Spoken Word
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A music-and-text recording of Hunter S. Thompson’s 1970 article “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved” will be available on vinyl for the first time, thanks to Shimmy-Disc. Actor Tim Robbins and jazz-great Bill Frisell are among the artists featured. The celebrated piece is considered the first example of Thompson’s gonzo journalism. It ran in…
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Is it possible to fully appreciate spoken-word art presented in a language you don’t understand? The short (and obvious) answer is no. But as this six-disc collection of work by composer/musician Denis Frajerman and author Antoine Volodine illustrates, that’s no reason to turn away from the work. The two French artists have worked together for…
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“My thesis is that blackness is fluency,” begins electroacoustic artist JJJJJerome Ellis, on his new album The Clearing. This spoken-word opening is followed by a pause, then: “And music are forces that open time.” In the work of Ellis however, these are not edits. They are not a revision or manipulation of his voice. They…
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This debut from Alina Kalancea comes out of a six-year period of experimentation with electronics and voice. Through a series of collaborations, stage performances and studio sessions, the Romanian artist says she has been working to develop a sound she can call her own. In this sense, The 5th Apple is more than just a…
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It is 1984 and I have been introduced to Anne Clark by our local college radio station. It is my first time. Her Croydon accent punches its way through stabs of analogue synthesizer. If I am her target (oh, if only), then her aim is true. I am transfixed. She sounds smart and beautiful and…
The Moderns 