Locus + and Charrm (2001)

The Kenotaphion project by Jonty Semper. The one minute silence, recorded in Hyde Park, London, 8 September, 1997, from the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Jonty Semper released this 7” as part of his Kenotaphion project. The other part of the project is a two CD set of all the existing broadcast recordings of the two minute silences from Armistice Day or Remembrance Sunday in Whitehall, London.

Simply beautiful and clean, nothing else is necessary. Two great and tragic projects? Walk away. Always leave the audience wanting. Quietly.

Cook Road Recordings (1952)

With its genre bending coverage of dynamic field recorded environmental sounds (earthquakes, oceans, ionosphere!), binaural classical, folk, spoken word (including a Buckminster Fuller I have yet to see in the flesh), guitar recs by Bonfa & Montoya and, perhaps most notably today, a stunning & invaluable string of location recordings throughout the Caribbean, Cook seemed to map a trajectory not dissimilar from Moe Asch's Folkways.


On closer look, though, the whole venture seemed to be coming from a gearhead inventor's affection for sound innovation rather than the Weltanschauung of the post war Popular Front. As far as I can tell, Cook wasn't singing out, he was making the World's Fair scene and showing off his tech wares which over time included amplifiers, the "microfusion" process (see pevious post), true double grooved binaural recordings and microphones. Realizing a stronger interest in his demo discs than his machines, he proceeded to issue some 150+ lps, 10s and 45s over a 14 year period beginning in 1952 from his Stamford, Connecticut based Cook Laboratories and pressing plant.


The limited edition Cook Road Recordings series has long been a source of personal fascination. The wandering off the beaten path vibe and all that the open, unobstructed road connotes comes through on the label's tableau of windblown trees, brush and telephone line vistas . The opposing 'R' logo looks rather like it could have been an automotive emblem; the brisk hand drawn 'Road Recordings' beneath is hurried and casual. These same stock images-rendered in southwestern hued watercolor-were almost exclusively used for the series' covers as well. The liners were often laid out in a serif typewriter font - lines underlined for emphasis - that lent the series a sense of urgent dispatch like a letter from the road.


The Road series included numerous exceptional wild microphone recordings, often with pulpish titles & subtitles, like Tiroro-"Best Drummer in Haiti", Mexican Firecrackers (truly one of the great field recording sides of all time), The Blind Troubadour of Oaxaca: The Romantic Voice of Alonzo Cruz and His Guitar and this great slice of Delta blues by K.C. Douglas featuring his legendary song "Mercury Blues" - A Deadbeat Guitar and the Mississippi Blues: Street Corner Blues 'Bout Women And Automobiles.

Have you never dreamed of driving the length of the Americas? Hopping a boat to the neighboring islands? Over beers in a dicey East Orange blues club in the late 80s, with newly minted drivers' licenses, a friend and I used to talk at length about the possibility. It was doable, we'd both agreed. Records from this series take me back to that place. The world was accessible.

Indian Records (1972)

One of my earlier memories is of being mesmerized by the dances and songs of some sort of Native American advocacy group who visited my elementary school in Colorado Springs, so I was excited to find this LP years later at Wax Trax in Denver. I love the tall skinny Indian Records font, and how about these drawings! What I wouldn't give to strut and dance atop a human-sized vinyl platter. Side 1 of this LP is all War Dance Songs. Me, I'm more of a Social Dancer.

(Note: I had a difficult time finding any information about this record including its year of release, but I eventually found it listed as a cassette in this article on the recordings of Plains Indians. )

Wildlife Calls

Perfect for callin' and killin' the Fabulous Mr Fox, lure him in with the sound of his pup being tortured....nice!

A gift from Mr Vincent Dermody.

Droll Yankees (1964)

This is one of the nicest labels I have.

Library of Congress Recording Laboratory (1960)

I included a bit more than the label on this one to show the red vinyl it's pressed on. From the Library of Congress? What a cool record. I think these are Alan Lomax recordings.

Houghton Mifflin (1962)