Old arias, scratched symphonies, pop ballads, cut-up verses, disco beats, children's stories, and numerous other vocal and musical fragments, mixed and manipulated into a lyrical composition on multiple turntables and a 16-track tape recorder. Subliminal narratives flicker into existence only to dissolve instantly, then reform like micro worlds momentarily glimpsed and lost. "I want to trigger the mechanisms of memory," Marclay says, "to bring to the surface what has been deposited in our collective and personal memories. I don't want to impose a single reading but to involve each listener in the narrative process. The work is a reaction to the overflow of sound contributed daily by the media. In this saturated aural environment, I don't ask myself what more to add, but rather, what to do with it. " Commissioned by New American Radio.

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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