Monday, April 20, 2009

ambient: Pauline Oliveros Deep Listening

"The Space Is Real"

Pauline Oliveros, known for her role in the post-war electronic music scene, specifically as a member of the San Francisco Music Tape Center in the '60s, is a true innovator. Long before acts like Stars of the Lid and Windy & Carl were making lush waves of manipulated sound, Oliveros was composing lavish instrumental drone pieces and revolutionizing the concept of "sound." While her long and prolific career would be near impossible to summarize in a single post, one of her most notable pieces, Deep Listening, a suite composed with Stuart Dumpster and Panaiotis, has been on heavy late-night, early-morning rotation in my bedroom. Deep Listening, which finds the trio of collaborators composing lush ambiance with "accordion, voice, conch shell, metal pieces, trombone, didjeridu, garden hose, whistling and metal pipes," was recorded "14 feet down into a 186 foot diameter cistern that once held over 2 million gallons of water." If you have even the slightest interest in sound-tracking your dreams, the mystical quality of deep-sea drone, or an affinity for sound-scapes, I HIGHLY recommend you find yourself a copy of Deep Listening.

Purchase Deep Listening

Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dumpster, Panaiotis- Suiren

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