Output details
35 - Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts
University of East London
Alpha
This LP contains three tracks.
1. Glitch is fundamentally a behavioural composition. It is made up of a wide variety of materials, some of which always remain the same, while others submit to change. The sounds collected here are sounds that should have been thrown away – sonic indiscretions in the form of hisses, digital clicks and distortions. An old, flawed recording of a C trumpet formed the primary source for this material. The grain levels in the recording are low and in places there is an impractical amount of distortion. Glitch is an attempt to shape delicate areas of instability into inspired moments of strength.
2. Alpha is composed as a union of synthetic sound and highly transformed female and male utterances – a meta-body of sound. Drawing on the writings of Donna Haraway – the 'Cyborg Manifesto' as well as her technological prophecy 'Cyber Quintessence' – the music aims to create an imaginary space as a metaphorical and technological extension of the human body. The visual scores are made from tracing paper, red ink, blood and gold leaf, media that represent the transparent and extreme musical world occupied by electronic sound. The images have been shown in the Ohrenhoch Sound Gallery in Berlin.
3 Dark Noise is a subterranean sound world, based on the female voice. Within this imaginary body of sound there is a deeply embedded idea of motion, expressed in the sound gestures that resonate throughout the work, and in the spoken utterances of air, light and space that are heard at the end. The work also explores a rich dimension of architectural space. Glitches and micro-sounds are precisely placed, creating subtle triangles, circles and lines that provide a structure for the overall form of the work.
http://www.discogs.com/Jo-Thomas-Alpha/release/2368591
Awards:
Qwartz Award 7 Commendation / Nomination 2011.