Bishop Allen/ The Microphones/ Golden Boots And Paelo - Collaborations With A 1940s Webster-Chicago Wire Recorder

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5...according to our Mike on Thu 05 May, 2011.

This is a really fascinating record! Each of the artists on this split has recorded their track live onto a 1940's Webster Wire Recorder which, as the pretty artwork explains, were originally invented in the late 1800's and recorded sound to a hair-thin strand of stainless steel wire, as a predecessor to magnetic tape as a recording medium. "The wire is extremely fragile and fickle, and the machine itself adds certain audio elements to the recording; pitch shifts, bleed over from previous recordings on the reused wire, a clanking sound from the cylinders turning, tonal colorings and distortion, etc." Needless to say the focus of these recordings is the lo-fi method of capturing the sound, but it does have a beautiful ethereal quality to it. Shut yourself away from the world and put this on and you can pretend the last 70 years never happened. Happily enough, the calibre of the artists on here really helps lift it from being just a curio to a genuinely lovely record worthy of repeated listening. The Microphones track is reminiscent of Daniel Johnston's early tapes, and the Bishop Allen track is dead spooky. I like all these songs, and apparently there's different variations on the artwork but the one i'm reviewing is all letterpress printed and numbered on textured paper. Tasty.

A three way release between alt.vinyl and north american labels peopleinapositiontoknow and lost tapes (note we can only distro this title outside of the USA).

These songs were recorded live to a 1940’s Webster Wire Recorder. Wire recorders were originally invented in the late 1800’s and recorded sound to a hair-thin strand of stainless steel wire. This was the predecessor to magnetic tape as a recording medium. The wire is extremely fragile and fickle, and the machine itself adds certain audio elements to the recording; pitch shifts, bleed over from previous recordings on the reused wire, a clanking sound from the cylinders turning, tonal colorings and distortions, etc. These elements very much color and contribute to the recordings. Therefore, this record is considered a “collaboration” between the artists and this antiquated machine.

Side A: Microphones: I Lost My Wind (Phil Elverum: Recorded on a farm in Rochester, WA) & Golden Boots: Marie
(Dmitri Manos, Ryan Eggleston, Nathan Sabatino, and James Grip: Recorded in a living room in Olympia, WA)
Side B: Bishop Allen: Ghost (Justin Rice and Christian Rudder: Recorded in a venue basement in Seattle, WA) & Paleo: Jessica’s Wedding
(David Andrew Streckany: Recorded in a bedroom in Olympia, WA).

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