Panic Movement (#122)

Source file found here. Originally broadcast on August, 20, 1998.

I'm not sure how we came up with this variant on the "scored" shows, but I think the idea was build slowly from a calm passage with more and more "panicked" outbursts at opportune times. Kind of the sonic equivalent of climbing an inclined plane of intensity for the length of the show. This resulting show feels like a creepier, dirtier Halloween show imitation. We peak early, but it does end with a large quantity of loud banging. Some of the sources--e.g. Naked City's Absinthe, F.M. Einheit & Caspar Brotzmann's Merry Christmas--also fit well in a playlist of psychological horror and violence soundtracks. Maybe not gradual panic so much as gradual alienation!

1. Whispers and heartbeats
2. Soothing sounds of nature
3. Down in the speech lab
4. Horrible, nameless dread emerges
5. Tension strings and children amok
6. Ask them to be quiet sir
7. A promise of cannibalism
8. Hall running, analysis and static
9. Various sirens, but a balmy ambience
10. Irradiating the beachgoers
11. Oh God it's eating my EYES
12. We've gotten good at "bludgeoning", haven't we?
13. That city-sized vacuum cleaner is back

Insanity Sounds (#60)

Source available here. The show was originally broadcast on June 15th, 1997.

This show might have been a planned theme show or just named after the theme appeared spontaneously. It seems to hover around/jab at/scurry under the topic of mental health & illness, and it employs delicate as well as blunt instruments. The overall feel is harried, and you can hear a lot of frantic voices, some heavy effects, and an occasionally violent instability, as well as deja vu à la Catch-22 and excerpts from a psychology radio program.

This is a good example of a long-format show which sticks to the collage-mix with little to no break until the end. It's quite difficult to be so frenzied and confused for a straight 90 minutes. Often times the shows drop into musical interludes, but with this one, you get no such breathers.

1. Fuzz For Junk/Extended Cyborg Death Scene
2. A World Insane
3. A Slide Whistle Sneaks Up & Blows in Your Ear
4. Cheering Man Takes His Date to a John Zorn Show
5. Did He Say Dr. Tiger?
6. Strangled or Strangling
7. It's the Bomb-ardier, & He's Still All Right
8. Recipe: Waco Funk-Rock Puree
9. Happy Place Soundtrack
10. Twinkling Spasms in Turtle Soup
11. Talkin' World War Baby Telephone Call Blues
12. Time Travel in the Seventies/Sound of Blood
13. Black Belt Coming Down