Tapes Of The Day
When Rutger Zuydervelt flew out to Israel for a couple of live performances last December he left his usual array of effects pedals at home, instead relying on a portable sound recorder and his destination's indigenous sonic environment for material. Tapes Of The Day distils a day each of field recording in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv into two lengthy concrète narratives - edited versions of the pieces Machinefabriek showcased at live performances in the two cities. In the liner notes Zuydervelt points out that he'd long since wanted a "field recording record" in his catalogue, citing Kim Hiorthoy's intriguing "For The Ladies" as his principal influence. Like the Hiorthoy work, Tapes Of The Day is a simple enough portrait everyday life as it happens, far-removed from the intensity and mastery of say, a Chris Watson album or the deep-focus revelations of a Toshiya Tsunoda or Eric La Casa piece. In these recordings there's a roughness (notice the buffeting sounds and the occasional dropout) and something faintly voyeuristic about the tone, with a heavy emphasis on human voices and street-side bustle. When albums based on field recordings are at their best they not only take the listener out of themselves - transporting them to some other location or scenario - they transfigure the very thing they're attempting to capture into something new. Take for example Chris Watson's hyper-real documentation of an Icelandic glacier on The Weather Report, or Toshiya Tsunoda's recordings of wind wafting mellifluously through railings on his Scenery Of Decalcomania album: while the former piece portrays something alien, exotic and utterly e
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When Rutger Zuydervelt flew out to Israel for a couple of live performances last December he left his usual array of effects pedals at home, instead relying on a portable sound recorder and his destination's indigenous sonic environment for material. Tapes Of The Day distils a day each of field recording in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv into two lengthy concrète narratives - edited versions of the pieces Machinefabriek showcased at live performances in the two cities. In the liner notes Zuydervelt points out that he'd long since wanted a "field recording record" in his catalogue, citing Kim Hiorthoy's intriguing "For The Ladies" as his principal influence. Like the Hiorthoy work, Tapes Of The Day is a simple enough portrait everyday life as it happens, far-removed from the intensity and mastery of say, a Chris Watson album or the deep-focus revelations of a Toshiya Tsunoda or Eric La Casa piece. In these recordings there's a roughness (notice the buffeting sounds and the occasional dropout) and something faintly voyeuristic about the tone, with a heavy emphasis on human voices and street-side bustle. When albums based on field recordings are at their best they not only take the listener out of themselves - transporting them to some other location or scenario - they transfigure the very thing they're attempting to capture into something new. Take for example Chris Watson's hyper-real documentation of an Icelandic glacier on The Weather Report, or Toshiya Tsunoda's recordings of wind wafting mellifluously through railings on his Scenery Of Decalcomania album: while the former piece portrays something alien, exotic and utterly e
When Rutger Zuydervelt flew out to Israel for a couple of live performances last December he left his usual array of effects pedals at home, instead relying on a portable sound recorder and his destination's indigenous sonic environment for material. Tapes Of The Day distils a day each of field recording in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv into two lengthy concrète narratives - edited versions of the pieces Machinefabriek showcased at live performances in the two cities. In the liner notes Zuydervelt points out that he'd long since wanted a "field recording record" in his catalogue, citing Kim Hiorthoy's intriguing "For The Ladies" as his principal influence. Like the Hiorthoy work, Tapes Of The Day is a simple enough portrait everyday life as it happens, far-removed from the intensity and mastery of say, a Chris Watson album or the deep-focus revelations of a Toshiya Tsunoda or Eric La Casa piece. In these recordings there's a roughness (notice the buffeting sounds and the occasional dropout) and something faintly voyeuristic about the tone, with a heavy emphasis on human voices and street-side bustle. When albums based on field recordings are at their best they not only take the listener out of themselves - transporting them to some other location or scenario - they transfigure the very thing they're attempting to capture into something new. Take for example Chris Watson's hyper-real documentation of an Icelandic glacier on The Weather Report, or Toshiya Tsunoda's recordings of wind wafting mellifluously through railings on his Scenery Of Decalcomania album: while the former piece portrays something alien, exotic and utterly e