field recordings of baja and mexico city | Tobias Bolt
Gr 043 | Gruen CD-R > [Sold Out]
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Phonography
The field recordings for this release were taken in various locations around Baja California and Mexico City using binaural microphones. They have been left unprocessed and although lack certain apparentness were not chosen arbitrarily. Varying from very concrete details to everyday situations, what they have in common is that most of the time some kind of ‘live music’ is present – either in involving musicians and instruments (linea 1, street trumpet) or just the inevitable radio playing in the background (red glass, a hole in the day). For me they reflect a very specific mood I encountered in diverse situations during the time spent in Mexico and this CD is also an attempt to recapture this spirit. On this account I clearly wanted to avoid some kind of blunt obviousness but on the other hand also tried not to get lost in details which, ripped out of their context, would be nothing more than mere sounds.
red glass (intro)
a hole in the day
linea 1
mercado
linea 2 (edit)
red glass
street trumpet
7 Tracks (16’54“)
CD-R (50 copies)
Review by Tobias Fischer | tokafi
[…] Music is everywhere
While "Recorded in Yemen" has a fluent and linear character to it, "Field Recordings of Baja and Mexico City" appears to depict a particular moment of the day from various angles. Tobias Bolt, who is at the heart of Austrian contemporary music journalism through his writings for Skug and his own online reviewzine Quiet Noise, has refused to tamper with his recordings and focussed on the inclusion of live music instead. "Linea 1" features Polka-like accordeon, which gradually fades into the sounds of the street and busses arriving and leaving, which in turn make way for the joyous marimba sprints of "Mercado".
Music is everywhere, Bolt seems to suggest, and the strength of his release lies in how he has managed to leave the field recording character of the performances intact and avoided awarding them a musical quality in their own right. The constant ebb and flow of captured conversations, the city’s machinery and various instruments, such as a solitary "street trumpet" turn this short work of a mere seventeen minutes into an intense and threedimensional trip. […]
thank you
flora / photos / artwork
lasse / mastering / support
Field Recording Series by Gruenrekorder
Gruenrekorder / Germany / 2007 / Gr 043 / LC 09488