new product! tj cuckoo sings yol: vox-object on hairdryer excommunication

February 17, 2014 at 9:54 am | Posted in new music, no audience underground | 2 Comments
Tags: drone, hairdryer excommunication, kevin sanders, midwich, new music, no audience underground, noise, shameless self-congratulation, text score, the barrel nut, tj cuckoo, yol

tj cuckoo – vox-object (3″ CD-r, hairdryer excommunication, edition of 15 or download)

Ladies and gentlemen, RFM is delighted to announce the second release by tj cuckoo –  vox-object – now available from hairdryer excommunication, the impeccable label run by Kevin Sanders.

Following the runaway success of too tired to eat, too hungry to sleep (the first tj cuckoo release, a C10 on Matching Head – literally some people were interested) I’ve decided to keep this alias for any non-midwichian noise emanating from these parts, especially that featuring and/or inspired by my baby son Thomas.

Tom does not feature this time but his pre-verbal jabbering, chuntering, shouting and bibbling inspired me to attempt a couple of things I’ve never done before.  Firstly: perform a score and secondly: use my voice in a recording.

The score is the third of three text pieces by Yol that I have published in The Barrel Nut, the RFM microzine.  Anyone unfamiliar with Yol’s work as artist or performer is missing something unique and I recommend clicking on the links below or the tag above and setting time aside to catch up.  Anyone unfamiliar with The Barrel Nut can click on the link to #5 below, or its page tab above, and get the skinny there – free treats for anyone interested in zines, graphics and the DIY aesthetic.  Anyway, this is the piece I’m referring to:

The more I looked at it and the more I heard Thomas chattering to himself, the more I fancied giving it a go.  Tracks one, two and four are performances of the ‘vox’ column.  The first is an intimate rendition having been woken in the middle of the night by the boy yelping in his sleep.  In the second I mimic his shuffling by kicking the dictaphone about as I record.  The final version is accompanied by a percussive rummage in the toy box.  The third track is an interpretation of the ‘object’ column.  Unlike Yol, I am far too timid to contemplate actually destroying something, so my conflagration (or not) is a 16 minute drone track built from heavily filtered domestic recordings.

Here’s Kev’s account:

vox-object features three tracks of pre-linguistic attempts at communication with a longer, more caustic track to boot. The guttural numbers are invariably more successful, communicatively speaking, then any hitherto fully formed words (or sentences), images or semaphore that have been used to communicate…er…erm… anything. Seriously. I have no ‘idea’, but a very deep understanding of why.

Fired in the kiln alongside the shorter throatings is a wonderous track featuring Hayler’s deft droning abilities. Detailed, grainy, dark drones crackle through thine ears until thee be burned out and ready to tackle one more explication of being. Prepare to have your skull seriously bent around this beast.

A mere fifteen copies exist on 3″ cdr with simple black and white photocopies of Yol’s score and the usual hXe stamps and typewritten accoutrement.

Cool, eh?  I’ll have a few for trade shortly, Kev is selling the remainder for a token, cost-covering amount.  Otherwise available to freely download from the hXe site (which is a very high quality resource that you should frequent frequently) alongside its sister release Clusters, clutter and other ephemera by the man Kevin himself.

Released, by the way, with Yol’s blessing – why not have a go at it yourself?

vox-object on the hairdryer excommunication blog

vox-object on the hairdryer excommunication Bandcamp site

Yol on YouTube

Yol on Bandcamp

The Barrel Nut #5