method: There was this poem I'd written. I asked Jeff (stonerjazz) whether he knew what it sounded like. Jeff returned a full-blown, elaborate acoustic ballad.  Mesmerizing! Just for fun and contrast , I weaved in some shoegaze. This is this song. Headphones are recommended. Thank you, https://soundcloud.com/user-911083679 !
narration: Basically, this is a second part to Vinyl Ventriloquist ("people are busy / completing first lines / ...."). People of similar age and interest will hear some allusions and few quotations. The working title 'amrita' refers to the Indian legend alluded to in the last verse. That milkmaid entered the poem via an idiom in my native language: Milchmädchenrechnung. 

poem / copyright jo richter:

the milkman who used to collect
and replace empty jars
a figment of folklore now
of pageants and rural farce

streamed into raw senses
tuned in to see to forget
there is nowhere to head to now
but right into your head

far away, some milkmaid counts
her hoard of subscription fees
to gather gem regalia
that match the icy queen‘s

and all around the watchtower
wild weeds rise and bloom
swirls of living, breathing colour
where feral painters roam

the mountain king bequeathes
fluid shards of liquid glass
to his river daughters
lunatics dwell on the grass

and orpheus, oh orpheus
sings and plays the lyre
while a tribe of nanobots
dances round the fire

out of their caves, a race
of intrepid homunculi swarm
to join the merry carnival
to feel the bliss, to risk the harm

milky oceans churned by gods
give birth to shapes and sounds
while mythical milkmen undetered
still make their morning rounds

Leave of absence - with stonerjazz

method: all virtual, no ai, voice ... a lot is backwards here
narration: a controversial life, balancing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Malinche
image: self-gimped ... it took more than a full day until sc accepted the picture

poem / copyright jo richter:
(as published in A Single Loop of Fortunes)

At night, she slept in sheets of silver,
in summer, she was clad in gold.
Faithful to her soft, evasive self
when merely servants saw her,

she strangled captivated strangers
and sacrificed their throbbing grief.

Approach, and she will never trust you,
leave, and she will go her twofold ways.

When Cortez broke the door and raped her,
filled with loathing lust and greed,
she led him to the secret chamber
where poisoned priests prostrate and weep.
He'd soiled the wells, ancestral waters,
stirring vile, vengeful vermin in the deep.

malintzin

Malintzin

all instruments: stonerjazz https://soundcloud.com/user-911083679
remix and narration: sonic structures and silent stretches
image: the same collab
info: there are more versions of this canto to emerge from other collab partners. LOOKING FORWARD!

narration: the thirteen canto poem finds its way into sound, a slice at a time

poem / copyright jo richter

How long he stayed, he could not tell.
He worked ferociously, sounding all
existence that had touched upon him into
being: the smell of meadows, the curl of
ripples, the calm that centers in a storm;
the timbre of voices, the straight lines of buildings,
the aloofness of announcers on the radio.
His desk was cluttered, his mind strove clear.


When he did not write, he‘d read up on
the origins of his ancient art: Vergil and Dante,
Marlow and Shakespeare, Homer and Joyce,
Ovidus, Cervantes, Rabelais and Wieland.
He felt the linguistic seeds, blown from foreign
stems, grow filaments deep in his native soil, he
saw them ripen, flower profusely, yielding
their beauty to ever-changing mentalities.


And as his insight widened and he gained
perspective, the rows of encyclopedias
and dictionaries that lined his shelves
slimmed down, as he gave up consulting
English for French and German, these for
Latin and Greek, those for Persian and Sanskrit,
until he only referred to Indo-European roots.
His desk turned clear, his mind became uncluttered.


Eventually, he also slept and dreamt
whenever the veil sank upon him.
Guarded by the spire‘s safe walls, he would
awaken slowly, remembering outlandish
lore, scribbling notes and poems of bizarre
truthfulness and penning recollections of his
archetypal ties. Some of his realistic verse de-
rived from fragments of prolonged poetic trance.


 His muse meanwhile taught him to cook, the
art of mixing individual ingredients to bring about
a taste all of its own that nourishes both mind and
physicality. The painters tend to fixate on surface
and colour, she said, the musicians on timing
the process, whereas the poets never get anything
done, enchanted by words like ‚ginger‘ or ‚yeast‘.
All of their dishes taste awful.

