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R&D2
"...wonderful stuff..." Keith Cameron, XFM Radio, London
- CMJ (USA):
-
- Weird Record
of the Month, June 1998
-
- "If you love
the noise your refrigerator makes but you're bummed that it isn't
a lot louder, Disinformation's R&D2 (Ash International)
is the album for you. An extensive collection of 'radio frequency
atmospherics and interference', it kicks off with 13 minutes of
AC electrical noise modified through a pitch shifter, and that's
only the beginning of its complete abscence of rock. It's also
got hits including 'magnetospheric/nearspace doppler-shifted lightning
impulse reflections', a couple of tracks of broadcast noise, six
minutes of solar radio emissions (originally released as a 12"
single - we are not making this up), and the like. It can be oddly
soothing or deeply annoying, depending on your mood; for a fun
trick, turn it up really loud and walk around listening to the
overtones it makes at the back of your brain. Oh, and if that's
not enough for you, Disinformation also released a double-CD set
last year called Antiphony, with
various experimental-music types remixing their recordings." (Douglas
Wolk)
-
- Magic Feet
(UK):
-
- "More techno
than techno. Taking sound exploration to hitherto unchartered
waters, this second installment of radio frequency manipulations
marks another small brave step into what will increasingly be
demanded of 'music' in the 21st Century. Think about it...who
listens to 'songs' anymore? It's all about sounds now, more so
with each passing year. Also, with the tyrannical 4/4-kick drum
now slowly drawing past its sell-by date, the focus is on formlessness,
the more abstract and arrhythmical, the better. Which is where
this album comes in. Far from dictating the arrangement, Disinformation
herald the death of the musician's ego entirely by simply presenting
mildly manipulated, until now unheard of (literally), radio frequency
atmospherics and interference. So what does it sound like? To
these ears, fascinating, alien and new. Except it ain't alien,
it's very much of the Earth, being taken from TIG welding sets,
radio emissions from the sun, Royal Navy nuclear submarines, lightning
storms etc. It's the free-flowing, untouched by the hand of man,
transparent, undeniable, matter-of-fact nature of these sounds
that - pardon the pun - make this such a magnetic listen. We're
all visual voyeurs anyway, spying on other people's misery every
night on the news, so with this we become aural voyeurs, hearing
the sound of radio waves amplified into the human audible spectrum.
To give you a flavour of what to expect, opening track 9 (it's
a continuation of 'R&D', the first album, don't ya know?)
is called 'Live at the Museum of Installation'. It was composed
of "VLF harmonics of the 50 ELF fundamental radiated by alternating
current electricity, modified live using an upper/lower side-band
filter and Boss PS-2 digital pitch shifter." OK, got that? Its
13 minutes sounds absolutely bloody magnificent. Some people talk
of a wall of sound, others give you a wall of sound, quite literally.
To listen to the album in a full sitting is a little boring, but
pick any one track out, read the technical bumf that describes
it, kick back, dig, while Ol' Mother Nature does it to you in
your eardrum in a way you certainly won't have heard before. Maybe
your humble reviewer has disappeared so far up his own arse to
be rendered clinically insane, but doesn't the end of the last
sentence thrill you...? 'In a way you will certainly have not
heard before': guaranteed sound without precedent. So, as the
guy who coined the phrase 'Techno' to define this whole scene
called one of his tracks, there is only one way to approach describing
these sounds in words: it is what it is. At the start of the 20th
Century, a handful of mavericks such as Luigi Rossolo and his
Futurists, Thaddeus Cahill and Edgard Varese dreamed of making
real the exact sounds found on this disc. During the mid-20th,
Pierre Henry and Karlheinz Stockhausen edged ever-closer to the
realisation. Now we are at their final destination with this type
of recording and ready to embark on another journey of our own
into the dominance of this style, slowly but surely, within our
lifetimes. Music is dead, long live music!" (AMS)
VITAL (The Netherlands):
- "8 more tracks
from Joe Banks, which continue where the first R&D CD left
off (with Track 9, bacause the first CD ended with Track 8). In
many ways this is a more gentle collection of material, and all
tracks were recorded live from single sources of radio frequency
atmospherics and interferences. It starts and ends ruff with VLF
harmonics of the 50hz ELF frequency radiated by AC current electricity
- apparently a very difficult signal to escape from if you're
busy recording VLF sounds. This signal is generated by all things
electrical, most especially by power lines, so it's very difficult
to actually exclude them from VLF recordings unless you're prepared
to remove yourself far enough from civilisation and it's power
grids. It seems though that there are some isolated places within
our great urban environments where it is less apparent - try the
southwest corner of Richmond Park in London, for instance. Mr
Banks uses high and low side band filters to modify the recordings
in these two tracks, and additionally bungs the opening piece
through a pitch shifter. The second track is a perverted, yet
gentle piece for five performers: Joe (VLF band radio noise),
Rob (on TIG welding), John (lathe) and additional ambient field
disturbances by Network South East and Eurostar. It's like a moment
of static, frozen in time. This is followed by what could almost
be the sound of a dentist's drill when it hits the edge of a broken
tooth. There are also two tracks on this release which appeared
previously on (now deleted) vinyl, 'Stargate' and 'National Grid'.
