"States" (1997) by Shelley Hirsch is complex soundscape that mixes polyphonic renditions of American pop songs ("Blue Moon" and "Blue Skies"), cocktail lounge monologues, techno music, exotica, Bulgarian choral singing, and the Firebird Suite, all strung together in a stew of electronically-treated found sounds. It's not an easy thing melding all this territory into coherence yet Hirsch manages to keep the thing seamlessly afloat for almost 20 minutes. "Tenemos" is a hypnotic treatment of a Steinian sentence, "Don't touch the rosebush." There are grunts and groans, cut up words, drony echoes, clicks and pops. It's a marvelous update on vocal techniques pioneered by Cathy Berberian earlier in the century. When Hirsch keeps things loose, free, and abstract, it works.

In its ten years as a weekly national series, 1987-1998, New American Radio (NAR) commissioned and distributed over 300 original works: conceptual new drama, associational documentary, language explorations, sonic meditations, environmental compositions, musical explorations and works that pioneer new dimensions in acoustic space. Wave Farm is thrilled to be partnering with New American Radio to ensure these works remain available to listeners today and into the future.

New American Radio was organized by Helen Thorington, Executive Producer and Regine Beyer, Associate Producer. A special thanks to both Helen Thorington and Jo-Anne Green for their generous support and collaboration of this partnership, and their contribution to the field at large!

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