I missed contributing my “It’s Too Damn Startling” guest portion of Tony Youngblood’s “ORE Theater Intangible” last week, as you may have noticed. This week, I’m back with a nearly twelve-minute blend.
For this mix, I chose to work with the theme of human reaction to tragedy. Starting things off is Potpie’s “Blues for the Lower 9,” on “Proud To Swim Home,” a compilation from the New Orleans-based Backporch Revolution label.
An extract from Darren Copeland’s “They’re Trying to Save Themselves,” found on his Empreintes Digitales release “Perdu et Retrouvé,” follows. Constructed from recordings of news broadcasts made during the 9/11 attacks, Copeland’s composition is among the most heartrending works I’ve ever encountered.
Pogus Productions artists Dimitri Voudouris’ “Praxis” is the third piece, heard here in extract from the full 14’30” work. “Praxis,” meaning action, is partially created from a damaged recording of a memorial church service dedicated to the victims of Croatian genocide. As an example of a highly-complex electroacoustic composition, listeners need look no further– “Praxis” utilizes 556 separate “sound compartments,” each individually constructed and edited.
Finally, the mix closes with “Some Vowed Abstinence,” a disturbing track from the Edgetone release of “The Generation of Our Grandfathers.” Inspired by a documentary of the Nazi-era law which would lead to homosexuals being imprisoned and murdered by the German state, Conure’s album is an excellent (and sometimes reactionary) sound companion to the sense of absurdity and disbelief learning of such things can engender.
You can download this edition of”It’s Too Damn Startling” now, or catch it live Sunday morning from 2-4am on WRVU-FM, Nashville.
January 7, 2008 at 9:53 am
Excellent mix. Very fluid.