wh055 V/A – Far Afield: A Webbed Hand Compilation

Somewhere in the spectrum between Musique Concrete and Phonography, is a vast gray area that is disowned and disputed by either side. This compilation treats this no-man’s land as its playground.

Visit the download page to stream or download this album.

Field recordings they are, with some processing, but not just walls of rhythmic noise. Sounds of nature, sounds of the city, using the non-instrumental rhythms and melodies of the source recording as the focal points, coaxing the music and beauty out of unplanned, un-orchestrated events. This 2-CD compilation was curated by Fred Yarm.

Curator’s Statement

The idea behind this compilation was to challenge phonographers and musicians to find a middle ground between their two crafts by sculpting field recordings into creative compositions without using traditional instrumentation (unless captured in the field). The terms passive to describe the phonographer’s process of capturing sound and active to describe the composer’s process were used; however, this sparked a great debate over how passive the phonographer’s craft is. In reality, phonography can be quite active in the choices of location and timing of the recordings, the placement and movement of the microphones, etc. However, in relative terms, the phonographer’s product is rarely as ordered as a musician’s composition and a composer’s product utilizes sounds that are generated for his or her specific purpose. This compilation allotted the artists the opportunity to find a middle ground in the realm of musique concrete.

The results that I received were astounding. The tracks represent everything from highly composed tracks telling stories or capturing the essence of far away locales to straight field recordings that the artist felt did not need any processing to demonstrate the beauty of the situation. Cracking ice on a lake, cicada songs, rusty gates, dripping water, moving trains, and a handful of other captured sounds provided the instrumental palettes for these compositions. Many thanks are to be given to the artists who accepted this challenge to coax such delightful music and beauty out of unplanned and un-orchestrated events. Their work far exceeded my expectations on many levels. In addition, I would like to thank C.P. McDill of Webbed Hand Records for his encouragement to initiate this compilation and for his efforts to see Far Afield into fruition.

-Frederic Yarm

Tracklist (Including URLs and contact info; this is a double-CD release):

First Disk

• A01. Quiet American – Khulna Station (for Andrew Raffo Dewar)

  http://www.quietamerican.org

• A02. Erick Gallun – Open Field Decay

  http://people.bu.edu/gallun

• A03. Lyndsey Cockwell – DWP

  http://www.lyndseycockwell.com

• A04. Don Bosco – Watching

  http://uk.geocities.com/dinnerdiscs

• A05. Doug Haire – The Hand Off
  http://doughaire.com
• A06. John Hanes – Tuscan Gate
  http://www.purelovepower.com
• A07. o.m.s. – n.m.a – format2002edit04m
  http://www.omsnma.be
• A08. Carlo Giordani – Valle Rossa

  http://www.johnroach.net/simultaneous/giordani_cv.html

• A09. John Roach – The Two Shades

  http://www.johnroach.net

• A10. Christopher Fleeger – Painting

  http://www.acousmatic.com

• A11. Direwires – Dayslumber via the Train
  http://www.direwires.com
• A12. devslashnull – Von Roll Grate System Test: 1984
  http://www.commtom.com
• A13. Raphael Lyon – Virginia Beach
  http://www.freematterfortheblind.com
• A14. Scott Smallwood – Basement Well
  http://music.princeton.edu/~skot
• A15. The Outsider – Aurora Storm
  
  xtheoutsiderx@hotmail.com
• A16. Angus Carlyle – The Sea Swells Again
  klf_book@yahoo.co.uk

Second Disk

• B01. Carlos Santos – Crossing Point

  http://www.granular.fm/–/a/carlossantos.php

• B02. Pete Stollery – Banchory Ears
  http://www.petestollery.com
• B03. Giuseppe Rapisarda – Dalla Finestra
  http://www.rapisarda.org/
• B04. HarS – SportNational
  http://soundblog.net/
• B05. Uveaele – Lava d’Or

  http://www.freewebs.com/plumbandplumber

• B06. Aaron Lewis – Long Pond 2/1 10am
  agileajl@gmail.com
• B07. Steve Bradley – SO2 Emission
  http://art-radio.net
• B08. Robert Horton – Insect Trust
  http://www.hoalrecords.com
• B09. Eric Bollman – 14th Street

  http://www.ericbollman.com

• B10. Davide Morelli – Foto.01

  http://www.davidemorelli.it

• B11. Thanos Chrysakis – Afar…Sounds Begin to Ooze

  http://www.stasisfield.com/artists/chrysakis.html

• B12. Martiensgohome – White Chapel Moose

  http://www.constantvzw.com/mgh/

• B13. Ambrose Pottie – Chainwash 16
  ambrosepottie@sympatico.ca
• B14. Seht – Death in Strip-mall
  http://www.dorkinglabs.com/seht.php
• B15. Archive – Imprint
  http://www.juniorbirdman.com/archive
• B16. Fred Yarm – Downspout Gamelon

  http://www2.ennui.net/~yarm

About the curator: Fred Yarm is a Boston-area experimental DJ, phonographer, theremin player, and sound artist. His discography and other information can be found on his website: http://www2.ennui.net/~yarm/

Visit the download page to stream or download this album.

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Tagged as: Catalog, Compilation, Releases