BLUE/RED

2017
Created by Billy Roisz.
BLUE/RED refers to the phenomenon of chromostereopsis, a visual illusion where the impression of depth is conveyed in two-dimensional color images, usually red-blue or red-green. BLUE/RED consists of two sections: BLUE and RED. Each part is a one-take recording in my studio on a hot sunny afternoon in July 2017. It was a lazy afternoon, so my self-imposed rule was to use only one instrument (plus extensions like effect pedals) for one set. For the BLUE recording I played my electric-bass guitar—petting and hitting it with a necklace and a screw driver, and feeding the signal through a distortion and a freezer pedal. I really like the physical interaction between the body, the instrument, and the moment, and when this viscerality and tactility is transferred into sound. For the recording of RED my only instrument was my Roland sampler—stuffed with excerpts of live recordings of various projects I am involved with—some of my solo shows, performances with The Elks (a quartet with Marta Zapparoli, Liz Allbee, and Kai Fagaschinski), a duo with Peter Rehberg, and one with drummer ddkern. I played these samples and fed them back into the machine, added effects, played it back, fed it back again. The sonic-feedback cloud grew and grew, until it unloaded itself as sonic rain and electric storms, then it grew some more. BLUE/RED was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Sperrmuecc Studios on July 22, 2017. It was a sunny afternoon, 30° C. Thanks to Dieter Kovacic for recording equipment and mastering. Radius Episode 80: Billy Roisz was guest curated by Elisabeth Zimmerman. Elisabeth Zimmermann is a cultural manager living in Vienna, Austria. She studied at the International Centre for Culture and Management (ICCM) in Salzburg and has been involved in organizing, coordinating, and curating radio art projects, symposia, CDs, publications, and international telematic art projects. She has held various presentations and lectures on radio-art projects at national and international festivals. Since 1998, she has been the producer of the weekly radio-art program Kunstradio – Radiokunst on the cultural channel of ORF (Austrian National radio). In 1999, she founded Werks—an arts association dedicated to the realization of artistic projects in telecommunications media. She is the vice-chair of the EBU’s EURORADIO Ars Acustica group.