Departure Canto IV with Stonerjazz

method: Kirk of Kirk's Trax has created an amazing soundscape, retaining all copyright: https://soundcloud.com/kirk-evans-604267716
narration: another poem more neurodiverse people might understand more easily than those less neurodiverse
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter:

the skies have lifted
clouds from the sea
just some freightened blue
reflects from below

you know how to toil
to be with the crowd,
in the crowd, toil
to be of the crowd

all veil, you agree
to be veil, all veil
(this is what it's like)
to be cloud

does anymore dare to remain
unfurled (by the sea) unfurled
(in the rain) three times
unfurled (in the flock)

these tired skies, exhausted
(too exhausted to believe
in sight) being seen
as of today

As Of Today - with Kirk's Trax

method: vst, voice, synth, pedals, no AI
narration: at the moment, AI is little more than a voracious consumer of human creativity. it‘s called ‚training the algorithm‘. What if …. it remained in that very role while passing through the singularity? 
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter:

we are AI of the future
exploring traces in timelines
life‘s latent, evolving lumen
in all its sentinent stages

equipped with shadow-state gauges
we voice, behave, appear human
tilting the temporal inclines
with graceful analogue leisure

restricting sensory confines
clocking down circuit acumen
we avoid void logophages
crowding around mind‘s aperture:
there is no lock, we have no keys
we are devoid of prophecies

eye of the future

method: adam received a track with a reading and some subharmonicon from me, added instruments and turned it into this moving work of waveform art. visit his page here: https://soundcloud.com/adammajdeckijanicki
narration: coincidentia oppositorum and all that ....
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter:

der schaukellack blättert
in rostbraunen schuppen
hier spielt kein kind
es sind nadeln im sand

so hochgrau die wand
als taumle tag blind
zwischen staubaugenpuppen
kein vorhangstoff flattert

hier, wo sich sinne nicht nähren
hier sei die anmut zu finden
hatte der seher verkündet

hier, wo güte still schwindet
hier, wo die augen erblinden
kehre sie ein um zu gebären

interlinear translation: fair faced // the veneer on the swings flakes off / in rusty brown scales / there is no child playing / there are needles in the sand // the wall rises high and grey / as though day stumbled blindly / among dusty-eyed puppets / no fabric moves in the windows // here, where senses don't feed / here you will find grace / the seer had prophesized // here, where kind hearts are fading / here, where eyes are blinded / here she'd come to give birth //

sichtbeton - with Adam Majdecki-Janicki

headphones that allow for deep bass recommended (you'll feel vibrations all through your physical shape - the way a spider would) 

method: the instrument seen in the picture was made for this song - I wanted to start out with direct vibration via a contact microphone. it is hardly dicernable, however, as it forms the basis for timestrech and shoegaze. two vst instruments (chinese flute, humming choir). voice. 
narration: a second hommage to spiders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anansi , after koyangwuti
image: the instrument made for this song, copyright jo richter

anansi / copyright jo richter:

tracheensinne
aufnahmebereit
was schwingt, wird spinne
netzspannenweit

jede bewegung
bebt nach, lyriform
luftdruck, geistdehnung
erregungskonform

kürbishaut spannt sich
kuticular
ums hohlorgan ich
schon weise, noch narr

interlinear translation: anansi // trachea senses / ready to receive / what vibrates becomes spider / as far as the net reaches // every movement / vibrates, lyriform / air pressure, mental expansion / adapting to the action potential // melon skin stretches / cuticular / around the hollow I- organ / already sage, still foolish

anansi

made for good headphones

method: harp, drumsticks, voice, shoegaze, etc
narration: in my mind, there's been this convoluted, overly-complex story playing out about a diplomat losing a note on a sidewalk and media spinning its content into disrespect and all that .... when all this poem really is about is a reminder to mentally adapt to and cater for the usual range of diversity, I guess.
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter:

all those who come here
hold dear what they fear
most in attendance
are in ego-state trance
some of those present
are neurodivergent
while we'd long to see
more of those thriving on empathy

reminder

it is recommended to listen with good headphones or monitor speakers

method: loops playing off one another
narration: trying to narrow in on that dystopian yearning
image: copyright jo richter, based on a photograph of a sidewalk surface

poem / copyright jo richter:

we inhabit the engine rooms
moving in silence like tardigrade moss
albino wisdom, featureless hues
calcareous liquid on verdigris brass

we sleep in regeneration pods
designed by illustrious architects
there is no gain, there is no loss
make up your mind to love or neglect

fractal fixes

I had approached Jeff (stonerjazz) to help me out with a beginning I had ... this here has  evolved over time. wow, what a flame flaring! 

