Aki Onda // Transmissions From The Radio Midnight LP

This is a record released by experimental musician Aki Onda from Ibaraki on Dinzu Artefacts, an experimental label in LA, USA, in September 2023.

While traveling to 10 countries around the worldThis is a radio collage piece created using only a cassette recorder with an AM/FM radio. DL code included. 

The following is a commentary by the writer himself.

"This project, entitled Transmissions From The Radio Midnight, began around 2006 when I acquired a Sony TCM F59, which had an integrated AM/FM radio and cassette recorder. Since then, whenever I travel I threw it in my suitcase and carried it with me.No matter which country I went to, when I returned to my hotel room, I had the habit of listening to the radio until late at night.As soon as I crawled into bed, I started tuning the radio and tuned it to my favorite tune. I looked for a program.

By concentrating on the fingers operating the knobs, I was sometimes able to pick up two or three frequencies at the same time and hear the overlap of different languages.Otherwise, I scanned the frequencies and bounced around the show to listen to the overlap of different languages, including Spanish, Swedish, French, Polish, Arabic, and Korean.There was nothing more enjoyable than the moment when I began to hear these foreign languages, not as words, but as auditory textures.Did I enjoy text-sound compositions using foreign words?Perhaps it was an abstract fusion of these linguistic sounds.At least, it was a kind of acoustic poetry.

While doing so, I often fell asleep.Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night to the high-pitched beeping of a test tone bouncing off the walls of my hotel room.Other times, I would wake up in the morning to find a program I didn't know was playing, or if the tune was off, just static noise.

For this album, I selected my favorite snippets from the recordings I made in about 2008 countries over a period of about 10 years starting in 10.All snippets are recorded exactly as recorded.Because frequency behavior is often unpredictable, and because the act of catching waves was done manually, recordings contain all kinds of incidental sounds, including various types of static noise and radio interference. ing.

Radio is like an ocean of languages.It constantly reflects a million conversations happening all over the world at the same time.This album captures and presents just a drop in this ocean, which is huge, endless, and infinite, and will continue to flow for as long as media lasts.Isn't that amazing? "

Labels and other worksplease use this form. ///Click here to see more Dinzu Artefacts releases available at Tobira.

-------------------------

Includes DL code. 12" black vinyl edition of 200. 

Album is based on Aki Onda's previous cassette, "Voice Studies 17," released in 2013 by London-based label My Dance The Skull. In 2022, the artist re-edited these materials and incorporated more previously unheard material. 

Tracklist:

1. Part I
2.Part II  

++

Artist statement by Aki Onda
September 20, 2022:

"This project, entitled Transmissions From The Radio Midnight, started around 2006, when I acquired a Sony TCM F59 — an AM/FM radio and cassette recorder combined in a slim, handheld body. Since then, whenever I went on a trip, I would throw it into my suitcase and take it around with me. No matter which country I was in, upon returning to the hotel room I made a habit of listening to the radio into the late hours of the night. As soon as I would snuggle into bed, I would begin tuning the radio in search of a program that I liked.

If I concentrated intently on my fingers controlling the knob, I could sometimes catch two or three frequencies at once and hear the overlap of different languages. Otherwise I would scan through frequencies and jump around programs to hear the juxtaposition of different languages, such as Spanish , Swedish, French, Polish, Arabic, Korean, among others. There was no greater joy than the moment in which I would begin to hear these languages, which were foreign to me, not as words but as aural texture. Was I enjoying text -sound compositions with alien words? Perhaps it was the abstract fusing of these lingual sounds. It was, at the very least, something akin to sound poetry.

I would often fall asleep while doing this — and so, just as often, the radio would continue playing in my dreams. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I would wake up to the high-pitched beep of a test tone bouncing off the walls of the hotel room. On other occasions I would awaken in the mornings to some unknown program, or, if the tuning was off, simply static noise.

For this album, I selected some of my favorite segments from the recordings made in ten-or-so countries over the span of roughly a decade, beginning in 2008. All of the fragments are presented just as they were captured. Since frequency behavior is often unpredictable, and since the act of catching waves was done manually, the recordings capture all sorts of incidental sounds, including various kinds of static noise and radio interference.

The radio is like an ocean of languages. It continuously projects a million chatterings happening simultaneously all over the world. This album captures and presents a tiny drop of this ocean, while the ocean itself flows onward — enormous, endless, infinite — for as long as the medium itself lasts. Isn't that amazing?"

Artist: Aki Onda

Label: Dinzu Artefacts