At the time of this recording, the living room had a clear shot view south, out across a parking lot, then past Hermann Park and points southward from Lake Jackson, Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. Shortwave radio transmissions picked up most evenings from Radio Havana and a station in Japan. Steve arrived at the door, strangled with anxiety and anticipation in the midst of a coast-to-coast uprooting of his Southwest desert sanctuary to the east (aka. least) coast. Tape manipulations met objectified guitar echoes. Cornet pedal tones into pulses of reverberating drone. Radio static counterpointing an emphatic case chortled in saxophone loops. Feedback-contours of glass vases and aluminum trumpet mutes amplified and melding into lengths of sine wave, ironing out the angst. Meditations on a sounding environment.
First summited during a Texas -> Southwest U.S. tour in October 2015, Pilot's hammered-home vocabulary finds form here in two extended meditations, recorded by Ryan Edwards in Rebecca's living room, collaged by Ryan, Rebecca and Steve.
released April 3, 2018
Steve Jansen - tapes, guitar, saxophone, objects, devices.
Rebecca Novak - cornet, Autoharp, shortwave radio, glass vases, chimes, objects.
Recorded at Rebecca’s living room in Houston, Texas on March 29, 2016. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Ryan Edwards.
Photograph of Bart Prince’s Bug House by Rebecca Novak on October 27, 2015 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
That’s Cool Records 036 | 2018
thatscoolrecords.bandcamp.com
***
Side A full title and credit:
Frost tore at their vitals. Rain fell into the crevices, and freezing there expanded, until many of the finer logs are now heaps of gleaming jewels, opaline and rose, lavender and mauve, deepest brown and softest yellow, black and purple, blue and red. In their range of color they leave the beauty lover breathless. (1)
(1) A. A. Weiland, from an unpublished film script, n.d., Arizona Historical Society Archives. Thank you to Kate Fitzpatrick of the AHS Archives, and Elizabeth & Paul Nelson.
Side B full title and credit:
To prevent widespread misery and catastrophic biodiversity loss, humanity must practice a more environmentally sustainable alternative to business as usual. This prescription was well articulated by the world's leading scientists 25 years ago, but in most respects, we have not heeded their warning. Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory, and time is running out. We must realize, in our day-to-day lives and in our governing institutions, that Earth with all its life is our only home. (2)
(2) William J. Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Thomas M. Newsome, Mauro Galetti, Mohammed Alamgir, Eileen Crist, Mahmoud I. Mahmoud, William F. Laurance, 15,364 scientist signatories from 184 countries, "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice," BioScience, Vol. 67 Issue 12, 1 December 2017, pages 1026-1028,
doig.org/10.1093/biosci/bix.125, published 13 November 2017.