UbuWeb Sound :: Airwaves

Airwaves (1977)

1. Vito Acconci TEN PACKED MINUTES (12:47), 1977. [MP3]

Musical excerpts from the recordings of Leon Redbone, Cow Cow Davenport, Eric Dolphy, Karl Berqer and Ornette Colemor

2. Jana Haimsohn HAV'A LAVA FLOW (2:36) 1977 [MP3]

4. Julia Heyward MONGOLIAN FACE SLAP BIG COUP (part one) NOSE FLUTE, BIG COUP (part two) (8:48) 1977 [MP3]

5. Dennis Oppenheim BROKEN RECORD BLUES (5:00) 1976 [MP3]

6. Meredith Monk RALLY (3:23) [MP3]
scored for twenty five voices recorded at WBAI, NYC

7. Meredith Monk PROCESSION (6:42) [MP3]

Voice and piano from the opera QUARRY, 1975-76 engineered by Lucy Laurie at Big Apple Studios

8. Diego Cortez ARBITER (1:42) [MP3]

9. Diego Cortez YOU PAY (1:45) [MP3]

from the sound track of the film POISONING, 1975 engineered at ZBS Media Inc. by B. Bielecki

10. Jim Burton HIGH COUNTRY HELIUM (5:58) [MP3]

(John Deak viola, percussion Ed Friedman bottle neck guitar Jim Burton peddle steel 1976. engineered by Charlie Morrow)

11. Leandro Katz ANIMAL HOURS (7:50) 1977. [MP3]

voices: Judith Hendra, Ellen Friedenberg, Ted Castle, Leandro Katz.

12. Connie Beckley TRIAD TRIANGLE (5:48) 1977 [MP3] <

13. Laurie Anderson TWO SONGS FOR TAPE BOW VIOLIN: (4:06) ETHICS IS THE ESTHETICS OF THE FEW-TURE (Lenin) SONG FOR JUANITA, 1977 [MP3]

(1:45, St. Marks Church, NYC, May 18, 1977)

14. Laurie Anderson IS ANYBODY HOME, 1976 (4:27) [MP3]

for boot horn, camera, stairs, piano, and voice, Peter Gordon: clarinet Joe Kos: drums Scott Johnson: bass Laurie Anderson: voice, violin

15. Laurie Anderson IT'S NOT THE BULLET THAT KILLS YOU - IT'S THE HOLE (for Chris Burden), 1976 (3:49) [MP3]

Scott Johnson: guitar, boss; Joe Kos: drums; Ken Deifik: harmonica; Laurie Anderson: violin, voice; Scott Johnson, Laurie Anderson & Ken Deifik: arrangement

16. Diego Cortex CATARACT MONOLOGUE (2:53) [MP3]

excerpt from address delivered o "April Meeting,' Belgrade, 1976

17. Jacki Apple BLACK HOLES/blue sky dreams (8:00) [MP3]

music: Zephryn engineer: Rhys Chatham

18. Richard Nonas WHAT DO YOU KNOW (:20) 1976-77 [MP3]

From the LP AIRWAVES, One Ten Records, 1977

SOME GENERALIZATIONS: This record is not an art object All the people on this record ore artists. Many of the artists present themselves in a gallery situation: live in performance, efectronically through installations. Often these situations are theatrical: None of the artists consider themselves actors. There is no proscenium. It is a floorshow.

Most of the work in the anthology is musical. Like most of the music in the world it is predominantly vocal. You can dance to at least two of the selections. The artists combine the bravura and risk of the musician (filter) with the intellect and risk of the composer (source).

What is heard is often augmented by technology. Technolo is a tool, a verb. Sometimes it is avoided because it imposes a system, another language, on what is happening. Many of the artists tee technology to make things legible. Sometimes legibility is sacrificed to produce a distinctive signature

The concern, here are not the concerns of painting. Sometimes there are references to art. Sometimes structure is the subject matter. Often the subject is the past, or more precisely personal observations on the esent of the past, or more precisely, memory. The injection of the self into the post adds to a feeling of literaryness.

As in opera, what we hear is influenced by what we see, how much of the story we know, and if we understand the language. As in any performance situation, the energy generated by the performance is more than, and perhaps more interesting than, the information presented. You hd to be there. Often what is done is not repeated. This is a record.

--B. George