I really like the piece entitled 'Theophany vs. National Grid'
which sounds like something very compacted cracking very slowly
- but is really High Frequency AC noise with intermittent lightning
strikes. Lightning strikes create electromagnetic impulses which
can be picked up by receivers thousands of miles away. Apparently
there are about 2000 storms worldwide each day and the earth is
struck 100 times a second when lightning strikes. This is what
creates the flashing effect. Lightning strikes emit radio pulses
in the lowest end of the radio spectrum, which travel great distances,
following the surface of the earth as ground waves. What sounds
like waves of static in this piece are really sounds produced
by clusters of individual bolts of lightning. Ghost Shells Part
2 (Part 1 was released on a mini-LP Ash 2.7, probably also deleted)
is a blend of pings, drips and whistles created, once again, by
lightning strikes, but this time blended with Royal Navy data
communications with nuclear submarines. For those of you who wish
to find out more about these radio phenomena, I suggest you contact
Mr Banks (via the label, I guess as there's no other address given)
or else get yourself a copy of the excellent double CD released
by Irdial several months ago titled 'Electric Enigma: The VLF
Recordings of Stephen P. McGreevy'. Listening to the R&D2
CD inspired me to re-read the extensive notes included in this
Irdial release, and despite the fact that all sources are listed
on this ASH CD, I do wish there wasmore comprehensive information
included with it. Perhaps Mr Banks is planning to incorporate
some extensive text in a forthcoming release?" (MP)
-
- Last Sigh
(Belgium):
-
- "R&D2
is the second installment in a series of works by Disinformation,
dedicated to documenting the aural manifestations of electrical
and magnetic phenomena. The CD thus features a total of sixty
minutes of what may be termed "pure" ambience -- recordings of
"data noise," "solar radio emissions," natural and artificial
"lightning strikes" and various "field disturbances." There are
of course numerous musicians who use noise as the source for their
musical creations, however, this work by Disinformation is an
animal of an entirely different kind. The tracks on R&D2 feature
the source sounds unmanipulated; the art here does not lie in
creating some kind of ordered compositions out of the seeming
"chaos" of noise. Disinformation's achievement is the recording
of these phenomena of sound in themselves, and the pleasure of
listening to the results derives from the recognition of the integrity
of the recordings. The endeavor of capturing these obscure sound
emissions may appear eccentric, but the experience of listening
to R&D2 presents a thrill not unlike that of looking into
a microscope or telescope for the first time. These recordings
reveal facets of our world that are unfamiliar, although the sources
of the recordings are almost mundanely familiar. As such, Disinformation's
work is not music by any common definition, rather their CD is
to "music," what documentary films are to movies. And yet, the
various vibrating, soaring, humming, crackling, pulsating, gyrating
and rumbling "noises" presented here, are not noisy in an irritant
manner. The majority of the recordings are in fact rather subtle
and subdued, and, if anything, the streaming nature of most of
the sounds have soothing qualities. Disinformation was aided in
their aspirations to create this album of radio scientific documentation,
by such institutions as the Royal Navy, Eurostar, Oubliette, Netwerk
South East, and the Central Electricity Generating Board; the
finished work has been released by Ash International. "
Under the Volcano
(USA):
"Ash, the notoriously
uncompromising UK label, has issued what may be their last release,
as indicated by the abbreviation, RIP, which appears at the top
of the accompanying press sheet. This would be a pity, since Ash
is one of the very few labels left that makes absolutely no attempt
to enter the mainstream. Like much of the work they have issued,
the new Disinformation CD will appeal only to those interested in
the most obscure realms of experimental music. R&D2 is
indeed a fascinating work, built solely upon processed geomagnetic
and atmospheric-electrical recordings. The sounds of electrical
storms, lightning, and all manner of electrical and radio interference
patterns have been looped, processed and reassembled within these
11 pieces, creating a body of work of considerable ambience. Pieces
