ElectroJunkyard Episode 6

Airing today: a C.M.S.O.-themed episode of ElectroJunkyard, my bi-monthly show on Camp Radio in France. This is an abbreviated version of the mix David Rodriguez and I put together for I Heart Noise in honor of the release of C.M.S.O. (Learning by Listening Vol. 1). The mix includes a smorgasbord of spoken word, synthesized voices, music made for commercial purposes, music made for educational/instructional purposes, videogame music, and some other stuff that we just thought was cool. Airs at 7pm CET / 12pm CST. Listen at Camp Radio.

Episode 6 tracklist:

0:00 Orca, Attack! – Abstract – C.M.S.O. (Learning By Listening Vol. 1)

3:53 Frank Ocean – Fertilizer – Channel Orange

4:32 Raymond Scott – Portofino #1 – Manhattan Research, Inc

6:38 Gwendolyn Brooks – We Real Cool – Poetry On Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work (1888-2006)

8:10 Lovage – Lovage (Love That Lovage, Baby) – Nathaniel Merriweather Presents…Lovage: Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By

9:06 Radiohead – Fitter Happier – OK Computer

11:02 Anne DeMarinis – Radio Song – Just Another Asshole #5

11:46 Terry Scott Taylor – The ‘Lil Bonus Room – Imaginarium: Songs from the Neverhood

13:56 Bill Wurtz – chips (sponsored)

14:06 Tank and the Bangas – Forgetfulness – Green Balloon

18:22 Delia Derbyshire – Great Zoos of the World – BBC Radiophonic Workshop 21

18:54 Stone Temple Pilots – My Second Album – Purple

22:04 Bill Wurtz – how to remember your name

22:10 Petra Haden – Odorono – Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out

24:26 Warmduscher – Rules Of The Game (feat. Iggy Pop) – Tainted Lunch

25:32 Reachground – Now You’re A Hero – You Have To Burn The Rope

27:46 Delores Galore – DEAD HERO (excerpt) – Virtua Mall 1.0 Soundtrack

30:02 Toxic Chicken – Van Gogh and his Ear – FUN

33:02 The Who – Heinz Baked Beans – The Who Sell Out

34:02 Anne Waldman – Uh-Oh Plutonium – The Dial-A-Poem Poets “Better An Old Demon Than A New God”

37:33 Choir of Downside School, Purley & Viola Tunnard & Benjamin Britten – Britten: Songs from “Friday Afternoons”, Op.7 – Songs From Friday Afternoons, Op. 7: “Cuckoo!” – Britten: A Ceremony of Carols; A Boy was Born; Psalm 150

39:00 bvixer – Brian Eno Windows 95 Sound x23

41:08 Sima Kim – Life is too short to use windows – You Won’t Find My Punchlines Here

42:20 Throbbing Gristle – E-Coli – D.o.A.: The Third and Final Report

46:26 Moor Mother – Forever Industries B – Forever Industries

49:16 Visible Cloaks – Lifeworld – PRSNT

49:48 Mort Garson – Plantasia – Mother Earth’s Plantasia

52:58 Raymond Scott – Portofino #2 – Manhattan Research, Inc

55:07 Susan Stone – Language Etude – Tellus #11 The Sound of Radio

57:01 Orca, Attack! – Ethical Approval- C.M.S.O. (Learning By Listening Vol. 1)

Podcasts and reviews!

Loads of new podcasts with Orca, Attack’s! C.M.S.O. on the deck this past couple of weeks:

And there’s an extremely perceptive track-by-track review of the album up on listencorp (we expect nothing less!). My favorite part:

Reaching an ecclesiastical euphoria of harmonies and echoes, the voice doles out thank you’s from the creators of the course. After which things descend into instrumental chaos with glissando notes filling the soundscape, ending the course on an emphatic and almost ornate note tied off with a twinkling swish of pixellated bells at the very end.

Finally, Farewell, Doomed Planet! is also back on the WTUL charts this week. By my count, that’s now 21 weeks? Amazing.