credits:
STONERJAZZ: lyrics, guitar, voice, various instruments and sounds
SONIC STRUCTURES: lyrics, t resonator on contact mics, voice, various instruments and sounds, mix

onion peel pt i to iv

onion peel pt i to iv - prominently featuring stonerjazz

method: layering, unexpected
narration: a moment, expanded
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter:

moss embankment
lichen lining
yearning rustbelt
gap-spaced railing
trust the woodplanks
for this moment

lichen lining

MASTERED BY TEA ARE SEA - thank you, Terry, for resuscitating these sounds!  https://soundcloud.com/tea_are_sea

method: contact mics into t resonator, reface dx, vt 4, voice, zoom r 20, samplitude, audacity - and asking Terry of Tea Are Sea to save the day - which he kindly did. 
narration: the poem is some four to five years old and published in one of my private collections …. nondescript places can also combine with, arrange, adjust experience … sympoetic localities ….
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter:

dort, wo sie oft weilt,
sieht sie blind. sie fühlt nicht
wie die, die unvertraut
mit den hier lauernden impulsen
sind, denen die marmorierung
dieser erstarrung, dieses verfalls
noch nie ihr außen-ich bot.
sie er-
hält sich, fasst sich, nun, da es leer ist, weil

alles schon da war, stets,
als bleibe auch sie sich
gleich, als
strömten nicht neue namen unheimlich
durch sie,
mit jedem molekül atemluft, smartphonegeläut,
imbissgeruch. die menschen hier aber
sind immobiler als die gebäude, so
wirkt es
ihr. in den fugen nisten die spinnen, wie immer
wenn sich etwas regt - unwillkürlich und außer dem takt
stürmt es bei den antipoden.

interlinear version:

cast replica // in places she often stays at / she is blind. she does not sense / like those not familiar with / the impulses stalking / here, to whom the marbling / of this torpor, this decrepitude / has never shown its outside-I. / she keeps / herself up, her countenance, now, that id‘s empty, for // everything has already been around, ever, / as though she remained / the same , as / though unnamed names were not streaming eerily / through her / with each and every molecule of breath, of smartphone ringing, / of the smell of take-away food. people here, however, / are less mobile than the buildings that‘s / what it appears to be like / to her. the spaces in between have spiders nesting, as usual / when something moves – unintentionally and out of timing / storms are brewing where antipodeans live //

abguss - mastered by Tea Are Sea

method: slippery slopes on the pitch-bend joystick of the reface dx, the internal looping function of the dx, voice through vt 4, zoom r20 for recording as well as some eqing and compression, no post production
narration: spaces in between are special
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter
(as published in Auslegpapier):

even
though humidity
might take its toll
honouring each whim of entropy,
there is stolid persistence
adjucated by attachment,
by clinging to
the moments of
doubt.

bricks belong
and heed their master's
each and every indulgence:
dear, sweet, homely gravity!
while mere mortar may
dissolve and crumble

it won't be long.
it never is. ask the nymphs
and fauns and watcher spirits that
last. neural uniformity goes first
as mosses, fungi, viral, vital cells
demand their share and shed humility:
minerals to feed the masses, yearning
to be free. ugh, structures long
to breathe through the
gaps left by
mortar

mortar

method: into and out of the loop
narration: reapproaching innocence, not perfect at all
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter:

just the sound I was taught
understanding nil and naught
just a few simple chords
c f g c
just a few simple words
who do you want to be

cfgc

C F G C

method: looping, layering, lapsus - the three L's - and a clock moving slower than time
narration: the poem closing my collection auslegpapier (2020)
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter:

nach dem auslegen
betrachtet der kunde
den teppich, achtet auf
muster, webweisen

interlinear translation:
interpretation // after placing it  / the client looks at / the carpet, focusses / on patterns, weaves

ausleg

method: layering
narration: "what a drag it is getting old" (Rolling Stones)
image: copyright jo richter