move from grinding electronic din to barely audible soundtext and
short circuited field recordings. R&D2 is recommended
to listeners of Hafler Trio, Aube, Gunter and other extremely experimental
electro-acoustic sound painters." (CD) B+
The Sound Projector
(UK):
"Beautiful,
majestic. A near-definitive statement from this unique documentary
recordist and sound artist. This collection of further Research
and Development investigations comprises 'Space Physics, Atmospheric
Electricity and Geomagnetism', and I guarantee your whole being
will be given such a shaking that your soul will vibrate back into
tune with your lost cosmic brother...you will find (particularly
on the recordings of the National Grid or solar emissions, for example)
that you are hearing something bigger than you are, a massively
scaled thing that will crowd you out of your house. It's something
so apart from everyday experience, and yet in such a different league
to any contrived 'Cosmic' music that a thousand space-cadet festival
Gong fans would be crushed to death by it. The intentions of Joe
Banks are quite removed from any of that, almost nothing to do with
making music.
The somewhat
self-effacing Banks once laughingly said that if anyone went and
bought the same powerful radio equipment he had, they could produce
the same effects easily. Perhaps it's just the extreme amplification
that makes it seem like a gigantic form of feedback music to some
people. Banks feels his methods are quite transparent, and lists
(with meticulous precision and detail) all the sound sources and
the equipment he used to monitor them; in the same way, Ordnance
survey map references are given for the sites of antiquated military
research that he visits. Only on track 16, 'National Grid' can I
detect any evidence of a gestural intervention from the artist,
as he modifies the sound 'live' using an upper and lower slide-band
morse code filter. I'm persuaded that this is more than just achieving
An effect. It's arguable that most of the other recordings are simply
documents, without intervention. But - breathtakingly - what an
astounding scale everything is conceived on. A piece can
include an unwitting 'collaboration' from passing trains (identified
with the usual precision as Network South East or Eurostar vehicles),
or the Royal Navy sending out signals to nuclear submarines; their
interventions vary the noise signals and 'contribute' to the piece.
The United Kingdom can thus be seen as a large network of mundane
and functional activities, all unco-ordinated and unrelated to each
other, until Bank intercepts the electric signals they happen to
generate and captures them in his Disinformation net. This is (I
would claim) more than simply serendipity, but an artistic intervention
with a near-invisible aspect of the environment on a large scale,
generating formidably powerful artworks. If anyone comes close,
it might just be Christo with his Running Fence or wrapping projects.
Banks has an
interesting tale of artist-engravers being employed during the Second
World War to forge bank notes, in a bid by one side to unsettle
the other's economy. In wartime, governments will invest heavily
in scientific ideas if they might lead to victory. The situation
can generate interesting side developments in all fields; the internet
is the most obvious example, conceived as a communications network
that would still be in place in the event of nuclear war. A slightly
more prosaic example is the development of avant-garde cinema in
America. The US Army had invested heavily in 16mm film-making (to
make training films, and documentaries); after VJ Day, surplus equipment
and stock then became available to civilians at a very affordable
price. Hence, Jordan Belson, Kenneth Anger, Harry Smith, Maya Deren,
Bruce Baillie et al could afford equipment, and the beginnings of
an artist's cinema were made possible. In my mind I connect these
things with some of Disinformation's sphere of interest - the way
that new (artistic) things can spring from something dedicated to
a totally unrelated application. In short, Banks can make music
from the dying embers of the Cold War - and thankfully refusing
the foolish, speculative paranoia detectable in the Irdial-Discs
set of Numbers Stations Recordings. Ruins of the sound mirrors are
pictured on the sleeve of this CD, stills from the strangely moving
Antiphony Video Supplement; these are remains of the RAF Air Defence
experimental acoustic early-warning system."
