one-minute vacation
 
field recordings and thing-sounds as art

Here is an introduction to musique concrete, where Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry started it all.

More artists can be found at EarthEar. Many more traditional recordings are indexed here.

climax golden twins Travel field recording collage from asia and around the world. At times hypnotic, frenetic, and just plain weird. Very close to my heart, and thank God I found my own voice before I heard them.
audiofile collective As above, denser juxtapositions from similar sources. Another project eerily similar to my own. Highly recommended.
eric la casa Haunting, minimally modified recontextualization. His work with water sound is stunning.
francisco lópez A guide and inspiration. His touch is often haiku-like: only the single, most necessary gesture. He draws attention to the ineffable heart of sound, offering up textures made by magnification. A personal idol.
john hudak A recent personal discovery with a long history. He finds new soundscapes hidden in the old. (Here is a biography.)
akitsugu maebayashi Maker of binaural field recordings. We were fortunate enough to experience his anechoic chamber installation, featuring recordings, at the NTT InterCommunication Center in Tokyo.
steve roden A great explorer of the hidden language of everyday things. His work view hears San Francisco the way I do. He often manipulates objects, encouraging them to sing.
loren chasse Also an explorer of landscapes, things and their desire to speak. Active with Jim Haynes in the collaboration coelacanth.
dajuin yao Dajuin has worked extensively with recordings of the spoken voice, and is currently documenting the changing (audible) landscape of China through mobile volunteer 'sound units.'
matmos Their first album rocked my world. It proved that everyday things could rock, pop, and swing.
chris watson Traveler, listener, documentarian with perfect ear and instinct. I envy his equipment, his stunning uses of it, and the fact that he seems to get paid to do so. His albums on Soleilmoon are fantastic.
loren nerell An ethnomusicologist and ambient musician with a knack for soundscapes. His indonesian soundscapes contemplates that country through a collage of field recordings, as I do some I have visited.
toy.bizarre Cédric Peyronnet's project exploring the music of landscapes and things. More introspective than my work to date, sometimes achingly beautiful. (Here is more.)
small cruel party Another researcher into hidden implicit sound. As this biography suggests, sound sources are not always identifiable.
kathy kennedy Her sound walks, exercises in guided intentional listening, are only part of her work, but close to my heart. As far as I know, none are available as CDs; you must experience them.
phil mantione A New York-based composer active in many areas. His Human Sounds is one of the best manipulations of its subject matter I've ever heard.
artificial memory trace I discovered Slavek Kwi when he was credited with the (amazing) soundscapes on Laila Amezian's Initial. Not nearly as passive as many of these artists, he often plays the world. I have learned a lot from his understanding of dynamics.
alan lamb Alan has done some very interesting work to capture the resonances of whole landscapes using contact microphones attached to (fence, utility) wires.
drone hill 225 Similar recordings made by Richard Harisson at a place of that name. He's in a band called the Spaceheads, apparently.
frans de waard His album trein documents train rides from Arnheim to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, using contact mics. I'm told one channel is the trip out, the other the trip back. An interesting contrast to my own s3. He's connected to Staalplaat, but I can't find a page for his artist work.
zoviet*france Impossibly seminal pioneers who helped define a new culture of listening in the 1980s. Included as they were the first who ever taught me it was OK to listen to things.
aube Another very high-profile performer, who has defined whole new territories through manipulations of the sounds of the world. At times very, very harsh; occasionally very open and intimate. Challenging.
helmut schäfer From Graz, Austria, he works extensively with live (intuitive) manipulation of field recordings, both in the studio and in performance. I can't find any web resources for him.
tape recorder Matt Davignon, distribution czar of the chain tape collective, using the named equipment. Elegant processes, beautiful results.
toshiya tsunoda I found this review, written by frans de waard, while looking for web resources for trein. If I can find it, I'll order it.
miki yui A friend recently introduced me to her album small sounds, which uses field recordings (and other sounds) to extend the preexisting soundscape. Soft then sudden, punctuation and frosting for your room. This one is making me rethink a lot of things about what I can do with my recordings.
friedrich jurgenson The Studio for Audioscopic Research conducted unusual field recording techniques in hopes of capturing the voices and other communications of the dead. Here's information on one.
conet project Another untraditional use of field recording, if it can be so called: the Conet Project extensively documents shortwave broadcasts of encrypted information. Some stations have been broadcasting for decades. Chilling: espionage, mafia, and drug trafficking are all popular theories as to what these stations are used for.
bernie krause A pioneer and popularizer of natural field recordings. He documents his incredible life and career in the book Notes from the Wild, which includes a CD.
douglas quin Another high-profile maker of natural field recordings, such as several based on sounds from Antartica.
steve reich Early, highly influential tape pieces such as Come Out and It's Gonna Rain brought musique concrete to a new life in America. Here's an interview.

