Interactive Poll - Field Recordings

So, starting my listening journey to the Field Recordings... Page 1:

I prophesy disaster: Ah, Windchase! I had this album on cassette (which have all been thrown away... and I didn't replace this one with an LP or CD). Nice to hear again, although I also understand why I still didn't buy a replacement...

Snicolette: Oh, Grice is immediately a contender. This is a wonderful piece of music: I love the sound effects, the cracking of the record and the wonderful instruments mixed in - atmosphere and dramatics! Will listen to the album! The gobbling turkeys are fun; I had a similar experience with chickens, but decided not to make a carreer out of it... Owain Phyfe is also very nice to hear, but a bit too gentle for me now. The Pipes of Pan didn't succeed to improve my attention span...

Mila: Eh, I'm very familiar with the music of Stockhausen, so this one is well known to me, and very appreciated. Thylacine starts off nicely, but I regret he feels the need to put in that overwhelming electro beat - for me it destroys the musical potential of his sonic exploration. A bit of a similar impression with Ty ft. Mpho: there is definitely an interesting quality in it for my ears, but also some moments that come over as very standard/formulaic...

Lewian: Ieh, another immediate contender... I didn't know Sohrab, but this will be corrected. These are the soundscapes and collages that I love. I do know that wonderful film Step Across the Border and thus this snippet. Indeed, the film has much more to offer; great sample, though. Funex is much more spare with the traditional instruments, so after a first listen I thought I might like a bit more dramatics put in through them... At the same time the piece went by much faster than the 4:54 indicated. So I had to listen to it again (and again), but no: those two minutes really lasted almost five... Those dramatics are there, but in a very subtle way. Very nice! (But I do prefer Sohrab... )

mathman: Ooh, I heard some work of Bang on a Can before, but not these. Very nice, all four, although Casino Trem and Fade to Slide are going a bit in too many directions. I prefer the other two, The Ontology of an Echo and Nocturnal; they are more coherent to my ears. And of these two I prefer The Ontology of an Echo - a great piece of work!

So happy you enjoyed Grice, that is actually one of my favourite releases of 2021.  Gobbling turkeys were for fun, I've never forgotten that segment on the radio, still makes me laugh.  Owain was sort of sentimental for me, I wish I did know of a great live performer video there where you hear many of the sounds of Faire, there are sounds of crazy parades moving past and loud shouts over at the jousting ring, not to mention the other performers/barkers, etc.  Pipes of Pan was just an interesting thing of it's day.  I have often wondered if The Rolling Stones would have been more innovative as time went on, if Brian had lived longer.  He was very interested in exotic music.  A wonderful film with tons of great music in it, is "Meetings With Remarkable Men," just wasn't sure if some of the selections on the soundtrack were true field recordings, similar to my problem with posting David Lindley's and Henry Kaiser's works from Madagascar.

I guess Pink Floyd were probably the first band I ever really became aware of how much field recordings can add to a musical piece - even though they were definitely not the first band or artist in my music collection to use field recordings. A lot of the time, I think, field recordings go almost unnoticed by the listener - and I wonder if that’s why some people have struggled with this poll. Perhaps, simply thinking too hard about it?

The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Bowie, Crowded House, Queen, U2, and so, so, so many more popular and mainstream artists have utilised field recordings. But it’s possible that they are simply absorbed without listeners realising that they are field recordings - simply because they are so well integrated, and so integral to the sound of the song. Their absence would likely be far more noticed, than their inclusion.

That aside, I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the selections here, and I will try and give my take on at least some of them. I will also endeavour to add my own selections. I’m sorry to have some hat neglected my own poll, but I have been stupidly busy. Life, eh? Something about it being a female dog, and then you expire. Well, I’m not expired yet, so I guess I’m somewhere within the female dog portion.

BRB, as they say…. 

So pleased that someone else knew of GRICE.  Completely understand not using it as a potential to your podium (as Lorenzo would say ), because of familiarity.  I do exactly the same thing.  Almost kind of a reaction video response, with the freshness of it outweighing potential bias because of it's being known already.

I think you're not seeing a lot of Beatles, Floyd, etc, because most of us, myself included, do try and bring lesser-known music here.  First song that popped into my mind when you suggested the category was The Beatles' Blackbird.    Then went to similar with David Cousins' We'll Meet Again Sometime, from "Two Weeks Last Summer."

Thank you for taking the time for some reviewing, looking forward to what you will bring, should it be possible for you this time around.

 

Four tracks of the eight on the album contain field recordings. However, the track I chose contains more field recordings than the other three, and is also the best track musically of the four and possibly the entire album, though my favourite track on the album is No Scruples, which doesn't have any field recordings.

 

@suitkees

Ah ok, the subject is not quite the same but there are surely certain overlaps. I noticed that the Acousmatrix series was released by the Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne. I will have a closer look at it. Whether my compilation got released physically, I don't know. The named publisher or label is Brain Disques. There was a Hamburg-based record label in the 1970s, Brain Records specialized in electronic music and krautrock. There could perhaps be a connection.