The Wire (UK):
"R&D2
sounds like Panasonic or Ryoji Ikeda, but these eight tracks are
recorded live from interference on radio frequencies - the dynamo
hum of the 13 minute opener stems from "VLF harmonics of the 50Hz
ELF fundamental radiated by alternating current electricity, modified
live using an upper/lower sideband filter and Boss PS-2 digital
pitch shifter". Other numbers track rogue frequencies inflected
by electrical storms or Network South East, from barely-intrusive
lo-fi prickles and, on "Data Storm 2", a luridly grating unidentified
signal, to the cyber roar of the "Type 2 HP solar radio emission".
Large scale events captured as chirruping micro-sonics." (Matt ffyche)
Art Zero
(France):
- "Du bruit
blanc des chaotations planetaires, Disinformation garde l'anecdotique
et en restitue son coda. Traquant de maniere quasi-paranoïaque
et obsessionnelle le son naturel, enregistrant "live" les interferences
captees au hasard des quanta et des flux musicaux, l'ambient-bruitisme
de Disinformation tient tout autant de la production technoscientifique
que du desir musical. Cendres d'une societe interfacee, residus
impalpables d'un recyclage sonore imparfait, la musique ne revele
pas tant l'invisible que l'information au sens brut du terme.
Faisant emerger des instantanes sonores le plus souvent tires
d'interzones geographiques (vieux bunkers delaisses, plages terminales,
centrales nucleaires abandonnees, appareils electriques au stade
de developpement depuis des annees), Disinformation offre une
vision tres proche du romancier J.G. Ballard (c'est-a-dire tout
a la fois romantique et desesperee) d'une societe qui tente sans
succes d'enfouir et d'oublier ses "freaks" technologiques." Jerome
Schmidt
-
- Side-Line
(Belgium):
-
- DISINFORMATION
R&D2: Space Physics, Atmospheric Electricity, Geomagnetism
-
- "Radio frequency
atmospherics recorded live. I suppose it takes a certain mindset
to enjoy this type of sound audiocumentary cataloging and manipulation
of static, to even hear the musicality of such a recording. Or
maybe it just triggers some kind of response (positive or negative,
depending on the individual) because sound, the tones within the
static when it is manipulated properly (if at all), kick starts
some rarely exercised portion of the brain. (For example, the
music of Mozart can supposedly trigger intellectual growth in
children.) (There must be a covert, government-sanctioned laboratory
that is running static inspired tests on rats as I write this...)
Anyways, to the disc at hand, R&D2 is, apparently, the second
volume of these type of itchy, sizzling circuitry recordings.
Some of the tones are brittle and annoying (tracks 2 and 3 in
particular) and especially tweaked my eardrums: nauseau swelled,
but I was fascinated and persisted to listen because, as noted
above, sound can alter the mind (oh, great! So Disinformation
are brainwashing those with open minds to...buy their CDs?). The
first track on the CD, „R&D Track 9,‰ is pure bliss
for the staticologists (!), pulsing, subtly shifting as the distortion
increases, unknown elements layered into the mix; about halfway
in, the sonic emphasis shifts from static to throb, kinetic and
squishy--it is the bloodstream of the airwaves; these sounds are
the result of "VLF harmonics of the 50Hz Elf fundemental radiated..."
--no, I don't have any idea what they are talking about, I only
know that I like it. "R&D Track13" is poisonous thunderclouds
ripping the sky a new excrement passageway; as the sky fills with
darkness, all sound is sucked into a vortex vacuum; this is all
the result of solar radio emmisions. Quite a bit of variety leaves
the door open for at least one of the tracks to sink its hooks
into almost any willing listener..." (JC Smith)
-
- ND (USA):
-
- Their previous
release, "R&D", somehow evaded review in our last issue, so
I'll take this opportunity to recommend that release as the preferable
starting point to those interested in exploring J. Banks' rich
portfolio of electrotextures. Like the former release, "R&D2"
is a sampling of sound phenomena from the pervasive ether of our
electromagnetic atmosphere as received by highly sensitive radio
equipment. My favourite of these tracks are the more crisp and
crackly, though more transporting are the other moments of distant
ambiance. The selections reflect no shift in the tastes of their
creator/discoverer from what was reflected by the first release.
I could tolerate an "R&D3" before losing interest. (JF)
R&D
& Ghost Shells
Immerse (UK):
"A pure experimental release by Joe Banks' Disinformation project.
