Wednesday, July 29, 2009

CARLES SANTOS-VOICETRACKS, LP, 1981, SPAIN




A multi-media artist with a wide remit, Santos' initial exposure within the music world was as a pianist and interpreter of the modern classical canon, but his incipient vocal antics (initially staged between piano pieces) would soon take on a life of their own and cement his reputation as both a master avant vocalist and a complete nutter. Unlike most who operate in this sphere, Santos moves easily between the distinct universes of both sound poetry and free improv vocals, sparring elsewhere with the likes of Shelley Hirsch, David Moss and Greetje Bijma. The work at hand though is both more formal and more idiosyncratic than his collaborative affairs; Santos' gibbering, spluttering glossolalian fits of absurdist vocal genius here being tightly choreographed and modulating through incremental stages in a way that both suggests the demented warbling trills and whisper-to-a-shout histrionics of Area vocalist Demetrio Stratos' solo albums and the repetitive and cellularly expanding vocal theatrics of San Francisco performance/multi-media artist Michael Peppe's Behaviormusik performances.  It's breathtaking and peerless work and it's also managed to reduce to fits of helpless laughter pretty much everyone I know (though usually in direct proportion to the amount of intoxicants ingested).

***************NEW LINK POSTED SEPTEMBER 2012***************

Get it here

5 comments:

fuzztunnel said...

oh man, I've been trying to get my hands on a copy of this for a loooong while---- THANKS!

Oozlum said...

Im at the beginning of this and just totally speechless! Thank you for such a sweet wrench and for some of other upon mentioned names.

Anonymous said...

Really Great Blog! Maybe you can help me! Iam looking for the first release of tor Lundvall called Passing Through alone. I read that is different from his other releases.thanks! really great blog!
greetings from Perú!
César augusto

Unknown said...

Flabbergasted. This has instantly rocketed to the top of my favorite vocal art/sound poetry recordings. Much appreciated!

Talvi said...

I've seen him live since he's from my hometown.