Is not usual that in this very world we point out what we haven’t
liked. Just because of that I’m going to write about what I didn’t like
of this past year regarding field recordings production, composition,
etc,…
Mainly I have become very tired and bored of hearing thousands of
albums about, birds, insects, forests, jungle, exotic landscapes, seals
in the Antarctica and so on. It seems (and seen from the outside) that
we, phonographists are centered and working mainly in the natural world,
and even more: the natural world and the colonialist need for
discovering far away cultures and soundscapes. This reminds me of the
topics and desires of those European explorers of the 19th Century,
which now, in some fields of the arts, this is seen as something, lets
call it, “old fashioned”. But maybe, this allows for further development
and maybe that’s not the right place to do it.
Back to the main thing, I’m betting that if we make a survey we will
find that 90% of albums released this year are about the natural world,
and the rest albums about “something else”. Even more, I think there is a
general need for finding very pleasant sound ambiences, keeping the
thought that we need to preserve sounds threatened by oblivion or
progress. This includes the love for ancient sounds or the rural world
(here I include myself to do some self-criticism) and the eternal quest
for beauty. Of course anyone can do whatever they want but I have to
admit that there is a worrying lack of (for example) albums or
recordings about mundane, noisy ambiences, crowded city soundscapes,
supermarkets, shopping centers and, why not, a phonographic album about
trash culture. So the question is: why not?
In terms of composition I have also issues on the general pace of
field recordings composition is taking. I found myself everyday
listening to works based on linearity, works based on minimalism with
very few elements to sustain it. It is complicated to find works where
there are abrupt changes, wild turns and disturbing progressions. It
seems that field recordings follows the drone-ambient line of work with
composition.
Finally, one of the worst things I have encountered while listening
works based on field recordings is the love for very long works and
compositions. I have found myself many times feeling very tired when I
have to listen to 40-50 minutes of field recordings. Really, that seems a
banal thought but think it carefully, is not that silly. I love when I
found a 15 minutes field recording composition, maybe there is no need
for more, do we really need to be 45 minutes listening a distant bird or
insect? Maybe with a couple of minutes it’s just enough. And thinking
more in terms of the general public (apart from us, lovers of this kind
of things) there is a very wide range of listeners who won’t spend an
hour of their time listening to this kind of works. Instead, with
something shorter maybe you get the chance for people to get closer to
listen and to appreciate the beautiful world of field recordings. I
found myself many times saying the same: if you cannot tell a story in
20-30 minutes, don’t tell it at all.
Summing up, the worst album of the year is the longest with more
natural ambiences on it, find it and you’ll get it. The bright side of
all of this is that there is a lot to analyze, massive production and,
moreover a very good level and quality, maybe the bad news contain a
subjacent good news, and those might be the good health of a growing
scene.
A few examples of works based on field recordings that had surprised me quite a lot:
Transit Mundi – Carlos Suárez
Because Carlos Suárez has been able to create a very personal, rich
and complex world made of soundscapes, a thrilling album full of
tension, emotion, beauty and horror. A field recordings roller-coaster.
Música para Palimpsestos – Paco Rossique
Because its just a beautiful piece of work, conceived as a soundtrack
for Rossique’s own paintings exhibition in Canarias, because is has
been unjustifiably forgotten. Its not exclusively field recordings but I
found that this work by Rossique is an abstraction of a museum
soundscape, plane and simple.
Serendipity Effects – Regina Burbach
Because its a short work but very dense, barroque and full of strange
recordings mixed with signal processing. A very amusing piece that
keeps you in the loop wanting more.
I Misteri – Giovanni Lami
Because of shortness and because the album isn’t centered on natural sounds. Hurray!
Barcelona – Jan Kees-Helms
Because I love the capacity of Jan Kees-Helms to present a very wide
palette of very mundane sounds. Because it seems that he doesn’t need to
get to Alaska to find interesting sonorities.