When you realise just what sound sources have been utilised for
this project, the fact that its 'difficult' listening doesn't matter.
This is the noise of the world doing it's own thing. mFr"
Wired (UK):
"WHALES ARE
FOR WHIMPS - Of all possible sub-genres, "Hardcore Ambient" sits
right alongside "Christian DeathMetal" as one of the most unlikely.
Still, this is the best way of describing the uncompromising R&D
by Disinformation. Forget your seals and your pygmy chanting - this
is ambient for real men, a voyage of discovery to the radio spectrum's
lowest reaches. Eight tracks parade the strange inhabitants of this
world before your ears. Delicate natural phenomena (Magnetic lightning,
leaf statics and sky-wave atmospherics - this is what particle physics
sounds like) couterpoint man-made curios: broadcast data, time codes
and a Numbers Station. All are presented in a bracingly direct fashion
(no effete drum loops) and come with exhaustive technical details
and a bibliography. Too often, ambient musicians invoke John Cage's
"environmental music" aesthetic to hide a lack of worthwhile ideas;
it makes a pleasant change to see Disinformation give it a new spin
via a gene splice with early Stockhausen. After a session in the
analogue hot tub, you'll ned a cold digital shower." (James Doheny)
Vital (The Netherlands):
This is the
third time Joe Banks AKA Disinformation has appeared on an Ash release.
First up was Ghost Shells a mini-LP issued with dire warnings regarding
the safety of your speakers which was followed by a track on The
Fault In The Nothing, the latest Ash compilation reviewed in this
bulletin Issue # 34. Joe dabbles in the nether regions of the radio
spectrum, recording sounds which float in through this particular
acoustic window. The liner notes, though brief, are beautiful, and
they read like a surrealist poem...' storms crackle: biostatics
whisper, hiss and sigh: televisions scream: pylons and power loops
drone and roar: military signals, the musical pulses of navigation
systems, timecodes and the coded data broadcast deep beneath the
sea...' The sound structures on the CD buzz and hum with the suggestion
of information...the compositions are mostly brittle structures
comprised of a few layers. The colors of the sounds are sharp, angular
and, on occasion, quite disturbing. R&D Track 6 sounds like
a sophisticated piece of gardening equipment now in control of it's
own destiny cleaning up in a toddlers playground ( or is it just
my imagination ? ). My favorites are Track 1, which includes grass
insect and leaf static's amongst it sound sources (all sources are
listed and they read like the ingredients of an alchemical formula
from a future world). Track 8 is great too; perhaps this is because
of the inclusion of an unidentified harmonic motif recorded from
a HF broadcast . A compelling release.
On (UK):
"Art CDs that reveal the invisible and leave you wondering if your
CD player is broken. R&D is a collection of unusual electromagnetic
activity - insect, leaf, earth and sky statics, radio navigation
broadcasts, subaquatic coded data, pulsed and continuous very low
frequency (VLF) data. No way of proving this, you'll just have to
believe the sleevenotes. Sometimes barely audible, sometimes quite
unpleasant and occasionally uncannily 'musical', this will cause
miscarriages amongst neighbours and stop birds nesting in your gutters.
Suggested reading in the sleevenotes is Modern Radio Science 1993
and Jane's Military Communications 1989."
Magic Feet (UK):
"Upping the ante further still, Disinformation's third album for
Ash sees them scaling new heights of clinical detachment. Forget
Speed Metal, forget Gabba House [I already have, mate - Ed],
this is by far the most anti-social noise in the world, which is
the supremist irony because none of us can hear it in everyday life.
And yet it's around us constantly; the ubiquitous, inaudible sound
of radio and communications signals pulsing across the globe in
nano-seconds. Inaudible, that is, until it's captured on, for example,
track 2, a 'Pulsed VLF Broadcast Data. Lafayette HA800, Datong VLF
convertor&100 Random Antenna' and fed through your CD and ampifier
to create an unholy wall of noise that would scare warts off Lemmy's
chin. Undeniably academic, but also fascinating if your mind is
open far enough."
