A collection of various tracks by Chris & Cosey/CTI.  Curated by Vision In Cairo 5/24/21

Chris & Cosey // CTI: Arkiv 1

Q:  Is the brain analog or digital?
A:  Question is too digital to answer

No Brain xxxxx

Negativland - No Brain

This is a work-in-progress inspired by a ghost story my wife is writing. Headphones are suggested.

"Undark" was a tradename for luminous radium-based paint that was used by watch manufacturers to make glow-in-the-dark watch dials. The women who had the misfortune to be employed painting these dials were misinformed about the safety of the product they were handling and often would use their mouths to make a point on the brushes they were using. Consequently many of them died of radiation poisoning.

[For more info about the "radium girls" go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls ]

Undark

An exploration of the spirits of vintage funk and jazz records which have found their way into contemporary rap music. A cut-up selection of timeless tunes sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, The Beatnuts, MF DOOM, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, and many more.

I'm not including a tracklisting cause mixes are better when you don't know what song's coming next. If you'd like an ID of any of the songs on here, just ask and I'll answer.

Music Haunted by the Ghosts of Records Past: Vol. I

Metal Tiger Live on Deftly-D's High Voltage Circumcision show on WZBC 90.3 FM Newton, August 8th, 2023. Really great time. Great sets by Alien Touring and Ye Gods as well. Thanks to Deftly for having me.

Live On WZBC FM

Sound Theater Archives: Silence the Tongues of Prophecy

If you have the Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones CD/book set, introduced by Tom Waits and nicely produced by Ellipsis Arts, you've already heard the shortened version of this song. This  post is of the original, longer version of Silence the Tongues of Prophecy.

Always fascinated by synthetic speech, as soon as the tech became available (early 1980's) I began building human voice synthesizers. In this recording I use an instrument built around the vintage SP0256-AL2 IC. 

The instrument, in fact, uses two SP0256-AL2s to create a stereo human voice synthesizer. Originally named the "R.A.P." (pre-dates popular rap music and stood for Readily Available Phonemes), I've since re-named it after discovering its circuit-bent personality: the Subliminal Chant Generator.

In the text sheet accompanying the IC I noticed a statement something like, "The SP0256-AL2 needs the control of an external microprocessor to concatenate allophones into words." Immediately I thought, "nah." 

After all, address lines are only voltage levels. I wanted to build a machine with which I could activate allophones manually, by pressing keys on a keyboard, a modern version of the classic 1940's Bell Labs Voder talking machine. 

I did that, and with the addition of the final bending of the circuit (allowing bits to float) the vast realm of subliminal chant appeared.

Here, however, the Subliminal Chant Generator operates in its more overt personality, delivering allophones with clear certainty. The subliminal aspect of the voice synthesis is not presented in this recording but will be in an upcoming post of songs from "Voice of America," a cassette album from my old Sound Theater catalog.

Joining the  Subliminal Chant Generator in this post is one of my first incantors (I'd not yet written about the design, at the time of the recording they couldn't be heard elsewhere). 

That's all you need to know to understand what you'll hear. If you'd like to know more about the instrument, check-out my Facebook post of Dec. 2, 2015 for an up-dated excerpt from my EMI article, "The Subliminal Chant Generator."

Sound Theater Archives: Silence the Tongues of Prophecy

Voicemail5220148331539778319

it's nice to be in orbit. cover art by EDF drawings.

nice to be in orbit

Lights

Trees

A Cranston postal worker and musician tells his story

I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.  (Hadit, Al II:6)

Undark

Goa Death Mother

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