#Field Recordings

[mclalan]

[dustedmagazine]

高野昌昭 / Masaaki Takano — しずくたち / Shizukutachi (Art Into Life)

A recording consisting solely of the sound of water droplets? As the practice of field recordings continues to expand and extend in to multiple forms of music, that notion is not as odd as it once might have seemed. But this reissue of Shizukutachi by Japanese sound artist Masaaki Takano confounds categorization. Takano began his career in the 1950s developing sound effects for stage, film and broadcasting and working as a recording engineer at music studios. By the 1970s he moved away from sound effects and began performing using self-made sound instruments and collecting field recordings of natural sounds. These two practices intersect in Shizukutachi, his first release from 1978. The project was inspired by a Japanese garden ornament and sound device called a suikinkutsu, a large earthenware jar with a small opening which is buried and covered with small stones. When water filters through the stones, it drips into the opening and the sound of the droplets reverberate in the buried jar.

Rather than head out to conduct field recordings, Takano began conducting experiments in his recording studio, consulting with a scientist who had written an article about the sound of water droplets. He explained the process they went through, noting “We raised a tank on a scaffold and ran experiments not only with water but also with milk, oil, hot water, and ice water — with Professor Isobe’s guidance. In the end, it was the temperature of the material and the shape of the receiving dish that made the difference. But it still took a year and a half to complete the record.” But Takano went further, devising his own wakatake no suiteki ongu (young bamboo water droplet sound instrument) from thick lengths of bamboo filled with water, recording and adjusting the size of holes drilled in the bamboo and the placement of microphones to capture the resonance and full register of the sound of the dripping water. The two pieces, each 22 minutes long, while connoting the sound of nature, is more a deeply considered study in sound.

Listening without information about how the pieces were recorded, one could easily assume they were created in an electronic music studio. Reverberant, deep pings and trebly clicks are panned across the sound plane, carefully placed against silence. Takano utilized multiple instruments and fleeting patterns of sound begin to accrue as the recordings were mixed and layered. Open pulses play off of each other with measured deliberation. While clearly composed, the pieces progress as open-ended sonic documents, their intentionality eschewing any notion of ambience. In the first piece, the pace is slower, accentuating the way each sound rings out. On the second, Takano quickens the pace, adding density and introducing further registers and reverberations of sound, creating engulfing waves of freely overlapping rhythms.

It is worth noting that the reissue was remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and the pristine recording reveals a stunning depth of nuance. In the informative liner notes by Tomotaro Kaneko (owner of the Japanese Art Sound Archive), he references a number of other works by Takano including Oto Asobi (Sound Play) which involved performances with self-made and traditional sound instruments. One hopes that eventually, some of these might be issued.

Michael Rosenstein

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Intro • Say the Name • Wytchboard (Interlude) • '96 Neve Campbell • Something Underneath • Make Them Dead • She Bad • Invocation (Interlude) • Pain Everyday • Check the Lock • Looking Like Meat • Drove (Interlude) • Eaten Alive • Body for the Pile • Enlacing • Secret Piece

Spotify ♪ Bandcamp ♪ YouTube

[phonographica]

Unknown Artist – Tropical Wave (1980)

[nofatclips]

Tempelhof by Yann Tiersen, live in studio at The Eskal

[balleralbumcovers]

EPIC ALBUM COVER #250

Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother

Released: 1970 (Harvest)

Progressive rock

[womenofnoise]

In memory of Sawako Kato (1978-2024)

Sawako was a sound sculptor, a timeline-based artist and a signal alchemist in the urban life environment. Her works mixed field recordings with digital signal processing, creating beautiful, delicate and organic structures.

All of her work is available for pay what you want on Bandcamp for your appreciation. All proceeds will be donated toward organizations supporting women in the arts & technology.

[whatdoyouknowabouttheuniverse]

Leafrise

[postpunkindustrial]

Voices Of The Satellites LP

Once again poking around for Halloween I came across another piece of cool ephemera.

Field recordings introduced by Gordon McLendon. Chronicling the sounds of the first thirteen American and Soviet satellites launched during the ensuing year.

Originally an half-hour recording on a five-inch reel of tape of various signals, produced and distributed from 1958 as Voices of the Satellites. 

Get it from my Google Drive HERE.

[sound-bombing]

Voice Actor - Sent From My Telephone (STROOM, 2022) Genre: Minimal Wave, Experimental, Ambient, Field Recordings, Hypnagogic Pop Artwork: Luca van Grinsven Bandcamp

[ozkar-krapo]

[rec. Jean-Claude ROCHÉ]

"Forêts et Savanes africaines - African Forests and Savannas"

(CD. Frémeaux & Associés. 2014 / rec. 1989)

[haveyouheardthisband]

[mon-nid]

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Invincible • Do What You Want • Here It Goes Again • A Good Idea At The Time • Oh Lately It's So Quiet • It's A Disaster • A Million Ways • No Sign Of Life • Let It Rain • Crash The Party • Television, Television • Maybe, This Time • The House Wins • 9027 KM

Spotify ♪ YouTube

[phonographica]

Ken Davis – Feelings From Within (1988)

[zef-zef]

2 fav tracks from one of my all-time fav kraut albums. "Hallogallo" is the more repetitive motorik spacy one, while "Negativland" is in the same vain but more rocky and experimental (and where another fav band of mine found their name).

Neu! - Hallogallo - Negativland From Neu! - Neu! (Brain, 1972)

Klaus Dinger japan banjo, drums, guitar, vocals, producer

Michael Rother guitar, double bass, bass, producer

Conrad Plank producer, engineer