New Powers (Canada):
"While the heritage of industrial music is increasingly tied in
with rhythm programming and metal riffs, underground experimenters
continue to seek out new sounds free from popular forms or notions
of beauty. But in the case of the discoveries of England's Joe Banks
what could be more beautiful than the secret sounds of nature? R&D
is a remarkable piece of noise music made from those hidden radio
frequencies where the whispers of atmospheric electrical activity
and the crashes of static are heard. Add to nature's silent (to
us) cry the strange world of exotic radio frequencies and you're
in a brave new sound world of acronyms like SEPAC (Space Experiments
With Particle Accelerators, 50 Hz ELF>7 kHz ELF) and INSPIRE
(Interactive NASA Space Physics Ionosphere Radio Experiments, 3>15
kHz VLF). What's up in the MIR space station? What's shaking with
the Ground Wave Emergency Network? Joe Banks listens into the coded
chatter of submarine communications and doppler-shifted military
radio navigation channels. With specialized 100' antennas, low frequency
receivers and signal converters Disinformation blinds you with science
before knocking you out with sound. You've heard of new wave and
darkwave, are you ready for "long wave"?"
Exclaim (Canada):
"While the heritage of industrial music is increasingly tied in
with the rhythm programming and metal riffs, underground experimenters
continue to seek out new sounds free from popular forms of notions
of beauty. But in the case of the discoveries of England's Joe Banks
what could be more beautiful than the secret sounds of nature? R&D
is a remarkable piece of noise music made from those hidden radio
frequencies where the whispers of atmospheric electrical activity
and the crashes of static are heard. Add to nature's silent (to
us) cry the strange world of exotic radio frequencies and you're
in a brave new sound of acronyms like SEPAC (Space Experiments with
Particle Accelerators, 50 Hz ELF >7 kHz ELF) and INSPIRE (Interactive
NASA Space Physics Ionosphere Radio Experiments, 3>15 kHz VLF).
Wanna know what's up in the MIR space station? Who's down with the
Ground Wave Emergency Network? Joe Banks outflanks Scanner and listens
into the coded chatter of submarine communications and doppler-shifted
military radio navigation channels. With specialized 100 foot antennas,
low frequency receivers and signal converters, Disinformation blinds
you with science before knocking you out with sound. You've heard
of new wave and darkwave, are you ready for 'long wave'?" (Chris
Twomey)
EST (UK):
"Had enough of music? Heard too much John Cage or Bernhard Gunter
and ready to go further out? OK, it's time for Disinformation. Guaranteed
100% music-free, in fact. Instead, on R&D you geteight
tracks of radio recordings, scanning the very low frequency spectrum.
One minute you'll be listening to minute pops and crackles, later
the sort of highly rhythmic white noise that would make a fine early
industrial backing track. As this record amply demonstrates, there's
some pretty strange stuff out there on the parts of the radio spectrum
far from where we normally tune to. Whether it's background atmospherics,
an electrical storm, or a military broadcast, it's difficult to
tell, but some of the sounds documented here are absolutely incredible.
Some even make you wonder why Merzbow and co bother. The final extract
(listed as "Unidentified HF broadcast") will have you wondering
whether there's a hoax element involved, as what sounds like a bizarre
musical box gives way to what mike just sound like alien beings
chanting "6 6 6" repeatedly. At least, it did to me. It certainly
becomes easy to understand why so many radio pioneers thought they
could use the technology to communicate with the spirit world....Ghost
Shells is even less musical, the first side consisting entirely
of pops, crackles and nearly inaudible high-frequency squeaks. The
second (Data Storm) could be atmospheric white noise, or
a computer data tape, both having similar sound characteristics
in any event. Noise fans should love it. Ash International suggests
the album is an "experimental wild-life recording", but I prefer
to believe that radio hams are being hoaxed by a secret satellite
broadcasting station loaded up with endless loops of Aube and Bernhard
Gunter albums."
US netzine:
DISINFORMATION
R&D (Ash
International 2.9CD)
Ghost Shells
(Ash International 2.7 12")
"Joe Banks is
an experimental musician with a most unusual orchestra at his disposal.
