Daily Listen by Brian Brock

Tetsu Inoue - Waterloo Terminal

Compared to Fragment Dots and Psycho-Acoustic, the two Tzadik albums I’m more familiar with, Waterloo Terminal is like a field recording.

Imagine two computers, A and B.  Drop computer A down a flight of stairs. Now, imagine a microphone in the stairwell.  Split the signal of the microphone, record it into computer A, falling down a flight of stairs, and into computer B, safely stored on a cart without wheels at the top of the stairwell.

Now, here’s the important part.  Drop each computer, that’s right, both A and B, down the stairs. While they are falling, have them play the audio files from step 1.  Waterloo Terminal is what you hear from computer B, and the Tzadik albums are what you hear from computer A.

(blame Zach Parker for inspiring that description)

Saw Horse - Raised By Robots (track starts quiet/noisy)

I still like this album.  It’s a little episodic, and for that reason it works best knowing the story: a radio becomes sentient, and when it realizes it is trapped in a metal chassis it has words to say.  In that context, the episodes are like the radio flipping itself through the stations, falling back into the static, dropping in and out of the middle of different sounds.

This account did occur to me while I was making it, but not as a directive.  I have to admit, the process of making and putting together was dominant, and various stories arose as necessary.  But the stories work.

I’m really grateful to Emily Brock, Linda Kelen, and Lea Brock for sending me their thoughts about this album.

Many musicians say that they do or don’t listen to their own works.  I listen to mine, and not just narcissistically, and not just because I enjoy them.  Often, I can’t believe that they work, so I’ll see if I was justified in leaving them in whatever state.