On The Fringes of Sound Review

Love this reaction to Orca, Attack’s! C.M.S.O. from On The Fringes of Sound:

When I received this one in my inbox, it immediately stood out to me as one of the most interesting concepts for an album. The entire EP is something of an essay being read aloud, except the message comes through… wrong.

I‘m currently four listens in and I‘m quite sure I haven’t learned anything. But I do know that it is also very fun to listen to.

Read the full review over on the website. Thanks Lars et al!

Dream of a review from Underscore

Well, this is the kind of review one dreams about. From Underscore Music Magazine’s new series, The Inbox:

“God, I love this. I love the music and I love the idea, which is one of those you wish you’d thought of yourself and can’t believe it hasn’t been done before…Airy vocals, mangled library music, robotic spoken word and sudden flights of electronic fancy guide the listener through what seems to be a pretty complex academic paper…”

More over on the Underscore website. Thank you!

Reviews and more!

Woke up this morning to quite a few happy notifications. First, Monolith Cocktail has a great write-up of C.M.S.O. This lovely excerpt should get you to want to read the whole thing:

A writer of repute on the failures of tech, communication and self-preservation, Rodriguez (who also files his musical experiments under Alison’s Disapproval) lends a constantly filtered and affected spoken word narration across all six tracks as Kelly swans, touches the ethereal with her diaphanous woos, calls, arias (a merger of Laurie Anderson, cosmic opera and Jane Weaver). Often transmogrified by robotic effects and the slowing and speeding up of that instructive monologue, Rodriguez’s message is constantly warped, broken up: sometimes on the verge of some Max Headroom glitch stutter, or the slurred falling apart speech of HAL.

*Achievement unlocked: Max Headroom comparison!

Max Headroom

We also seem to have successfully stumped Vital Weekly, who write of the album:

The music is mostly a computer treated voice/vocoder style, and along with some electronics playing some weird tune. The six pieces last altogether less than 19 minutes, which is perhaps the best thing for such a little curiosity. Great for confusion and confused to know what to say.

Vital Weekly also put out a podcast highlighting the music they’ve reviewed; be sure to check it out.

Finally, I haven’t been able to find a recording, but thank you to Kat O’Rly for playing “Literature Review” on WLUW’s Destination Unknown last night.

Interview on The Socialized Recluse

Almost one year ago to the day, Tyler Weaver interviewed me for his blog Parenthetical Recluse. Now we’re back, this time on his podcast The Socialized Recluse. Tyler describes it perfectly on his website so I’m just going to crib that here:

Presenting: a conversation had amidst the haze of new-puppy-exhaustion.

In which: two collaborators learn they can converse as well as collaborate and, as such, converse about all sorts of creative and collaborative things, things including, but not limited to: the essential nature of bandname punctuation, the existential dread that Philip Glass’s music inspires, the demoralizing hellscape of academic publishing, and, most importantly, doing the work.

And, a note: while Elizabeth’s audio in our conversation – which is the most important part in an interview anyhow – sounds fine, mine is (more than) a bit on the quiet side (save for a notable exception; sorry ears). At the time of recording, I was still learning the mix/gain needs of my new condenser mic; by the time I recorded the intro / outro, I had a better handle on it. So, as Bill Murray said, I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.

Chapters:

  • Intro + puppy exhaustion caveat (0’00”)
  • Philip Glass and existential dread / “This is death.” (03’25”)
  • Beauty v. pretty / “The economy of musical material” (05’44”)
  • What makes for an ideal musical education? (08’21”)
  • Mind the (reality) gap / Rediscovering artistic passion (11’20”)
  • Imposter syndrome / Do the work / Reviewer Number Two (15’52”)
  • Intro: Orca, Attack! (punctuation is key) / Listen: CMSO, Track Five, “Limitations.” (20’27”)
  • Strategic Tape Reserve / CMSO: Origins / “The shed shelf that your uncle had.” (23’32”)
  • On the benefits of shorter projects and collaborations between longer projects / “I hate writing short stories.” (26’41”)
  • On household movie data reportage and the surprises within (29’32”)
  • Creative like-to-try / Recommendations / Connect (34’49”)
  • Outro (37’34”)

More on Tyler’s website. Thanks again for having me!