...and kind reviews of nvp052 and 053

 

Big appreciation to Bauke van der Wal for his extremely kind words on the two new ballast releases in vital weekly.

 

He beautifully nailed the sound poetry angle I was exploring on Parry & Eliza: “If drones are made of layers with tones instead of notes, how would compositions sound if words were chosen instead of tones? … Do incoherent words together still form lyrics? Or maybe better: Do combined words always produce a text?”

Then for the dead edits release, karaoke power electronics, he dug into some solid parsing of what exactly constitutes power electronics, concluding with, “To sum things up: You're not only getting a CDR with an hour of sounds, you're also getting a 12" with it !!! It might be made of cardboard, but it's round. It doesn't have any grooves but well... I suspect then if (when?) you play it... The record might produce some great noise.”

(plot twist, eric and I think it does.)

ballast nvp 052 (dead edits) and nvp 053 (vertonen) now available

 

 ballast NVP052, dead edits: karaoke power electronics (CDR, 12” cardboard record)

some might say cut hands has the solution: we humbly submit that, no, dead edits has the solution.

dead edits: karaoke power electronics is exactly what it says: all of the extreme electronic music without the lyrics. not quite “harsh noise walls,” karaoke power electronics is designed to be a utilitarian release. for example: if you’re driving and some fellow driver does a particularly thoughtless gesture, instead of road rage, pop in this recording and create your own power electronics track with vocals dedicated to that person. or host a noise-themed karaoke party at your house. or use the tracks in a live performance.

“but can I play the cardboard record?”

why of course you can…it’s your turntable: you don’t have to say please!

all similarities between the visual elements of this release and certain germinal releases of other power electronics pioneers is 100% intentional.

edition of 25 numbered copies.
$19 US: overseas, get in touch!

ballast NVP053: vertonen: parry & eliza (CDR)

 

on the opposite shore of dead edits: karaoke power electronics sits this release. bereft of “music,” this is the culmination / termination point of the parry & eliza work I’ve trickled out over the past year or so.

a quick overview: it’s 1972, and we’re at the nascent stages of AI chatbots. two chatbots interact with one another over ARPANET to mimic a therapy session. i ran the resulting text through a text to speech program, assigned voices to each “participant,” and then went at it. think stefan weisser’s sound poetry experiments and you’ll be at home. headphones strongly recommended.

edition of 29 copies.

$10 US, overseas, get in touch!