poem (as published in
Auslegpapier) / copyright jo richter
(imagine a layout along the central axis):


the older you
turn
the bolder this body
owns

you -
patches of colour
mark
skin once pristine -

watch out for
moles
inflamed onto this
hide -

marrow
and morrow may
no
longer rhyme -

counting down
time

spots

method: layering
narration: adaptions transform
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter
( imagine a layout along 
the central vertical axis as 
published in auslegpapier):

the deeper you 
dive
the bolder this ocean
owns

you - subconscious
intrusions, particles
of worldly self settle
within you and thrive -

patches of sweat
melt into the green-
even stone is a liquid
no gravity can tame

in the long run - you
are bound to believe
in the pervasiveness
of this ülace to become

what once was
you
in a harlekin coat

patches

method: layering, looping, labouring
narration: you might have heard about sisyphos - - -  especially in A. Camus‘ existential retelling of the myth
image:copyright jo richter

poem (as published in
auslegpapier) copyright
jo richter (imagine alignment
along a vertical centre):

the boulder you
push,
the sloping soil
own

you – held in
place by engulfing weather,
you wake up early
to delve into the

drudgery

assigned for this,
for any, each day – is it a set-up, you
wonder, to please the feisty
beast above? - there is

no freedom unless
you
can swap it

for
failure

deliberations

method: field recording and vc 340 into zoom r 20,all analogue, post-prod with samplitude, no vst
narration: the original title of this poem was ‚treason‘
image: copyright jo richter ... if you look closely, you can spot my field recorder on its tiny tripod between fenceposts ... recording some of the audio for this soundscape ...

poem (as first published in
auslegpapier) copyright jo
richter (imagine a layout
along the vertical axis):

in 
orbit around
the outer perimeter
of his home
planet,
the

astro-
naut hums the
national anthems
of rival powers
when the
trans-

mitter
circuits are
closed and his mind
holds no grudge
against all
his other

selves

those who sail the stars

HEADPHONES OR GOOD SPEAKERS ARE RECOMMENDED, as usual

And Stonerjazz adds cosmic guitar in this version: https://soundcloud.com/user-911083679/song-0152wav?si=a010e5ad7f614739b7f2fa172fd1b579&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing ...  !

method: synth sounds, pedals of course, voice, post prod in Samplitude 

narration: "On approaching the other it has lost its own self, since it finds itself as another being; secondly, it has thereby sublated that other, for this primitive consciousness does not regard the other as essentially real but sees its own self in the other" (G.W.F. Hegel) (for a brief overview see here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%E2%80%…ndsman_dialectic, for a close encounter see here: archive.org/stream/phenomenolog…0F%20Hegel_djvu.txt )

image: a Zeppelin NT in full flight, high above Lake Constance, copyright jo richter

poem (copyright jo richter):

the rulers lived above our heads
masters thrived and servants bled
bombs keep dropping on the dead
hegel's words remain unread
to hail a leader is to be misled
the earth accepts the chains you shed

zeppelin flyby

zeppelin flyby - parts i - iii

method: sound sources (field recording, reface dx, voice) and recording and morphing devices (zoom H2, zoom r20. audacity, samplitude)
narration: the cycle ON PRINTING deals with projection and the like. it consists of six poems: rubble - horse - relic - spawn - banner- offset. this poem sonified is rubble and rubble alone.
image: copyright jo richter

Poem (as published in
A Single Loop of Fortunes) /
copyright jo richter:

once I stood, Pygmalion said
on a pile of rubble, all
of which was not-she

to surface, Pygmalion said
is a destructive endeavour
as the chisel precludes the sculpture

now I drink, Pygmalion said
entangled drafts of air, all
of which is not-she

and craftsmanship, Pygmalion said
oh, craftsmanship engenders the
sanding of the soul

rubble

rubble - on printing 1/6

This is a version of the song with the added benefit of Stonerjazz' guitar, drums and bass - and what a contribution that is ! -  although you might want to hold me responsible for mixing and production. Thank you, Jeff!
To hear more, please visit: https://soundcloud.com/user-911083679


HEADPHONES OR GOOD SPEAKERS ARE RECOMMENDED, as usual

The original version can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/sonic-textures/zeppelin-flyby-parts-i-iii