 

  

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sound art resources

    
23five San Francisco-based nonprofit nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. Cofounded by my crazy/wonderful brother and sister, Scot and Maria Jenerik and dear friend Larnie Fox, who officiated my wedding.
7hz A San Francisco underground institution, the venue regularly showcasing international noise and sound artists. Run by the inimitable Scott Arford of radiosonde, TEST: and the Infrasound collaboration with Randy H.Y. Yau.
earth ear An incredible source for field recordings and information on their creation, including essays, artist biographies, and a subscription program. Please support this labor of love by Jim Cummings; this is really a unique resource. EarthEar is contributing sound to the NPR show Living on Earth.
phonography.org "Dedicated to the art of phonography, or field recordings... a place where phonographers can present themselves to a larger audience as well as developing a pool of references and resources." Compilations are available, and there is an active list. Tracks from many members can be heard at this related site.
nature sound society Dedicated to "the preservation, appreciation and creative use of natural sounds." Hear, hear.
magic monkey Similarly active in promoting appreciation of natural sound; with information on making field recordings.
kaon Nonprofit (I believe) sound arts organization based in Limoges, France.
smithsonian folkways Incredibly deep world-famous collection of beautiful, interesting, often esoteric recordings made over decades. Browsable and, incredibly, orderable.
british library The Library maintains an extensive sound archive, only a taste of which is available online.
earprint Jason Ranier and Catherine Girardeau run this innovative sound design house, if commercial sound design is an interest.
earprints on the air Jason and Catherine also run this KPFA radio program dedicated to promoting world soundscapes.
other minds Influential Bay Area proponents of new music in its many forms.
hybrid If you're in Melbourne don't miss Andrew Hollo's radio show. Otherwise his extensive artist listings should give you ideas.
lost and found sound Deservedly popular NPR program showcasing the historical importance and personal impact of recordings of all kinds.
radio expeditions Yet another fabulous NPR demonstration that we hardly scratch the surface of what can be done with creative recording techniques.
this american life Plenty of recordings, mostly interviews and documentary, but I must include it; it's an American treasure, fully archived in RealAudio. If you have time, listen to an episode now. You won't regret it. I [heart] David Sedaris.
modulator webring This sprawling webring is home to many experimental artists. Yes, there are needles in the hay.
omnicetera Lo-fi journal of experimental art. Only three issues, but in one they interview me.
ampersand etcetera Jeremy Keens puts a lot of energy into thoughtful, informed reviews of work that otherwise slips through the cracks.
cognition Andrew Duke's in the mix was named to the top 200 sites by the Wire. A good place to keep tabs on the new electronic music underground.
last sigh Another online source for reviews of music out of the public eye. More focused on the industrial genre.
industrial.org Clearing house of information on undergound music, eponymously focused.

 

  

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travel resources    

Internet cafes are popping up everywhere, at least in Asia. It's a blessing and a curse. During our honeymoon, my wife and I kept an online travelogue here..

moon publications Their travel guides are thoughtful, dense, meticulousrly researched, often filled with informed opinion. A great alternative to Lonely Planet guides, which everyone else will be carrying anyway.
south pacific organizer David Stanley wrote many guides on the region for Moon; his personal site has a wealth of information for anyone considering a trip to the region. Be sure to read Theroux's Happy Isles of Oceania before you go.
lonely planet Their India book is half-seriously known as "The Bible" among backpackers there. The Baedeker of our generation. Ubiquitous, which is fair since they reinvented the shoestring travel guide. They have something on everything -- not infrequently they provide the only guide to a given place (e.g., Bangladesh.)
rei The number of calories I've burned lugging their gear around must be scary. De facto staging grounds for we west coasters.
pelican Nearly indestructable watertight cases at a very reasonable price. I carried two on my last trip to protect my recording gear and camera. Available at REI.
currency conversion Though you'll learn to do this in your head, quickly enough.
travel advisories Now more than ever, read these before you go.
drudge report And stay on top of what's going on while you're away.
cdc health advice And make sure you get immunized. I've caught enough and am still, apparently, hosting a few parasites. God knows what I've avoided thanks to a few shots.
the keeper Tampons can now be had many places (a situation that has changed over the last few years), but this is an environmentally sound alternative.
yahoo and hotmail Free web-based email. Use their "check other mail" to collect mail to your other POP or even IMAP accounts.
mail2web An alternative, perhaps less secure way of checking your (non-Web-based) mail, but useful in a pinch at internet cafes.

