The Radio Art Hour: Absolute Value of Noise, Olu Dara

Jul 22, 2022: 3pm - 4pm
WGXC 90.7-FM: Radio for Open Ears

90.7-FM in NY's Upper Hudson Valley and wgxc.org/listen everywhere
http://www.wgxc.org/

Standing Wave Radio

wavefarm.org/listen and 1620-AM at Wave Farm
https://audio.wavefarm.org/transmissionarts.mp3

Produced by Wave Farm Radio Artist Fellows and Artistic Director Tom Roe.

"Tapeloping" by Absolute Value of Noise, and "Natchez to New York" by Olu Dara. Absolute Value of Noise is the alias of artist Peter Courtemanche. In “Tapeloping,” which commemorates the 30th anniversary of the first Absolute Value of Noise show on Vancouver’s CITR-FM, Courtemanche used the generative audio mixing software that underpins many of his recent works to combine samples from 30 artists who have collaborated with him or otherwise provided inspiration in the past. In his description of the piece, Courtemanche asks us to imagine these audio contributions as tape loops that stretch out through the hallways of a radio studio, wrapping around mic stands and doorknobs on their way back to the mixing desk. “Tapeloping”’s semi-automated collage invites listeners into the center of Courtemanche’s decades-long practice where broadcast radio serves as a platform for exchange and experimentation among noise artists. Contributing artists include: Deanne Achong, Jim Andrews, Sean Arden, Steve Bates, Gívan Belá, Ian Birse, John Brennan, Hank Bull, Brian Charles (a ghost in the machine), Don Chow, Andrea Cserenyi (from the archives), DinahBird, Elisa Ferrari, David Floren, Anna Friz, Ken Gregory, Steve Heimbecker, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Eileen Kage, Laura Kavanaugh, Gene Kosowan, Sally Ann McIntyre, Brady Marks, Faith Moosang, Bill Mullan, Jem Noble + Milo Piccini Noble, Roberto Paci Dalò, Anthony Roberts, Matt Rogalsky, Adam Sloan + Liam Sloan, Maia Urstad, Gregory Whitehead, Elisabeth Zimmermann. - Introduced by Wave Farm Radio Artist Fellow 2021/2022, Andy Stuhl. And also tune in "Natchez to New York" by Olu Dara. It's one of those quiet evenings on the front porch in Natchez, Mississippi. Just crickets, the distant sound of a few cars, and a bluesy song for harmonica and guitar—as sweet as the sugar shack it talks about. But there's trouble ahead as Neville, a down-home juke-joint man and Diana, who pursues a career at New York's Metropolitan Opera, collide. In Neville's words: "Good Lord woman, send Madam Butterfly back to bed. What's left to eat? I can't stand no opera on no empty stomach." They sing and fight and sing and fight until eventually, they go together—from Nachez to New York. An improvisational work in a fixed form! Commissioned by New American Radio.

Welcome to "The Radio Art Hour," a show where art is not just on the radio, but is the radio. "The Radio Art Hour" draws from the Wave Farm Broadcast Radio Art Archive, an online resource that aims to identify, coalesce, and celebrate historical and contemporary international radio artworks made by artists around the world, created specifically for terrestrial AM/FM broadcast, whether it be via commercial, public, community, or independent transmission. Come on a journey with us as radio artists explore broadcast radio space through poetic resuscitations and playful celebrations/subversions of the complex relationship between senders and receivers in this hour of radio about radio as an art form. "The Radio Art Hour" features introductions from Philip Grant and Tom Roe, and from Wave Farm Radio Art Fellows Karen Werner, Jess Speer, and Andy Stuhl. The Conet Project's recordings of numbers radio stations serve as interstitial sounds. Go to wavefarm.org for more information about "The Radio Art Hour" and Wave Farm's Radio Art Archive.