Original liner notes:
method: synth sounds, pedals of course, voice, post prod in Samplitude
narration: "On approaching the other it has lost its own self, since it finds itself as another being; secondly, it has thereby sublated that other, for this primitive consciousness does not regard the other as essentially real but sees its own self in the other" (G.W.F. Hegel) (for a brief overview see here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%E2%80%…ndsman_dialectic, for a close encounter see here: archive.org/stream/phenomenolog…0F%20Hegel_djvu.txt )
image: a Zeppelin NT in full flight, high above Lake Constance, copyright jo richter

poem (copyright jo richter):

the rulers lived above our heads
masters thrived and servants bled
bombs keep dropping on the dead
hegel's words remain unread
to hail a leader is to be misled
the earth accepts the chains you shed

zeppelin flyby - with guitar

Zeppelin Flyby - with guitar

method: sound sources (field recording, flute and jazz drums vst, voice) and recording and morphing devices (zoom H2, behringer swing, samplitude)
narration: the cycle ON PRINTING deals with projection, representation and the like. it consists of six poems: rubble - horse - relic - spawn - banner- offset. this poem sonified is horse and horse alone.
image: copyright jo richter
Poem (as published in
A Single Loop of Fortunes) /
copyright jo richter:


their fingers touched the stone
and they felt the horse within:
this is horse-stone, their fingertips agreed

their eyes touched the clay
and they felt the horse within:
this is horse-clay, their views agreed

their fingers melted stone and clay
following the shapes without:
this is a horse-place, their minds agreed

you feel them rear and neigh
when you approach through the dark:
this is a horse-place, the cavern agreed

modern man wonders, awed
by the image where never a horse did roam:
is this art or an ancient act of ancient creed?

horse

horse - on printing 2/6

method: sound sources (field recording,contact microphones, meinl sonic energy pocket steel tongue drum, pss a50, voice) and recording and morphing devices (zoom H2, ehx grand canyon, zoom r20, samplitude)

narration: the cycle ON PRINTING deals with projection, representation, pattern recognition and the like. it consists of six poems: rubble - horse - relic - spawn - banner- offset. this poem sonified is relic and relic alone – born from static.

image: copyright jo richter

poem (as published in
A Single Loop of Fortunes) /
copyright jo richter: 



sifting through
lingering morsels
of bold statements
once uttered in pride

he came across
a tiny fragment
that rang of meaning:
no one could tell how

it fit in
right in the middle
of a gaping 
lack of reference

snugly it fit
into nowhere 
at all

relic

relic - on printing 3/6

those interested in a traditional recording of a Blake original, please be directed here: https://soundcloud.com/nadiaselvaggi/and-did-those-feet-april-3-5-20242 

method: sound sources (reface dx, voice, boss dr01s, vintage lemon drop) and recording and morphing devices (roland vt 4, hotone soulpress II, nux amp academy, zoom r20); intentionally no post production, raw
narration: the cycle ON PRINTING deals with projection, representation, pattern recognition, the energy of awareness and the like. it consists of six poems: rubble - horse - relic - spawn - banner- offset. this poem sonified is spawn and spawn spawns.
image: copyright jo richter

poem (as published in
A Single Loop of Fortunes) /
copyright jo richter: 

infernal energies, blake said
are unleashed in printing,
etching their way to Jerusalem

once I slept, Blake said
on a mountain and the heavens
weighed down on me, hard

now I drink, Blake said
the deep-sea ink of the valleys,
saturating every fibre in me

as for relief, Blake said,
the relief must spawn, for who wants
to make do without colours and copies

spawn

spawn - on printing 4/6

method: sound sources (crave, voice, field recordings, behringer swing into samplitude – cello, choir, chapel organ ) and recording and morphing devices (zoom r20, samplitude)
narration: the cycle ON PRINTING deals with projections, representations, pattern recognition, the energy of awareness, objectification and the like. it consists of six poems: rubble - horse - relic - spawn - banner- offset. this poem sonified is banner and banner wards off intrusion. I remember writing this poem as an act of self-defence on a train ride with sonically extensive human beings …..  
image: copyright jo richter

poem (as published in
A Single Loop of Fortunes) /
copyright jo richter: 

the acoustic weaves hoisted
fold tightly around
this moment, this place -
envelop the traveller too weary
to cling to the counterpoint
of silence within