 

  

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Not everyone has the pleasure of acquiring these books directly off my shelf, as Kaveh does. Not comprehensive; what crossed my mind or caught my eye. So many more.

Comic and zine artists go first, cause they don't get no respect.

aaron cometbus Cometbus filled me with wanderlust. Ride the Wohl Whip. Incredible integrity and thoughtfulness and humor; look for the volumes of short stories and travel musings.
chris ware The Acme Novelty Library should win him a genius grant. Really. Ever more beautiful, dark, heartbraking, sublime.
seth Palookaville is impossibly quiet, sad, warm, human. One of favorite things. Thank you. (The new collection of vernacular sketchbook drawings is wonderful).
richard sala Dark and not for everyone, in a Frank or Lynch way. As odd a man's view of women as R. Crumb, but as necessary in its frankness. What does it say that I eagerly await each new Evil Eye.
vs naipaul This year's Nobel Laureate for literature is still dour, precise, frank, and occasionally difficult. Try A House for Mr. Biswas or In a Free State for fiction, or Among the Believers (quite topical these days) and A Million Mutinies Now for non-. (An interview.) I'm currently reading Half a Life.
paul theroux Increasingly honest and compassionate, a favorite and famous curmudgeon. I've derived great pleasure from the Collected Stories and went to India because I read The Great Railway Bazaar. My box set of train recordings will, of course, be dedicated to him. (An interview.)
italo calvino Invisible Cities is nearly perfect in conception and execution. Italian Folktales should reside by every bed.
vladimir nabokov The stories, particularly "Spring in Fialta." In my youth I contributed to the Annotated Lolita. Pnin. Chess players should appreciate The Defense. For fans: Nabokov's Blues, by Kurt Johnson and Steven Coates.
kafka I can't imagine being without the Collected Stories. And such a beautiful edition (there are dozens of lesser known gems such as Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor).
julio cortazar Above all others. If you find Around the Day in Eighty Worlds, buy it. Hopscotch should make you drunk. Cronopios and Famas divides the world like a Gordian knot.
jl borges Enter the Labyrinths if you haven't, but how could you not have?
virginia woolf To the Lighthouse quietly surrounds the Great War. The Waves looks Ulysses in the eye.
joyce You have read Ulysses, right? If not, get on it. Skip the boring bits. Hell, skip the first three chapters and a couple of the later ones in their entirety. It's not considered the greatest novel in English for no reason.
rilke Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge is seen too infrequently in homely cafes these days.
paul goodman Growing Up Absurd, which you glimpse at the end of Slacker, is still as relevant as it was when written.
michael ondaatje Running in the Family will take me to Sri Lanka, whatever the cost. (An interview.)
don delillo White Noise burns out early but is still an awe-inspiring etching of contemporary self-definition. Nothing else has quite done it for me as well.
mark leyner When you set down White Noise with a sigh, pick up My Cousin My Gastroenterlogist with a smile. (An interview.)
marquez First read the stories but also Love in the Time of Cholera. One Hundred Years only after these.
lord dunsany Playwright and chess champion, now dismissed along with Stanislaw Lem by folk of small vision into the "speculative fiction" ghetto. Love The Hashish Man, read The King of Elfland's Daughter. I am looking forward to The Charwoman's Shadow.
hp lovecraft Dunsany inspired him to write The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath, his hypnotic, hypnagogic, phantasmagorical masterwork. It still directs my dreams.
roald dahl While I'm in those parts, let's not forget Switch Bitch and Dahl's other profoundly unsettling and well-drawn stories for adults. Dark, dark, dark.
jeanette winterson I was hypnotized by The Passion. As if I didn't have enough guilt over never having been to Venice.
diane ackerman I never gave back the copy of Natural History of the Senses we borrowed from Jim and Melissa. How could I? Better than you'd hope it was. (An interview.)
paul bowles If only I knew who I'd lent my much loved copy of the Collected Stories to. The measured tone of the stories surpasses the scale of The Sheltering Sky. There is an amazing double CD of Bowles reading his stories, if you can find it.
claude levi-strauss If you're going to travel, you should at least read Tristes Tropiques, and failing that, the contemplation within it entitled "a little glass of rum." Claude and his rum, Benjamin with his hash.
nelson algren The Man with the Golden Arm is still golden, especially if you know its Chicago setting, which when we lived there ten years ago was still recognizable (alas, no more). The stories in Neon Wilderness are fine too.
oliver sacks He keeps getting better and better. Forget Awakenings, read An Anthropologist on Mars.
douglas hofstadter Rambling genius. Godel, Escher, Bach blew my mind and continues to inspire me; I think about it every week at one point or another. His collaboration with Daniel Dennett, The Mind's I, has some wonderful stories and memorable musings. (Ongoing work.)
walter benjamin My world was changed permanently byThe Origins of German Tragic Drama, which advanced an argument for definition through circumlocution I have taken close to heart. He's best known for an essay on the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Read his account of hashish in Marseille, among other eminently enjoyable short gems, in Illuminations and Reflections.
walker percy On this last trip a passing friend passed on The Moviegoer. A wonderful gift, but nothing else seems as solid.
john hawkes Speaking of uneasy ground and chance recommendations, the phantasmagoric tour de force The Lime Twig was pressed on me by an eccentric in the stacks at the Northwestern library.
john mcphee The compendium Annals of the Former World accomplished one of its main goals, to inculcate an appreciation of the fact that the notion of deep (geological) time has itself been around a remarkable short while. A fat tome with some skimmy-bits and many can't-put-it-down bits. Good beach reading.
maxine hong kingston Tripmaster Monkey made me move to San Francisco; China Men and Warrior Women taught me some of its history. The latter is particularly recommended, but Mark's had my copy for ten years.
william vollman Rainbow Stories showed me another side to the city. He has an eclectic and mannered style, but in this volume it is always applied at the service of the story. A keeper, a grown up's Skeleton Crew. Another one I shouldn't have lent out.
umberto eco Travels in Hyperreality should be required reading for Americans.
piers anthony Before the popular junk he wrote some odd works of profound honesty, effort and insight. Of course they're out of print: the Tarot series and Macroscope. I am convinced he was an acid cosmonaut. These describe an effort to come to terms with what elsewhere he decries as Mundania.
jung chang Wild Swans is a compelling and difficult account of three generations of women growing up in China last (20th) century. A good starting place for understanding contemporary China. Or so it seemed while we were there.

