Artists
Album Info
Release Date: 2021-04-30Labels: Ballroom Marfa, Astral Spirits
The first edition comprises 250 copies with silver cassette shell and fold-over J-card, issued unsealed (this).100 copies were available from Astral Spirits, and 100 from Ballroom Marfa.
Compiles material previously issued on two digital-only albums:
Side A - Chihuahuan Desert Birdscapes, released 10/23/20
Side B - Birdscapes, released 10/08/18
A1 and A2 as they appear on this compilation are shorter than the versions released in 2020.
A4 combines two tracks that were originally released separately as "Psychopomp" and "Mountaingem".
Chihuahuan Desert Birdscapes was developed and recorded in Ballroom Marfa's gallery amidst artist Solange Pessoa’s Longilonge exhibition (11/15/19-05/24/20), and at Marfa Recording Company as part of Rob Frye’s May 2020 Ballroom Sessions - The Farther Place residency. The project was commissioned by Ballroom Marfa and organized by BM Programs Director, Sarah Melendez. These five tracks include granular synthesized/processed audio material originally sourced from Xeno-canto, a citizen science project and internet repository that allows volunteer users to record, upload and share field recordings of birdsong and bird calls. Rob Frye hand-crafted his flutes from invasive grasses he collected on the banks of the Rio Grande river.
Birdscapes was developed for collaboration with artist Martin Kaulen, which resulted in the Birdscapes concert/installation ("sound happening", per Rob Frye), presented 11/06/18 at Chez Adel, Paris. Tracks B3 and B4 also form the soundtrack of Kaulen's 2020 Birdscapes video. B1 features a slowed-down version of Richard Ranft's recording of the musician wren [original audio source]. B2 uses granular synthesized/processed versions of Peter Boesman's recordings of the song wren and common potoo* [original Xeno-canto field recordings here and here].
* frankly hilarious