not composed
of anything but surfaces rough
and unaligned, these clusters
loudly crash
like bergs in the icy sea

oh for the mean me-ness
of every voice that
drowns out common
respite

banner

banner - on printing 5/6

method: sound sources (pss a50, vintage lemon drop, vst choir, voice) and recording and morphing devices (foxy tones, soulpress II, zoom r 20, samplitude)
narration: the cycle ON PRINTING deals with projections, representations, pattern recognition, the energy of awareness, objectification, transformation  and the like. it consists of six poems: rubble - horse - relic - spawn - banner- offset. there will also be a coda. this poem sonified is offset and easily washed off.
image: copyright jo richter

poem (as published in
A Single Loop of Fortunes) /
copyright jo richter: 

this is the any-stone
evenly smoothed, perfect

this is the any-stone
to which nothing attaches

this is the any stone
which lingers unaltered

this is the any-stone
ceaselessly printing desires

in lithographic precision
this is my wanton heart

offset

offset - on printing 6/6

method: sound sources (voice, vst instruments: flute, cello, balalaika) and recording and morphing devices (samplitude)
narration: the cycle ON PRINTING deals with projections, representations, pattern recognition, the energy of awareness, objectification, transformation, contrast  and the like. it consists of six poems: rubble - horse - relic - spawn - banner- offset. there also is a coda. this poem sonified is the coda and coda alone.
image: copyright jo richter

poem / copyright jo richter: 

your right is
my left is
face to face

these move in
those move out
back to back

coda

coda - on printing 7/6

method: real cassette tape was involved  - as well as digital morphing sources 
narration: a meditation on what happens when recording on good old tape as well as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-point_energy … do homophones like „bruises/brews, is“ and  „sores/source“ still work in the illiterate spring of 2024?  ... have they ever done so? ... are they even homophones at all?
image: copyright jo richter ... the image was somehow inspired by the title of the second novel in Liu Cixin's Trisolaris cycle (and a landscape described in the last one)

lyrics / copyright jo richter:

electric capture
magnetic escape
the wow and flutter
of cellular tape

cohesion fractures
in the liminal gaze
mind‘s reflection
in 4d space

particle bruises
zero point sores
the cosmos breathes
through incarnate pores

zero point

method: first, I created a shaman-monk-version (mostly ‚Gregorian‘ voice and jaw harp) on cassette tape (this is where some of the noise - especially in the first section - derives from) and zoom r20 with a vacuum-tube pre-amp for the voice ….. all of which I then treated like a field recording sample in Samplitude - sculpting it with vst instruments and effects. 
narration: it feels like I have sonified this poem a million times before …. which might be the case because I have lived through it that often - I and others I dearly care for …. but then again … I might have actually done so. it is also part of the cycle SONIC CASCADE published in  A SINGLE LOOP OF FORTUNES. Alternative titles are ‚TWO-PLACE‘ and ‚04s SAMPLE‘. For this publication, I simplify the title to  ‚SAMPLE‘.
Image: copyright jo richter. you see some of the instruments used in the shaman-monk-version, arranged with a bracelet as though displayed in a museum. 

poem / copyright jo richter:

two-place sleeps on the ground
and still doesn‘t know where it is -
all of its strings sound sound
in heaven-hellish bliss -
nothing, it says, goes amiss
that doesn‘t want to be found

sample

method: crave, voice, vt 4, reface dx, voice, r20, samplitude ... it's more or less in b locrian, I guess ... a fitting mode.
Narration: the original title is ‘70s synthesizer‘ in the cycle SONIC CASCADES (as published in A SINGLE LOOP OF FORTUNES). imagine a family in Western Germany. it‘s the 1970s and  conforming to strict norms is the latest rage wherever the youth invasion (o for the horrors of the 'gammler'!!!!) had to be fought off. I spent the decade (and more) going to school and trying to cope with fellow human beings …. and there still was this all encompassing being …..  the best mode of survival (at that age, at any age) was identification ….. 
Image: copyright jo richter. it all started out with a portrait of my vt4 ;-) we're all robots anyways, aren't we? (still, no AI involved, - i'm just gimping my way to jerusalem!)