He conducts the sounds which exist around us in a microsonic nature,
statics and energies both natural and man-made. Banks taps into
the ultrasonic transmissions of satellites, antennae, plants and
insects, field probes, and such celestial phenomenon as lightning,
solar winds, and the refractive properties of the magnetosphere
and provides audio snapshots of a very noisyworld. If our definition
of silence amounts to the absence of conversation, Banks reveals
that we couldn't be further from the truth. Turn up the 'hidden
frequencies' - amplify the LORAN-C VLF (the Very Low Freqency radio
band; <30kHz) broadcasts and AC harmonics - and you'll hear the
incredibly abrasive sounds of the universal machinery. Invisible
gears grind with industrialferocity (try track 3 of _R&D_),
soundfields in flux crackle with pent-up energy, lost broadcasts
dance in fathomless space. That 'silence' we hear describes a music
and mathematics of the most extraordinary design. The resonating
hum of the digeridoo and bullroarer ... the percussive sustain of
a piano ... the bowed-harmonics of a violin ... the hollow thunderings
of the tympani and the tamboura - the Universe has encrypted all
of the blueprints and stored them within the fabrics of Life, metal,
and the air itself. Banks shows that texture and rhythm predominate
within the seemingly chaotic rumble and drone. This secret tonal
complexity suggests that humanmusic is merely a subconscious reaction,
as natural a process as the wind or the birth of new worlds. The
contradictory nature of silence is examined again on _Ghost Shells_.
Banks dedicates this 12" mini-LP to the research of Heinrich Georg
Barkhausen, a physicist whose wartime experiments with signal interception
led to a greater understanding of electrical/atmospheric acoustics.
The detection of 'ghost shells', anomalous signals interpreted as
the "discharges of spectral artillery... across the warring skies
of Europe," was originally blamed on mechanical glitches. But these
phantom bursts actually result from a natural phenomena - the refraction
and transmission of electrical signals through space by lightning!
The same effect which produces bursts of static on TV and radio
during storms channels radio signals through the atmosphere. They
frequently emerge "close to the geosynchronous point in the opposite
global hemisphere." Side-A of Banks's "Ghost Shells" investigations
examines the effect by amplifying the VLF and tracing the paths
of dispersed sound over five minutes. A steady high-pitched - almost
undetectible - whistling is broken up by burps of interference.
The surprisingly riveting study, recorded at Lewes Prison and severely
limited by the constraints of recording extreme frequncies to vinyl,
is virtually inaudible at a low volume. But be sure to turn the
knob (or digital control) waaaaaay down for the B-side. "Data Storm
[parts i,ii,iii,iv,v]" is an overwhelming assault as high-tension
static tears through an indescribable wall of sound. Intense, bracing,
and revelatory, this twelve-minute stretch is one of Banks's most
accessible and effective 'pieces'. Once you've been caught in Disinformation's
data-storm, the conventional Japanese and Industrial expressions
of the 'harsh' frequencies sound almost laughable. "
Antiphony
Immerse
Channel 4's
Electric Skies, a documentary about lightning, provided the initial
impetus for the research behind what is rapidly becoming one of
the more pertinent contributions to electronic experimental music.
This genre is littered with pseudo-scientific, sometimes falsified
'research' claims which, although entertaining, may ultimately obscure
rather than enlighten the enquiring mind. Joe formulated a task
- to transform a 'conceptual provocation' into a valid body of material
substantiated by research and documentation. I met Joe at his South
London home where he further enlightened me. "I've got nothing against
this kind of music per se, if someone is inspired by a scientific
discovery and follows it through by composing a piece of music,
not least because I've done itmyself, and I'll probably do it again.
On the other hand there can be a thin line between being inspired
by some revelatory information, and deliberately falsifying a claim
solely in order to market a piece of music. It's clear from some
responses I've had that experience has conditioned a lot of experimental
music fans to be very sceptical and cautious about accepting any
technical claims at face value."
