stopGOstop: field recordings, sound collage, and sound art

Robots made from human cells! Tap dancing! World War 2! Gossip Girl! Hockey! and much! much! more! stopGOstop presents, Warm, like a live rabbit, a new sound collage.

The piece centers on the repetitive nature of daily life, and even when the world is fragmented, seemingly destroyed, there is hope that it can be repaired, and restored. Based on “The Sow took the Measles” a folk song from colonial New England. The original verse tells of Yankee practical idealism, of making good out of a bad situation.

Featuring field recordings, synthesized instruments, and digital signal manipulation.

This is part one and an interlude of an album of the same name. Please visit my bandcamp page to purchase the entire album.

As the world slides sideways, episode 135 of the podcast focuses on a collage of closeup and foley recordings, with occasional accompaniment by computer synthesized contrabass and tuba. The recordings include: opening a can of seltzer, pouring water, semi-rhythmic rubbing and tapping glass and cardboard, opening kitchen cabinet doors, futzing with a tape measure and cordless drill.

In an experiment on the Moon, Apollo 15 Commander David Scott, dropped a geological hammer and a falcon feather simultaneously*. I can’t imagine Galileo ever considered that his thought experiment would be realized, or maybe that’s what he was thinking about in the fall of 1609 when was looking at the moon through his telescope and created, in watercolor, the first realistic depictions of the moon in human history*.

Episode 134 of the podcast features recordings from the moon (Apollo/NASA), recordings from earth (boat ride, coffee shop, and driving on a highway), sounds made on my computer (a Roland TR-606 drum machine emulation, and a computer assisted composition: flute, clarinet, and piano).

A low rumble. A repetitive flute and then piano — moving slowly up and down, finding a path in through the dark night — the two play at the same time, not really together. A strumming rises and falls on the left. The tune is never playful, never mournful, not quit even, looking for its way. A held note, hoping to be propelled forward. Are those voices, is it a crowd? The harmonic shift keeps it from resolving. The nervous energy, the pace quickens, but somehow a moment of calm within the noise. The piano returns, still going up and down, spinning it’s wheels, changing keys, but not finding a way. Its ‘friend’ the flute returns as well…. No hope to find its way, the struggle is heard.

The big bang, 1950’s dating advice, what it means to be popular, the death of capitalism, and much! much! more! — a new sound collage.

An old song on a computer generated piano; a theme from a 1950’s instructional video; miscellaneous bits, clicks and static; unintelligible voices; a river; a slow bell.

This episode continues to collage together samples and sounds as an accompaniment to a melody based on the folk songs, this episode features The Avondale Mine Disaster.

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If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy:
111: Mid-Winter
The dull edge, the slow night, the stoical tones, the long breath. In the middle of winter a new composition for computer-controlled sine waves and field recordings.

093: Field Notes
A collage of binaural and stereo field recordings: a walk in Mount Vernon, NY; a recording from my backyard as I trim a few trees; a recording alongside the a man-made lake near Highway 44 in suburban St. Louis; a recording of a walk back to work after lunch; among others. The tones are made through using a tone gate on the recordings, so when the wind creates a bit of mic noise, it is joined by tones and cords.

107: Santa Monica Piers
A binaural field recording — a walk on the beach; under the pier; a few hundred yards and back again; up to the pier; watching the bumper cars, the roller coasters; a woman sings I’ve already made it.

stopGOstop is produced by John Wanzel.

An old song on a computer generated piano; field and foley recordings; miscellaneous bits and pieces of digital sounds; a sine waves; the ocean; a train.

Episode 130 of the podcast re-edits past episodes as an accompaniment to collaged piano based on the folk song The Housewife’s Lament.

The Golden Record! Gravity! Cassette tape navigation! Sound waves! old voicemails! hair care advice! Proper care for vinyl record! and more! stopGOstop presents Does the Golden Record have a high quality inner sleeve?, a new sound collage.

After the destination has been set, after the engines have cut off, as the computers go into hibernation, you are in the void, the vast nothing. Space is big, mind-bogglingly big its…. nothing to do but wait. Episode 128, The Float, is part two of a multi-episode journey from Earth to the beyond, featuring field recordings, miscellaneous NASA sounds, and a few digital instruments.