Decomposing Radio

Live Improvisation on CFRC, Summer 2010
farewell TCC

May 26: Our first show. We say goodbye to The Christopher Currie whose last show ended the hour before ours began. Expect electronic sounds heavy on Casio, loops and vinyl from TCC. The CFRC data logger began the show with silence from TCC's last piece in Kingston, an extra two minutes protecting us from Cage's legal estate.


water works

June 2: Here we connect electronic gear in our living room. Water is poured over a contact microphone to create textures and beats, while two keyboards create melody and bass. We record ourselves in our living room an hour before and drive to the station to connect the recorder just in time for playback.


the grand comparison

June 9: Here again with an hour to spare, we find a forgotten Grand Piano at Queen's University. Neglected, most of the ivory is missing. We set up two recorders, one for the piano and one for the room. Near to the end we play a recording of another very beautiful Steinway hidden deep within a gallery. Although it is in pristine condition, we found it decomposing in a different way entirely - by not ever being played.


upstairs piano duet

June 16: This show is recorded from the Vögt Theatre above CFRC. A place we sometimes frequented, it has a modest piano with a big heart. Late at night, surrounded by cleaning equipment and an array of chairs, we can sit down and play for the walls, and a possible squater we never met. There are a few mistakes here and there, but hey, we're practicing.


falling rain and hydra

June 23: Hydra is a three-headed waterpoof contact microphone system made the week of. Placed in the rain, it catches falling rain drops. An old pump organ and as piano are played. Falling water droplets are captured in three seperate frequency ranges, one for each contact. A piano duet follows, pictures in a sketchbook as an abstract musical guide.


contact microphones effects

June 30: Continuing our use of contact microphones, we experiment with various objects around the house an hour prior to the show. Moving parts of a record player and strings of a piano, outside against leaves or pavement. Noise was introduced using a faulty connector.


hot summer heat

July 14: A piano is played and recorded through a room microphone and through contact microphones placed against the strings and soundboard. This picks up from an idea found from the chaos the week before. The hum of a nearby fan can be heard, as the morning was swelteringly hot.


piano and glockenspiel

July 21: A glockenspiel from the Musical Instrument Lending Library is played with contact microphones on the tines to add an overdrive or distored effect. A piano accompanies the glockenspiel and is recorded in the same way. Atmospheric effects created from a delay pedal and more traditional sounds as picked up from a room microphone are also present.


lost audio, passing storm

July 28: We recorded early this time as a thunderstorm was fast approaching. A room microphone captured the storm through an open window as we played, the thunder growing ever present - a power surge wiped the memory of the recorder. Starting over, we captured a close second: the thunderstorm moves away, and music is played to the sound of passing cars and thinning rain outside.


cricket summer evening

August 10: An outdoor microphone captures the sound of crickets in the late summer evening while an acoustic guitar and piano are heard through a nearby open window. After this was Languishing Bellows.


Whole Radio

The above shows were edited into 6 hours and 42 minutes of audio played continuously for The Rough Edge of Beauty (Iga Janik)