 

  

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Please support independent music channels (I link to Amazon because the links are stable).

Many of these recordings are available from Aquarius, Soleilmoon, Forced Exposure, Anomalous, or Atlantis. Explore small labels such as New Albion, Staal Plaat, groundfault, Rune Grammafone, etc.

art thieme My amazing uncle. A collection, the tip of the iceberg. At one point he had a working repetoir of four hundred plus songs. He kept a 3x5 notecard taped to the top of his one-of-a-kind eight string Martin to remind him of the most popular hundred or so. Buy the sampler, learn the jokes.
dave ladelfa I found him since he uses minidisc as an artistic tool and serendipity engine. I did not go wrong investing in his whole catalog.
ian campbell's dross Try the audio selections, found on the lower right of the home page. Loop whimsy with a refined ear.
ken's last ever
radio extravaganza		 Collage, montage and lunacy of the most joyful sort.
jonathan hughes A wealth of lovely textural ambient work. His subspace project explored using multiple decks playing back tracks in a shared space, an idea also explored by Dave LaDelfa. I love i tand am going to steal it.
robert machado Very quiet. Tools for transforming space through subtle presence.
curd duca Precise, often stacatto miniatures, drifting from faux foley art to faux nostalgia with the switch of a loop. elevator 3 is my faovirte to date.
philip jeck sparse haunting noise collage, a true command of dynamics. The work is composed live on a (at times) dozens of manipulated turn tables. I dream of seeing this done before my eyes.
stars of the lid Drone from lullaby to groan. Avec Laudenum is indeed an opiate. I'm still growing into Tired Sounds of... Found them trying to match:
plotkin & spybey This review of their collaboration Peripheral Blur about sums it up. Haunting and still in my top twenty after all these years.
brian eno An idol. Attributed with a quotation that guides much of what I do: 'Ambient is music that rewards, but does not demand, attention.' Try the ambient series, starting with Music for Airports and On Land.
windy and carl As the above, slow moving slow changing heavy spaces. This, with the scoring more discernable. Anarctica is my favorite.
piano magic Quirky, open, eerie meldings of bleeps, blorps, and disturbing stories delivered in monotone. Try first full length album, Popular Mechanics, and third, Low Birth Weight. Dark and stormy night music.
aerial m A project of David Pajo, ex-Slint. The debut album is simply put perfect. Rainy day melancholy layered guitar lines. Listen and weep. Nothing has mathed it since. Their last concert was a real let-down.
godspeed you
black emperor		 They can't go on, they go on. Relentless, melancholy guitar bombast in the best way, liberally spiked with field recordings and borrowed rants. A force of nature. Side projects Fly Pan Am is also highly recommended.
icebreaker .Distant Early Warning is a wonderful result from an arts concept I only partially understand. Waiting to hear the newer work.
nobukazo takemura scope is shattered. It sparkles and cuts like a broken mirror. Austerity that hurts as it cuts.
steve reich At some point you should listen to Drumming in its entirety. Reich changed the way I think about music.
kevin volans I was led to his work by Bruce Chatwin. The Walking and Leaping songs do just that: European instrumentation freed, as by Reich, but in a wholely original way. Spirited, joyous, unlike anything I'd ever heard. Full credit.
steven scott New Music for Bowed Piano you might love if you like Reich. Just what the title empies. As Frey puts it, this is entirely devoid of suck.
balanescu quartet And if you like that, you'll probably already own Possessed. Joyful string quartet versions of Autobahn songs and a few compositions by Balanescu himself, worshiping at the idol of Philip Glass.
