Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 20, Discussion, "When Someone Dies, When Anne Sexton Dies, When David Berman Dies" by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 20, Side A: Anne Sexton, "Wanting to Die" (Vocal, 1962) - Music by SWWE, 2019/20 by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 20, Side B: Anne Sexton, "The Truth the Dead Know" (Vocal, 1971) — Music added by SWWE, 2020 by Spoken Word with Electronics

SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #19: Odd Times, Loud Noises

Hi everyone, welcome back to the show. Pictured in the Boing Boing post week is my studio, or the main corner of it. A lot of wonderful noise makers in the room, and the stress of this year has finally started to hit me. A room of equipment like this is very good for moments like this. So this week is about making as loud a noise as possible.

Jump in for a fun ride as we turn the studio into the tornado of sound, with leading contributions from Metasonix, Soma Labs Lyra-8 and Pulsar 23, Moog, and Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim's collaboration, the OB-6. Lead vocals by the Landscape HC-TT, a manually controlled tape player.

I purposely decided to make these beautiful instruments into as noisy and obnoxious a set of sounds as possible. I think you'll enjoy the stress relieving sound of a thousand oscillators out of tune with one another, going off like 700 springs clanging out of a mattress. Or at least that was the working idea. Really, just a head-cleaner. I call it: My Tribute to July, 2020.

Thanks as always, and be well. Stay proud and keep it loud! - EP

Episode 19, Side A: "Synthesizer Freak-Out" (A Room of Noise) by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 19, Side B: "Bug and Machine Tapes" (Music #2) by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 19, Discussion, "The Poor Help the Rich" (not the other way around) by Spoken Word with Electronics

Often Feel Like You're Missing Eleven Days From Your Life? Blame the British Empire for The Calendar Act of 1750.

SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #18: The Calendar Act of 1750 & The Fake or Real Calendar RIOTS of 1752

Hi, everyone - Welcome back to the show. This week, the topic is on Time Keeping, and asks: What's your favorite Riot? My favorite riot is mythically referred to as "The Calendar Riots". It was a reaction across the British Empire for a government theft of eleven days from September 1752. Specifically September 2nd would immediately be followed by September 14th, with September 3rd-13th deleted.

People stormed through villages demanding these stolen eleven days, and the possible loss of experiences, be returned. Some say the riots didn't happen, and I think that makes the riots even better. You can't control an invisible riot, and a riot that never happened is one that never stops.

As to why, The British were one of few standouts on shifting from the flawed Julian Calendar to the more accurate but less pagan Gregorian one. The solution on shifting to the Gregorian was sloppy. The Calendar Act is an interesting moment at controlling a population through decrees.

Jump into our Time Capsule and bounce back to 1752. Hear an actual Riot Act declared, and consider The Calendar Act in modern times as a new effort for Time Made Great Again by the Trump Administration. "Clock, You're Up!"

In this era of Covid, "Give Us Our Eleven Days" sounds resonant. I'm wondering if "Give Us Our Eleven Months" might catch on.

Connect with SWWE via British Decree on Bandcamp, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Podcast Republic, and Google Play.

Thanks and be well - Today or eleven days ago today, Ethan

Full notes: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/13/often-feel-like-youre-missin.html

Episode 18, Track Two, "The Calendar Act" by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 18, Side A: "The Calendar Act in America, TODAY!" by Spoken Word with Electronics