Marcin Barski // Wanda's Dream LP

This is a record released in 2018 by experimental musician Marcin Barski from Krakow, Poland, on Reading Group, an experimental label based in New York, USA.

Contains 4 songs from spoken word to noise drone. DL code included. 

The following is a commentary by the writer himself.

"The 1980s were special. Microphones became commonplace in many homes. Audio recording was no longer a novelty; everyone could do it. The portable Walkman, the analogue answering machine, the tape player that was always equipped with a red button and a little hole to talk to in order to archive your voice - all these things were everywhere and everyone knew how to use them. The tapes were cheap, and many have survived to this day.

The theme of disappointment is a recurring theme in these tapes.The jammed Radio Free Europe broadcasts, the vulgar sexist cabaret that stopped being funny (if ever) years ago, and above all the new taxes, the difficulties of daily life, or the telephone system. There have also been stories of people having to wait hours on the phone before speaking to relatives overseas.

It is not uncommon for tape recordings of Father Popielszko's truth sermons to be disguised as modern talking cassettes with track lists handwritten on red and white inlay cards. In the illegal underground circuits of the 1980s, vision functioned as a mask for hearing.The Polish soundscape at that time was happening on an imaginative level.People were sharing tape recordings of things they had never seen, voices of people they had never met, and recordings of music that could not be experienced at a concert.Their sense of hearing shaped their yearning for sight.Hearing had the power to change a reality that was otherwise too gray.

The other day I found a box of tape recordings of phone conversations from 1982 to 1984.The man who was doing the recording was recording every phone conversation he had over the past few years.His wife was living in Vienna at the time, and she was sending him Western products to distribute to her friends in Warsaw.But he was also a romantic man.The title on the tape on the bottom of the box (handwritten in pencil) is ``Wanda's Dream, May 1982''.It's a quiet 5 minute recording of someone snoring.Has Jan ever heard his wife's breathing?I wonder if he fell asleep listening to this tape after both television channels had finished broadcasting in his gray communist apartment in Warsaw.Have you ever tried to imagine the sounds, smells, and looks of Wanda's bedroom in colorful capitalist Vienna?Once again, the disappointment is repeated.In a sense, Jan was living a polygamous life.Both are invisible, but which one is real? "

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Includes DL code. 12" black vinyl. 

Tracklist:

1. Wanda's Dream 11:49
2. Jammed by the Soviets 05:01
3. Sermons over Modern Talking 06:10
4. Conversation with Father 11:45

Artist statement / text excerpt by Marcin Barski:

"The 1980s were special. It was then when microphones became a natural common part of the equipment of many households. Audio recordings were no longer unusual: everyone could make them. Handheld walkmans with a dictaphone option, analogue answering machines, tape players always equipped with a red button and a tiny hole to which one should speak in order to have their voice archived – all of these were to be found pretty much everywhere and pretty much everyone knew how to use them. There was no philosophy behind it: tapes cost pennies. And many of them have survived to this day. (...)

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It is not uncommon to find tapes with Father Popieluszko's sermons about truth, disguised (perhaps to fool the militia?) As Modern Talking cassettes, with the tracklist handwritten on the red and white inlay card. In the illegal underground circuit of the 1980s, the Visual could function just as a cover-up for the audial. The Polish soundscape back then was very much happening on the level of the imagination. On tapes, people were sharing things they had never seen, the voices of people they had never met and recordings of music they could never experience live in a concert. The audial was shaping their longing for the visual. The audial had the power of changing a reality which otherwise was too much stuck in its grayness. (...)

The other day, I found a box of tapes with recordings of phone conversations from 1982-1984. The man who was recording them – Jan – documented every single talk he had over the phone throughout these years. His wife lived in Vienna at that time and was sending him Western goods that he distributed in Warsaw friends among friends. But he was also a romantic guy: the tape on the bottom of the box was titled (in handwriting in pencil) «Wanda's Dream, May 1982». It's a quiet, 8-minute long recording of someone's snoring. Did Jan ever listen back to his wife sleeping? Did he go to sleep in a gray communist Warsaw flat with this tape on after both TV channels had finished their broadcasts? Did he ever try to imagine the sounds, the smells and the looks of Wanda's bedroom in capitalist colorful Vienna? Again, disappointment is a recurring theme. In a way, Jan lived a polygamic life, with one wife behind many passport controls and another one on his tapes. Both invisible, but which one was more real?"

Artist: Marcin Barski

Label: Reading Group