philip glass Never a personal favorite, other than a few film scores, but then Richard turned me on to Northstar.
windsor for the derby Difference and Repetition is another hypnotic guitar-fueld meditation focused on the titular.
circle Finnish Can-rock. Their driving, relentless Zopalki astounds. Awe inspiring in concert.
alog Red Shift Swing is a stunning mix of loops, field recordings, and live instruments on Rune Grammofon.
tarantel Accomplished, captivating blend of meticulously scored and arranged live instruments, voice and realtime manipulation. Droning with strings. And I don't just like them because my roomate plays with them.
rachel's Music for Egon Schiele was the first disc I bought at Aquarius here in San Francisco back when it was on 24th. I was sold on its beautiful packaging, put it back with a sigh, then realized it was the impossibly sweet sad string and piano arrangements we were listening to in the store. Selenography would be my second favorite to date; it's their best attempt so far at integrating chamber arrangements with electronic pop.
dave douglas The blend of dark, Mingusesque trumpet and accordian ' Charms of the Night Sky keeps this often in my mind and CD player. Nothing of his has stuck as well.
coltrane Stardust is, as Richard said, magnificent. If you haven't heard it, for God's sake, sit in a dark room and listen to Crescent while you're at it. This stuff is way beyond Giant Steps.
dj cheb i sabbah His Shri Durga is a most potent fusing of ambient sound from India with traditional instrumentation and deep relentless groove. An all-time personal favorite.
morton feldman Thank God I finally found Rothko Chapel. It led me to this boxset, which is a steal when it was about a third the current price. My wife thinks the new recording by the Kronos Quartet sounds haunted. I can't get enough.
shostakovich Preludes and Fugues. Compare vs. the inspirational Bach. Though I prefer Book II (and that by S.Richter).
glenn gould Speaking of Gould, though. if you saw 32 Short Films, you got just a taste of the Solitude Trilogy. Highly recommended, unique. Slow, quiet, careful orchestration of voices and sound effects. Equisitely tuned balance of sense with pacing.
paul bowles Bowles reads four stunning stories on A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard. Snap it up while you can, for the measured, irreproducable delivery of the writer himself. Excellent bedtime stories.
shut up little man No spoken word recommendation would be complete without this unparalleled monument of San Francisco at its best and worst. I'm so very, very happy these recordings were made.

 

  

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the movie Quiet American is being made into a movie, However, this site hasn't been updated in a long time, and I wonder if the project is on hold.
oulipo Collage with abandon. An amazing art movement most of us have never heard of.
situationist international Another movement with a very long shadow, giving us Guy Debord and Society of the Spectacle.
john duncan We are not worthy.
john oswald Godfather of the splice.
naked rabbit Tim is trying to tell you something. You should listen. I think.
detritus An awesome resources for finding out about folks such as the above.
marrow monkey High bandwidth pushing on what the medium is capable of, when the medium is flash.
jason fulford A most disturbingly multitalented man we met traveling. Buy the book.
steven miller One of the more potent and inspiring individuals I've had the pleasure to spend time with. Among other things a gifted photographer.
pupae Love Divya Srinivasan's animation now, before everyone is doing it. You probably saw her work in Linklater's The Waking Life, e.g. the upper right quadrant of the poster.
invisible mindeater Artist and acid cosmonaut Kaveh Soofi's tour de force.
ponderance Artist and acid cosmonaut R Holland's folly.
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