(Cross)Talk Radio

2009
rise set twilight
(Cross)Talk Radio

(Cross)Talk Radio. rise set twilight

"(Cross)Talk Radio," rise set twilight

"(Cross)Talk Radio," rise set twilight. during Radio Festival NYC 2009 at the Ontological Theater. (Oct 23, 2009)

The performance by rise set twilight utilizes Linda's family collection of 1970s AM radios - which, when, placed in proximity to each other, cause constantly changing feedback tones; this crosstalk will be utilized as the radios are moved around on the table. The radios are performed live, eschewing any recognizable radio stations in favor of various flavors of broadband noise in between stations and at the ends of the dials. The sounds produced live using the radios will also be sent through a microphone to surrounding speakers, with a resonating low-pass filter on each output channel. Field recordings of “radio drives” - taking advantage of the interference of a car's electrical system on AM radios - and other sounds will also be used.

Avoiding music and talk bands on AM radio is tricky - in some places the airwaves are full of chatter, and in other places (frequently indoors) almost the entire AM band is "empty" of recognizable broadcasts, leaving only various timbres and intensities of noise. While the appearances of the radios we use are nostalgic for their 70s styling, the emphasis is on their use as playable noise instruments, and as mediators of the ambient electrical signals in the air. With their use value (i.e. broadcast content) removed, we emphasize instead the physicality of transistor radios: while the performer plays the radio, the radios instrumentalize the buzz of ambient electrical fields in the air and in each other.

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