The initial
recordings by Disinformation were captured using rudimentary equipment
- radios set to record at otherwise 'quiet' frequencies during the
thunderstorms of late 1995 - tapes which were excerpted on the Ash
International compilation A Fault In The Nothing. Extensive reading
and correspondence brought to light Joe Carr's superb Radio Science
Observer articles in Shortwave Magazine; the American space physics
club INSPIRE (Interactive NASA Space Physics Ionosphere Radio Experiments),
who organise experimental broadcasts from the Space Shuttle and
the Russian space station MIR; through INSPIRE literature, the pioneering
studies of George Barkhausen, Robert Helliwell, and Mike Mideke;
the theoretical work of Winfried Schumann; and the solar radio studies
by Nell Cory, Dennis Heightman and James Hay. Having made little
progress with a scanner bought from Tandy, INSPIRE sold him a natural
radio receiver kit - optimised for the electric field of the VLF
(very low frequency) radio band where lighting impulses release
their maximum energy, now superseded by the purchase of a Low Frequency
Engineering magnetic field rig. Another contact from Shortwave Magazine
recommended a Datong VLF converter; and Ash International loaned
an old Lafayette shortwave radio to attach it to. Joe has the aura
of a slightly eccentric professor, but he is animated with enthusiasm
and rifles through a pile of recordings searching for examples of
his catches. Later he produces a small black box and a square framed
'Heath Robinson' construction that I learn is an antenna - I'm suddenly
immersed in a rich tonal drone which Joe informs me is the sound
of the radio signal emitted by the National Grid, the UK's most
reliable and powerful source of emissions, (this formed the basis
of his live performance at Disobey in October 1996, repeated at
the Royal College Of Art in December). Joe has a wealth of recorded
material, released and unreleased, which demonstrate phenomena on
various wavebands. "Some of the most scientifically interesting
phenomena are signals which emerge when the ionosphere - which refracts
low frequency radio waves back towards the earth - is broken apart
by meteor showers, space launches travelling through it, solar-magnetic
storms and nuclear explosions. This allows electric shock waves
from lightning strikes to escape the atmosphere; they lock onto
the earth's magnetic field lines which form donut-shaped loops through
space, and travel along them out of the atmosphere, and then back
in again to arrive at a parallel longitudinal point. The high frequencies
arrive first, and on the radio you hear the low frequencies catching
them up." Joe's knowledge seems to be pretty good, he's surprisingly
unpretentious and has actively demystified his modus operandi -
he has produced papers, graphics and now a website which document
the results from what has been an intense period of research (http://www.touch.demon.co.uk/disin.html).
I ask him what sort of response he is getting from his audience.
"Usually shock, then disbelief, followed by enthusiasm. I've had
a lot of positive feedback from doing National Grid at Disobey.
The show exceeded my expectations considerably - some of the audience
were pretty traumatised. I've had quite a few offers of live work,
unfortunately most of them, if they come through, aren't until early
1997." The sound of Disinformation, for the benefit of the neophyte,
consists mostly of granular textures, interspersed with crackling
pits and troughs of activity which can be attributed to any number
of the phenomena mentioned. This is not easy listening by any stretch
of the imagination, but the sincerity and integrity of the material
makes this a fascinating excursion into unfamiliar waters, as well
as being something of a milestone for conceptual art. Joe is emphatic
that, despite the technical emphasis, Disinformation, is first and
foremost a creative project. "There is research - in terms of correspondence
with people and reading books, papers etc - but no original scientific
work at all. It is very unlikely that I will ever stumble upon anything
previously unknown to science. The whole thing was originally conceived
as a gallery art project, not music. Since the early days it's acquired
a life of its own." The content differs from conventional radio
science in that Joe is delighted to commit what would be seen as
heresies by natural radio enthusiasts: not only interference considered
as broadcast, but man-made radio signals considered as wildlife
recordings. The track National Grid - derived from a phenomenon
which is despised by scientists for masking geophysical phenomena
- introduced an element of conventional music composition. "Powerlines
produce emissions at their resonant frequency of 50Hz, the G-string
3 octaves below middle C is 49Hz, so this is very nearly a note
on the diatonic scale. I use the morse code filter on the Lafayette
to pitch shift the fundamental and produce harmonics, introduce
interference patterns or infrasonic sub-beats. The attenuation and
gain buttons distort the sounds and control the timbre. When you're
doing it through a rock band PA it feels like you're in a cave during
an earthquake, so doing everything slowly enough to make it sound
organic is quite an effort of concentration. Studio engineers spend
their entire lives trying to get rid of this signal, so far as I
know the last time anyone's inverted normal recording practice like
this was when Link Wray inverted The Rumble way back in 1958." Joe
has just released a compilation album, scheduled for release by
Ash International. Antiphony features reworked Disinformation recordings
by the likes of Bruce Gilbert, Atom Heart, Chris And Cosey, Vicki
Bennett, John Duncan and Ralf Wehowsky. Judging from the roster
of artists and the tantalisinglyobscure artwork this promises to
be an exceptional release, and perhaps the beginning of a new phase
for Disinformation.
B G Nichols
with technical
input from Joe Banks
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