The Audiophiles » art

Clever audio element from Inception

nick — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:41:15 +0000

A nice musical detail from the film, Inception.

If you’ve seen the movie, you know that a grainy recording of Edith Piaf singing “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” is used as a cue for the dreamers. You also know that while dreaming, time slows down.

With that in mind, it turns out that the throbbing musical sting we hear throughout the movie is that original piece of music… slowed down.

Penn Jillette interview from BigThink

nick — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:00:11 +0000

A very interesting and candid interview with Penn Jillette. He talks about his philosophy toward performing magic, his working relationship with Teller and Penn’s unabashed mistrust of government and religion.

David Lynch Launches Interview Project

nick — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:28:38 +0000

Today was the first day of David Lynch’s Interview Project. Every three days over the next year, the site will feature a new interview with someone found by Lynch’s production team as it drives across the country.

The site has this to say about the project’s first entry:

Jess was our first interview. We found him sitting on the side of the road during the middle of the day. He told us he was waiting for his trailer to be repaired so that he could go live alone in the desert. Although hesitant at first, Jess agreed to spare a bit of his time and talk to us. His rugged delivery and appearance soon gave way to a gentle man who was just looking for some peace in his life.

Watch first episode

William S. Burroughs “Origin and Theory of the Tape Cut-Ups” animation

nick — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:01:35 +0000

When you cut into the present, the future leaks out.

Here’s a cool visual cut-up to go along with Burroughs’ “Origin and Theory of the Tape Cut-Ups.” In the recording, Burroughs explains the theory behind his method of rearranging text to make new meaning (or perhaps expose hidden meanings) out of the text. Burroughs finishes with an early example of audio cut-ups, produced by British artist Brion Gysin.

It’s cool to see artists from different eras interacting with each other and exploring the same concepts using vastly different technologies.

The most expensive music in the world

nick — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:55:58 +0000

German experimental composer Johannes Kreidler took data from plummeting stock values, death tolls in Iraq and other horribly depressing charts, plugged them into Microsoft’s song composition software, Songsmith, and came up with some oddly sanguine music.

enjoy your Friday.

Henry Miller Recalls NYC

nick — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:01:26 +0000

“Every bloody street I look down, I see nothing but misery, nothing but monsters.”

Everybody reacts to New York, but from the brief period that I lived there, I can’t say I have the same visceral response to the city as Henry Miller does. Of course, this is Henry Miller we’re talking about. And he sure is fun to listen to:
Warning: language NSFW

(go here for an additional, longer video of Miller pontificating in his bathroom.)

Charlie Rose interviews himself

nick — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:30:47 +0000

In a piece titled “‘Charlie Rose’ by Samuel Beckett,” filmmaker Andrew Filippone Jr. splices together footage from a single episode of the famous PBS program, replacing the interviewee with a second interviewer. The result is a wonderful bit of postmodern minimalism (hence the Beckett reference) that’s equally absurd and disturbing.

From the artist’s description:

Something has happened to PBS favorite “Charlie Rose.” The erudite conversations and sober intellectualism have been replaced by an absurd world where illogic, inane dialogues, and open hostility rule. The one-on-one interview between Charlie and his guest begins as usual but quickly goes awry, so much so that Charlie is warned that, somewhere, a man named “Steve” is “not happy.” Though this seemingly random statement might confuse us, Charlie understands it for what it is — a threat. But who is “Steve” and why is he angry? And why does the mere mention of his name stop Charlie cold?

Vienna Vegetable Orchestra

nick — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:50:51 +0000

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, founded in 1999, makes all their instruments out of — you guessed it — vegetables. The music they make is truly impressive, ranging from Jazz to Electronica to Dub, all played with hollowed out carrots, cucumberphones and leek violins.

Check out their website for photos of their instruments and audio samples.

Week in Review

nick — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:44:56 +0000

We all know about the largely reported stories this week: The GAO’s less than stellar assessment of the situation in Iraq, Nawaz Sharif’s impending return to ~~General~~ Mr. Musharraf’s Pakistan, and – gasp! – Burning Man’s premature burning. We even got nonstop obsession with Miss Teen South Carolina (who, by the way, is of course milking it for all she can).

But chances are you missed these stories: the first reporter is allowed inside the Terrorist Screening Center, dogs hunt down pirated DVDs, and graffiti for the blind.

More on:
NPR story on the Terrorist Screening Center here.
DVD-sniffing dogs here.
Braille Graffiti project (with video) here.

(audio clip from Dr. Strangelove)