Francisco López - Conveyer Belts [USA] (self-released, Bandcamp)

[murmur]

This release came to my attention via a recent episode of Jack Chuter’s (Guesswork, Hard Return) wonderful podcast, Crucial Listening, on which he interviewed López.

The tracks on the album are all unedited (except shortening, presumably, and mastering) recordings taken from inside checked baggage as it moves through various airports, indicated by their titles. Despite the process being entirely passive, the results are extremely rich and varied. Drones, quasi-rhythmic bumps, and whining sounds, all within a strange, alien ambience come in and out over the course of each piece. Sometimes the source of a given sound is fairly obvious (rollers, the bag banging into something, the beeping of reversing vehicles), but this is the exception, not the rule. Like the machinery and movements being recorded, the sounds are mostly a mystery.

The sounds are only a part of what makes this release so exciting. Their greater context, i.e., the subject and our relationship to it, bring this album to another, fascinating place. Other than for airport workers, what happens to a bag between being checked and being put on the plane is completely opaque. Chuter describes one part of why this is interesting in his interview with the artist: the release provides some insight into the question every kid asks on their first trip to the airport, “what happens to the bags once they go on the conveyer belt?”

However, these recordings also work on another level. Systems like the one focussed on here are increasingly common in our lives, the inner workings of which we aren’t privy to, but dictate more and more of what we do (various social media algorithms, the internet at large, institutional decision-making processes come to mind). While the reasoning behind this greater process may be more or less valid, it’s alienating for the vast majority of people all the same. This work, then, provides a keyhole glimpse (or, listen) into one such system, covertly gathering information for curious listeners. It’s spy-ish, bringing to mind Cold War-style bugs planted in walls, but planned and executed by an artist rather than some spook agency.

This release is an excellent example of what a fully-formed piece of sound art/noise can accomplish, and shows the heights that are possible within audio media.

Listen/purchase here:

[Scream & Writhe]

Great review, Ross!

Crucial Listening podcast is unknown to me. At a cursory glance it seems to come from a broader experimental angle. Lots of unfamiliar names (but familiar ones, too: Lasse Marhaug, Daniel Menche, Pharmakon (discussing Whitehouse's Bird Seed, no less), Charmaine Lee, Victoria Shen). Will have to do some digging through the nearly 150 episodes and see what turns up.

[James Thompson]

fascinating release and great review. thanks for sharing!

[murmur]

Crucial Listening podcast is unknown to me. At a cursory glance it seems to come from a broader experimental angle. Lots of unfamiliar names (but familiar ones, too: Lasse Marhaug, Daniel Menche, Pharmakon (discussing Whitehouse's Bird Seed, no less), Charmaine Lee, Victoria Shen). Will have to do some digging through the nearly 150 episodes and see what turns up.

I haven’t lIstened to every episode, but it’s got a good schtick and Chuter is a great interviewer. The combination leads to some fun insights into the artists’ work that maybe wouldn’t come out in a more standard interview. Worth trying out for sure!