Listening Nº 1 · MEI-056
Come Down to Us
A single mechanism, played end to end: the recorded human voice used as document. A real voice, kept as a person — eaten by the music, never swallowed.
MEI-056 Found voice as trace of the real
Recorded music has always reached for the real: a voice caught on tape, lifted from an interview, a phone call, a broadcast, set inside the music as itself. Not performed. Overheard.
A found voice is documentary when its realness is the affect, when the fact of a real person is the reason it is there. The moment it becomes a hook or a texture, that realness goes incidental and the use turns to citation. This session focuses on the first kind.
Sequence
Sixteen pieces across sixty years, played end to end. One line of direct transmission runs through the field: Steve Reich influenced Brian Eno, who built the method into a record in 1981, then handed it to Fred again.., four decades on.
First half
- 01Delia Derbyshire & Barry Bermange — The Dreams 1964BBC voices describing real dreams●●●
- Steve Reich — Come Out 1966Daniel Hamm, the Harlem SixAntecedent — where the technique begins, and the boundary the rest refuse: the voice is consumed into texture.
- 02Brian Eno & David Byrne — The Jezebel Spirit 1981a recorded exorcism●●●
- 03The Orb — Little Fluffy Clouds 1990Rickie Lee Jones, interviewed †●●●
- 04Lisa Germano — …A Psychopath 1994a real emergency call●●●
- 05DJ Shadow — Building Steam with a Grain of Salt 1996the drummer George Marsh, interviewed●●●
- 06Ben Folds Five — Your Most Valuable Possession 1999a father’s answering-machine message●●●
- 07The Books — Take Time 2003Abba Eban reading Ecclesiastes●●●
Second half
- 08Burial — Come Down to Us 2013Lana Wachowski, speaking●●●
- 09Jamie xx — All Under One Roof Raving 2014rave documentary voices●●○
- 10Public Service Broadcasting — The Other Side 2015Apollo 8 mission control●●●
- 11Kendrick Lamar — Mortal Man 2015Tupac Shakur, 1994 interview●●●
- 12Kanye West — Ultralight Beam 2016a child’s prayer, filmed on a phone †●●●
- 13Yves Tumor — Limerence 2016a couple, from a home video●●○
- 14Fred again.. — Carlos (Make It Thru) 2021a recorded conversation●●●
- 15Boards of Canada — Age of Capricorn 2026a broadcast voice●●●
●●● found voice confirmed, source identified · ●●○ confirmed, source anonymous or unverified