82/21 vision
Jan 18, 2022, 01:39 PM
"The original recording contains a BBC World Service news report from 1982 concerning the Falklands War. The broadcast is indistinct – distorted, muffled and blended with strange clicks and interference noises. Listening to it triggered some childhood memories (also distorted, muffled and blended) which inspired my piece.
I tried to make something both playful and sinister, referring to the way real-world horrors trickle into childhood games and fantasies. My track is based on two ideas:
(1) The fictional soundtrack for the sort of videogame I would fantasise about when learning about wars.
(2) Mysterious voices and sounds which I attributed to spies, ghosts or extra-terrestrials when I first messed around with a radio.
As well as the obviously sampled/processed parts of the recording in my track, I used it to make several of the “synth” sounds by looping short sections in a sampler. I also fabricated a “strange voice over the radio” recording of my own and used a recording of electrical interference picked up by a little AM radio for another of the “synth” sounds. The remainder of the track is made up of processed synth, guitar and drums."
I tried to make something both playful and sinister, referring to the way real-world horrors trickle into childhood games and fantasies. My track is based on two ideas:
(1) The fictional soundtrack for the sort of videogame I would fantasise about when learning about wars.
(2) Mysterious voices and sounds which I attributed to spies, ghosts or extra-terrestrials when I first messed around with a radio.
As well as the obviously sampled/processed parts of the recording in my track, I used it to make several of the “synth” sounds by looping short sections in a sampler. I also fabricated a “strange voice over the radio” recording of my own and used a recording of electrical interference picked up by a little AM radio for another of the “synth” sounds. The remainder of the track is made up of processed synth, guitar and drums."
Composition by DJ James Naughty.
Part of the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio - find out more and see the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/shortwave