In fantasy and science fiction novels, American author Ursula K. Le Guin has created futuristic scenarios – often linked to Native American motifs. Always Coming Home, published in 1985, describes the life of the fictional Kesh people. To make their world audible, Le Guin recorded several songs with composer Todd Barton.
Mystery and poetry come together in the works of Guy de Cointet. The visual artist understood language as a system in its own right – and he deconstructed it. Dutch voice artist Jaap Blonk, active himself at the intersection of music, poetry and performance, interpreted Cointet's work ‘Nonomotithur’ in 1997.
The sausage products of German immigrant Oscar Mayer are popular in the United States – thanks to clever marketing and a catchy promotional song. In 2003, the Evolution Control Committee from Ohio, known for its crude appropriations, recognised the lyrics as a godsend and mixed them with the national anthem.
John Oswald established the concept of plunderphonics – the “stealing” of sounds for the sake of art. Here, the Canadian composer transforms a kitschy Christmas song into an absurd cartoon for the ears.
Charles Kellogg had already developed the ability to communicate with birds in their own language between the ages of four and six. In 1891, at the age of 23, the naturalist who grew up in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada brought his talent to the stage.
When the blind street musician Moondog roamed New York City in the early 1950s, he must have chosen the places where he laid out his instruments on the pavement with his ears. Sometimes it seems as if the sounds of the city were just waiting for him.
Joseph Nechvatal’s 1995 cybersex novella '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even' is based on the idea that any form of sexual order is only temporary and that social gender is therefore in a permanent state of becoming.
The American nation as a media construct – that is the core thesis of the Tape-beatles. The Iowa-based collective has been exploring it in collaged pieces featuring samples from film, television and music. During the Iraq War in 1990/91, there was ample opportunity to collect material.
Surrounded by mosquitoes, spiders and cockroaches, David Toop spent two weeks aboard a boat in the Venezuelan rainforest in 1978. The musician was on his way to the remote villages of the Yanomami people and wanted to record their shamanistic rituals with a microphone.
In the ragas of classical Indian music, the emotional characteristics associated with the moods of different times of day are translated into sound. The German band Neu!, which became legendary in the Krautrock era of the early 1970s, considered what the month of November should sound like.
