no.232 | Desert Duet at Dusk
A Duet with a West Texas Mockingbird plus Internet Radio Recs and more!
This summer, Jason Reed and I set out to make pictures (and recordings) exploring notions around energy resources and production in and around the Permian Basin of West Texas. Currently, the US leads the world in oil production and most of that comes from the Permian. It’s early days for our project, but we covered a lot of ground meeting stakeholders and taking a lot of photographs of all manner of things water, wind, solar, and of course, oil.
Knowing we would be in interesting places, I brought my guitar along to record some improvisations among the dust and debris. This week’s piece was recorded in the picnic area in the triangle formed at the intersection of Highways 67 and 90 just outside Alpine, where we met with biologists from Texas Parks and Wildlife. Jason snapped this picture of me with his phone.
Many folks encounter this well-traveled fork in the road on the way to Marfa. We arrived at dusk, and when I sat down to play there was a mockingbird perched high on a bare branch. The bird sang with a staccato chirp, creating elongated spaces between its notes. I just tried to match the bird’s vibe.
You can see my duet partner up in the tree on the right in the original image before it was mixed in with the others.
Just for grins, here is another original version of the last image used to make the final composition.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING: INTERNET RADIO AND STREAMBOXES
I love radio in all its permutations. Strictly speaking, the internet is not the radio, but its best approximation is pretty great. Friend of PSO Peter Stiles hipped me to a couple of apps that fit this bill.
Radioooo This app and the desktop browser version allow listeners to pick a region of the world and a decade and the app will play sets that simulate what was playing at that time and place. My go-to is Mali in the 1970s.
ReListen has an app and online version. Users have uploaded thousands of recordings of live shows and it’s not just Dead Heads (but there is a lot of the Dead, predictably); there is all kinds of stuff on there. I listened to a great set by Akron/Family.
I also like to stream WWOZ community radio from New Orleans, WYXR out of Memphis, especially the New New Soft Shoe Show, and Marfa Public Radio is also rad. I subscribe to NTS radio, which always runs 2 live streams from around the world. NTS has a UK bias and lots of house/techno/ adjacency, but there is a real variety if you dig. Emo ambient artist Claire Rousay’s show is top-notch. All time fav music podcast, Dollar Country, is also now on NTS, but the podcast is probably best. Dollar Country website has a growing catalog of all the 45s Frank the Drifter features on the show, complete with pictures!!
STREAMBOXES!
Apps and Internet Radio sites are awesome, but streamboxes are really special. Streamboxes offer field recordings from around the world and are configured with their own servers to broadcast non-stop.
I first stumbled onto this while reading about sound ecologist Rob Macay’s Monarch Butterfly Migration field recording experiments at The Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy near San Antonio.
Locus Sonus is a world map of streamboxes. There are not that many, but through the site, I have heard the pitter-patter of rain in Japan and the lively evening streets of Kolkata. I heartily recommend tuning in.
PSO RADIO
You can hear a simulation of tunes from PSO on our handbuilt HTML radio page!
PSO LIVE EVENT, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH AT THE FRENCH LEGATION IN AUSTIN
The event is free and will be a unique one-time experience not to be missed!
PSO PODCAST
New Episode featuring local legend, musician, composer, and teacher, JOE WILLIAMS!