveal,however, that the over-riding and essential ingredient of Dada is indeed present here;which is ,'a sense of humour'.The audience seems to find it amusing anyway,which suggests a dirth of Art Luvvies to spoil it all for everyone.
So the moral of this text is, dump the Dolby and bin off the luvvies....for the greater good of everybody.
DOWNLOAD some sound powentry HERE!
This is the kind of Sound Poetry that I appreciate.
None of that facial gurning,throat straining, and spittle expectorating phonetics and lip vibrating nonsense. This is more in the found sounds with text form of the genre.
Its all processed through various modulators,synths and tape echo's,so much so it reminds one of early industrial music rather than Sound Poetry. A lot of this wouldn't have been out of place on any of the official Throbbing Gristle albums.
Calling this Sound Poetry automatically lumbers it with the 'Pretentious tag', which isn't entirely unfair.Especially as there's a quote from French intellectual Roland Barthes,of whom normal people would never have heard of without a 5G internet connection; and the young lady who provided the looped voice for the opening track is credited as 'Poet' ,Sharon Theson,rather than just Sharon Theson. Poets have a disquieting tendancy to add this epithet to their normal names.The only reason for this I can think of is a attempt for they to elevate themselves above the herd. You'll never find the ordinary blue collar operative entitling herself 'Welder' Marjory Dawes for example.....(I consciously tried to be non-gender in my role assaignment there.....won't happen again!).....In France this can be a nightmare.Once they find out that one has 'Artist' written as one's profession on one's tax statement, they virtually fall at your feet proclaiming you as a great 'createur' for all to praise. This sickening grovelling to even the worst Artist or Artisan,of which France is brimming over with, is so deeply embedded in French Culture that there really is no escaping it.Personally I dislike 'Artists' as much as I do Musicians, except non-artists,Dilettantes and non-musicians of course,to whom this blog is dedicated.
DOWNLOAD in alphabetical order HERE!
Canadian Sound Poet and electro acoustic composer Richard Truhlar, made quite a few cassttes during the 80's and 90's, of which this is one of the more Sound Poety ones,although with a slightly industrial edge,which helps to stop one's mind from wandering. Loops of phonetic mouth noises are repeateded in a very Boyd Rice kind of fashion.This makes this a far more interesting direction to listen to as opposed to the unaccompanied voice which can be rather cringeworthy,and makes one whince at its awkwardness...as in whincing for the performer rather than oneself.I'm very comfortable at not being a sound poet thank you.
The cover looks like a still from "The Exorcist" and some of the music could easily be mistaken for the voices of the demon's one conjoured up during those winter nights during the power cuts of 1973 with a Waddington's Ouija Board.
Tracklist:
A1 Berlin Abstract
A2 Glaucoma Sonata
A3 King of Hell
A4 Thousandyear Eve
A5 London Trilogy
A6 Vasarely's Nightmare
A7 Gitr
B1 Ai
B2 Accident In America
B3 Raskolnikov
B4 Asthma
B5 Variations On A Word From James Joyce's "Ulysses"