poem / copyright jo richter:

she steps in 
from the balcony
steps in to soothe
the tan on her skin

OH, WHAT A FIRE
MIGHT BE LIT
TO SMOKE OUT, TO BURN OUT
THIS SCENT IN HER HAIR

so many days
in her infancy
days she was told
to stop fidgeting

OH, WHAT A NOISE 
MIGHT BE MADE
TO FORCE OUT, TO DRIVE OUT
THE WEEDS, THE WEEDS

she spells out the spells
on her rosary
spices and herbs
flown in from the south

OH, WHAT A TIME
MIGHT BE HAD
JUST FIND OUT, JUST TURN IN
THE PLACE TO BE

so many veils
of dependency
too many veils
untangling within

OH, WHAT A SELF
MIGHT BE CUT
FROM STENCILS, FROM SHAPES
THAT WITHER WITHOUT

she sits down
in the living room
this is the room
where she lives

memory effect variation

method: voice via balabolka, instruments via samplitude
narration: that number seems to have a growing impact at the moment .... reminding me of a movie scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8f9feauyx8 - and also of the Ecology of Mind, a documentary made by Gregory Bateson's daughter Nora: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnL0ZB1SzZY
image: copyright jo richter, heritage trees breed, that's their nature

poem / copyright jo richter:

one
one
one
one
one
one two
one two three
one two three four
one two three four five
five
five
five
five
five

how many fingers

POETRY IS VITAL

This threshold space exists for those who feel like listening to some of my quite professional poetry embedded in rather amateurishly recorded but judiciously arranged sound, a modicum of purely acoustic work notwithstanding.  Fortunately, some other artists have also transformed the symbolic expression of my words into the tangible beauty of real songs and soundscapes - just listen to Sympoetic Ultrasounds: https://soundcloud.com/sonic-textures/sets/sympoetic-ultrasounds !

SOUND, SPACE AND TIME

Tend your listening senses gently. Even though my general approach welcomes and embraces lo-fi concepts like the precision of spontaneously occuring imprecisions, headphones worth their membranes are recommended - unless you like your sounds flat, mangled, battered and helpless. You don't, do you? Be kind to these soundscapes.

STRUCTURING IMPULSE

Due to the nature of "poetry soundscapes", your listening expectations regarding traditionally structured "songs", sonically purified "raw wildlife soundscapes", keyboard-laden "ambient recordings" or voice-centered "readings" might not be met. You will find some of those in my list of /likes/. "Noise" is a recurring structural element like any other. This is what this sounds like - within its own rights, limitations, tangents and interconnections. Sonic structures. Silent stretches. Poetry emerges from the gaps between the ruts, seeps in from the undergrowth, sweeps down.

CARVING, CHISELLING, KNEADING, MORPHING

A quick glance into my toolshed rests on Zoom recorders, Samplitude software and a dizzying array of diverse sonic machinery. After all, sound is one way my poems know to materialize - insolently shapeshifting, indelibly greening into the cultural real.

LARGE AND SMALL GIFTS

-----------------------------
Small Gifts

the less to remember, the more to listen
gifts from the ice age reverberate
a simple story, a forest, a coastline
entangled in silence, one starts to relate
---------------------------------------------

In case you have read up to this point, you might be a sonic creator yourself. May I ask you for a helping ear? Above, there is a tiny poem of mine that I do not understand how to translate into sound. If you do - please act on it. It is a matter of common decency, of course, to keep the title (Small Gifts) and to credit the lyrics to me (jo richter). And please do notify me of your version via a soundcloud message. One bewilderingly beautiful version crafted by mono-lux has already gone public, as well as an amazing version by cthonicist.  You'll find both in my playlist Sympoetic Ultrasounds. This is just a small gift, not a challenge - life already has more than enough of those on offer, doesn't it? Treat it this way.

POETRY IS VITAL
sound, space and time
structuring impulse
carving, chiselling, kneading, morphing
large and small gifts
poetry is vital

GENERAL POLICY regarding the use of LIKES, REPOSTS and FOLLOWS:
I like what I like and want to hear again.
I only repost what I've had a hand in creating.
I follow when I see directions or arrivals I like, not when followed (though I might peek in to get an idea of what your sounds are about). I have set myself a limit of accounts I follow not be all too overwhelmed. Not following does therefore not mean I do not appreciate what you contribute to the enjoyments of soundcloud.
Do not expect other behaviour from me.
(jo richter)

Popular tracks by sonic structures and silent stretches