Antenna Eats Itself.

Format:

Sound recording

Author/Creator:

Weisblat, Barry, author.

Contributor:

Laska, Eric, editor.

Library Stack, distributor.

Series:

Lateral Addition ; 101

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Electronic music.

Field Recording.

Field recordings.

Radio.

Radio broadcasting.

Genre:

Music.

Music

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : Lateral Addition, 2025.

Summary:

"This is a cassette 4-track recording consisting entirely of radio sounds. In both my live performances and recording sessions I like to set up a very basic technical situation that dictates a set of rules for a composition - once I am inside, I enter a very intuitive state. My process is very much about playing with and uncovering elemental things that exist around us - whether that is using the flicker of a flame, radio waves, or everyday electronics to construct a device to form the most basic building blocks of synthesis. The set-up of this recording consists of two oscillators for each of 4 tracks (using the 555 timer chip). Vibrating in the AM broadcast realm, oscillator-1 is being modulated by a microphone input, making a very weak transmission to a very close-by radio via a simple wire antenna. Oscillator-2 is controlling how much of the broadcast is coming through, by way of pulsing the transmission with much slower oscillations. The cascade of oscillators along with the close proximity to the radio causes a feedback loop. Oscillator-2 also has the ability to change pulse-width, which is the difference between the chirp sounds and the sustained tones that you hear. This is a new mix, created specifically for this publication, but it is actually of a raw recording from years ago that I wanted to revisit with fresh ears. There was a long period of time where I spent many hours of many days playing around with radios - setting up situations that were very much like electronic seances (sometimes even with candles) - trying to summon up whatever voices might filter through the radio. I'd stay up all hours, often just playing and not recording, which definitely sent me into a woozy state. Being so deep in the process, it was hard to get distance to fully understand what I was doing. Coming back to this piece now, I can appreciate it better and hear it in a different space. Funnily, to me, the intermittent sound bursts of the piece can feel like a direct transfer of my environment (Coney Island / Brighton Beach) - the cadence of foghorns of ships, a sound I often hear, but wasn't literally captured in this recording. Similar to the experience of foghorns in the distance, I find there is a musicality to the rhythm of the sounds, that the composition occupies a strange zone between seeming to be an intentionally scored, measured piece, while also being completely the result of happenstance."-- provided by distributor.

Notes:

Archived and cataloged by Library Stack

Standard Copyright.

Description based on online resource landing page (Library Stack, viewed on 2026-05-11).