Talked to you on the phone the other day—WhatsApp voice call—and I noticed the dissecting and unsettling silence fading in between each spoken word, like someone holding the breath or stopping time. Or a tap closed between each filling of a glass. It was a clean, cleansed, silence; one purified by the dullness of calculation, of automation, of regulation and optimisation.
I remember the feeling of talking with friends via landline connection—it felt like a direct channel opened up between our ears and tongues, an airiness of circulation. I could hear the other person breathing and the slight static noise of electricity hardwiring us. Now I don't hear the other person's breath anymore—the algorithmic sound detection for controlling the threshold of the microphone transmission seems to not register breath as a signal deemed necessary for communication.
credits
released October 31, 2018
Artwork by Robin Brass, Mastering by Amar Halilovic
Fantastic, frenetic music from Uganda on the great Nyege Nyege Tapes, “Tatizo Pesa” rides a highwire between jungle, baile funk, and dance. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 6, 2019