“[Radio] contains so much of human culture and experience”, writes Chicago-based cellist and sound artist Lia Kohl. “In general there is something a bit mystical about the radio -- I know intellectually that it has a logical mechanical function, but that somehow never takes away the magic of catching sound on an invisible wave” (notes from the composer). Hear works involving sounds captured from the radio, some of it electronically processed, from Lia Kohl, composer and sampling guru Annie Gosfield, and Haitian-American musician Leyla McCalla. Chicago-based cellist and sound artist uses the highly processed sounds of children praying on the radio. sampled from the praying part of the Catholic Mass for Good Friday. The composer feels that there's something deeply affecting about recordings of prayer over the radio; people praying over the radio waves so others can join them. Hear that, along with Kohl’s work sampling periodic bursts of orchestral radio static, “like beautiful but disorienting transmissions from another world,” from her record Too Small to be a Plain (Bandcamp liner notes). Then there are the stray, wandering, howling sounds of a malfunctioning shortwave radio in Annie Gosfield’s “Phantom Shakedown” for piano, samples of detuned and prepared piano, a grinding cement mixerand a mixed din of tube noise and other failing technologies. Also, listen to Haitian-American musician Leyla McCalla’s Breaking The Thermometer, a multidisciplinary music theater work, commissioned by Duke University created using archival material from Radio Haiti, the country’s first independent creole-speaking radio station. - Caryn Havlik Plus, hear music by the late Holger Czukay of CAN who incorporated voices of Iranian singers Marzieh and Golpa, captured via short-wave radio into his song "Persian Love," as well as the song for which the episode takes its name, “Radio Is Everything” by Elvis Costello: “You don't need to see my faceRadio is everythingYou don't need to know my nameRadio is everything” Program #4725, Radio Is Everything (First aired 3/10/23) ARTIST: Lia KohlWORK: First Picture of the Weather Pattern [3:33]RECORDING: Too Small to be a PlainSOURCE: ShinkoyoINFO: shinkoyo.bandcamp.com ARTIST: Lia KohlWORK: the moment a zipper [5:21]RECORDING: The Ceiling ReposesSOURCE: American Dreams RecordsINFO: liakohl.bandcamp.com ARTIST: Lia KohlWORK: Second Picture of the Weather Pattern [3:32]RECORDING: Too Small to be a PlainSOURCE: ShinkoyoINFO: shinkoyo.bandcamp.com ARTIST: David Byrne & Brian EnoWORK: Mea Culpa [4:57]RECORDING: My Life in the Bush of GhostsSOURCE: Nonesuch #79894 INFO: nonesuch.com ARTIST: Leyla McCallaWORK: Fort Dimanche [4:25]RECORDING: Breaking The ThermometerSOURCE/INFO: leylamccalla.bandcamp.com ARTIST: Holger CzukayWORK: Persian Love [6:22] RECORDING: MoviesSOURCE: Mute 69070 / Claremont 56INFO: Try Discogs or claremont56.bandcamp.com/track/my-persian-love ARTIST: Annie GosfieldWORK: Phantom Shakedown [8:13]RECORDING: Almost Truths and Open DeceptionsSOURCE: Tzadik Records 8088INFO: tzadik.com ARTIST: Matthew PattonWORK: Speaking in Tongues, excerpt [10:00]RECORDING: Speaking in TonguesSOURCE: Marquis Classics #139INFO: Available at AppleMusic, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube ARTIST: Elvis CostelloWORK: Radio Is Everything [4::26]RECORDING: Hey ClockfaceSOURCE: Concord RecordsINFO: Available at AppleMusic, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube
“[Radio] contains so much of human culture and experience”, writes Chicago-based cellist and sound artist Lia Kohl. “In general there is something a bit mystical about the radio -- I know intellectually that it has a logical mechanical function, but that somehow never takes away the magic of catching sound on an invisible wave” (notes from the composer). Hear works involving sounds captured from the radio, some of it electronically processed, from Lia Kohl, composer and sampling guru Annie Gosfield, and Haitian-American musician Leyla McCalla.
Chicago-based cellist and sound artist uses the highly processed sounds of children praying on the radio. sampled from the praying part of the Catholic Mass for Good Friday. The composer feels that there's something deeply affecting about recordings of prayer over the radio; people praying over the radio waves so others can join them. Hear that, along with Kohl’s work sampling periodic bursts of orchestral radio static, “like beautiful but disorienting transmissions from another world,” from her record Too Small to be a Plain (Bandcamp liner notes).
Then there are the stray, wandering, howling sounds of a malfunctioning shortwave radio in Annie Gosfield’s “Phantom Shakedown” for piano, samples of detuned and prepared piano, a grinding cement mixerand a mixed din of tube noise and other failing technologies. Also, listen to Haitian-American musician Leyla McCalla’s Breaking The Thermometer, a multidisciplinary music theater work, commissioned by Duke University created using archival material from Radio Haiti, the country’s first independent creole-speaking radio station. - Caryn Havlik
Plus, hear music by the late Holger Czukay of CAN who incorporated voices of Iranian singers Marzieh and Golpa, captured via short-wave radio into his song "Persian Love," as well as the song for which the episode takes its name, “Radio Is Everything” by Elvis Costello:
“You don't need to see my faceRadio is everythingYou don't need to know my nameRadio is everything”
Program #4725, Radio Is Everything (First aired 3/10/23)
ARTIST: Lia KohlWORK: First Picture of the Weather Pattern [3:33]RECORDING: Too Small to be a PlainSOURCE: ShinkoyoINFO: shinkoyo.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Lia KohlWORK: the moment a zipper [5:21]RECORDING: The Ceiling ReposesSOURCE: American Dreams RecordsINFO: liakohl.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Lia KohlWORK: Second Picture of the Weather Pattern [3:32]RECORDING: Too Small to be a PlainSOURCE: ShinkoyoINFO: shinkoyo.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: David Byrne & Brian EnoWORK: Mea Culpa [4:57]RECORDING: My Life in the Bush of GhostsSOURCE: Nonesuch #79894 INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Leyla McCallaWORK: Fort Dimanche [4:25]RECORDING: Breaking The ThermometerSOURCE/INFO: leylamccalla.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Holger CzukayWORK: Persian Love [6:22] RECORDING: MoviesSOURCE: Mute 69070 / Claremont 56INFO: Try Discogs or claremont56.bandcamp.com/track/my-persian-love
ARTIST: Annie GosfieldWORK: Phantom Shakedown [8:13]RECORDING: Almost Truths and Open DeceptionsSOURCE: Tzadik Records 8088INFO: tzadik.com
ARTIST: Matthew PattonWORK: Speaking in Tongues, excerpt [10:00]RECORDING: Speaking in TonguesSOURCE: Marquis Classics #139INFO: Available at AppleMusic, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube
ARTIST: Elvis CostelloWORK: Radio Is Everything [4::26]RECORDING: Hey ClockfaceSOURCE: Concord RecordsINFO: Available at AppleMusic, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube