No Birds Land

Tamsin Grainger (UK 2021)

Tamsin L G · No Birds Land Sound Poem

6 min

Audio Walks for Armchair Listening Mini Series

If a bird could write a poem maybe it would sound like this?

This is the sound poem for No Birds Land, an art and sound installation in the Trinity Tunnel on the Edinburgh cycle path network.
Before and after entering the tunnel, the air is full of birdsong; inside there is little or none. This sound-art installation recognises that no birds land or alight there (although occasionally one flies through), that it is a sort of 'No Man's Land' for birds, though humans built the sandstone structure to transport goods and each other between Granton Harbour and the rest of the city.

Written and Performed by : Tamsin Grainger

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XMTR Radio Hour Ep19 : Cities and Memory

Produced by Social Broadcasts / Cities and Memory (UK 2022)

60 min / Episode 19 of 19

An hour dedicated to Cites and Memory, one of the world’s largest sound projects, with more than 1,000 artists contributing to our goal of remixing the world, one sound at a time.

Every location on the Cities and Memory sound map features 2 sounds, the original field recording of that place and a reimagined sound that presents that place and time as somewhere else, somewhere new. There are over 5,000 sounds featured on this sound map, spread over more than 100 countries and territories. We’ll visit a selection and keeping with the concept you will hear the original field recording of a place followed by a re-imagined piece.

Featuring:
1. Duet for breaking waves and the horizon by Cities and Memory (Caloura in the Azores)

2. Lockdown thunderstorm in Oxford by Cities and Memory (Oxford)

3. Chongqing Docks by Andy McDade (Chaotianmen Dock, Chongqing, South West China recorded by Ian MacArthur)

4. The loneliness of the late-night station by Cities and Memory (Berlin at Bellevue station recorded by Cristina Iscenco)

5. It’s not a wave it’s a river by Cristina Marras (Carlo Scarpa, Antivole Italy)

6.The Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo in Venice by de Velden (Venice, Italy)

7. Echoes by Bill Stevens (Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, New York, USA)

8 A recording of a story 'Alfons and the Magic Christmas Tree featured on HCJB’s DX Party Line hosted by Clayton Howard. Recorded by Paul Rawdon, courtesy of the Shortwave Radio Archive for the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio.

9 War on Hugs by Kid KinAn hour dedicated to Cites and Memory, one of the world’s largest sound projects, with more than 1,000 artists contributing to our goal of remixing the world, one sound at a time.

Cities and Memory is always open to submissions from field recordists, sound artists, musicians or anyone with an interest in exploring sound worldwide.


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The Letter S

Chris Brookes (CA 2001)

54min

Whispers in the Air
On December 12th, 1901 Guigliermo Marconi received the world's first trans-Atlantic wireless signal on the cliff just above Chris Brook’s Battery Radio studio. Or... did he?

This beautifully poetic audio work combines fact and fiction, reality and construction to tell the story of the beginning of radio and sound waves. The perfect place to start for any budding audiofile.

Produced by Chris Brookes - Battery Radio

Created for the 2001 centenary of Marconi's transmission. First broadcast: ABC "Classic FM" Dec. 12, 2001.
Special Commendation, Prix Marulic 2002
Atlantic Journalism Award 2002

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At The Edge Of The Platform

Dominique Petitgand (FR 2011)

6 min

Standing, outside, on the edge of the platform, and the feeling that your head is being cut off. "They're asking for, they're asking for, they're asking for, they're asking for, they're asking for the impossible"

Producer: Dominique Petitgand
Voice: Marta Dansie

Featured on Radiola (Belgium)

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You Only Guide Me By Surprise: Tape S-1-12

Landry Ayres (US 2022)

20 min

Described as a suite of sonic somnambulism for those interested in poetry, peripety, magic or mystery. A guided meditation through committee or a dive into hypnosis through a clever plunderphonic escapade of 10 self help tapes from the 70's and 80's.

Producer: Landry Ayres

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Awful Grace: The Treachery Of Sounds

The Champagne's Electric (US 2017)

32 min Episode 4 of 13

You’re never told what you’re hearing but through the sounds you have to piece together what it is that is happening. But is it correct? Have we been mislead? The haunting audio work still has me leaning in at the horror of what I’m hearing, a reality in real-time.

Awful Grace remains a mysterious and understated series of sound art, proving that a podcast can be whatever you want it to be.

Produced by The Champagne's Electric. Originally published for the podcast Awful Grace, or The Tolling of the Void Bell.

Listen to the whole series

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Miss Time

Dinahbird (UK/FR 2011)

DinahBird · Misstime by DinahBird (2011)

4 min

Miss Time, pays homage to the first speaking clocks born in the early 1930s, who were in fact telephone switchboard ladies, chosen for their fine elocution and stamina, who every 15 seconds, 240 times an hour, mechanically told the time to an invisible audience, regardless if anyone called or not. Each country had it's telephone diva, known for her golden voice and accurate timekeeping. Sadly these marathon performances fizzled out in the sixties when technology made these Time Ladies redundant.

Producer: Dinahbird

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Radio Ballad: Song of a Road (1959)

Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (UK 1959)

59 min

This new revolutionary format - radio ballad (BBC) conceived by folk musicians Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and the brilliant radio documentary maker Charles Parker in 1958, combining sound: songs, instrumental music, sound effects, and, most importantly, the recorded voices of those who are the subjects of the documentary. This had never been done before, and still sounds incredibly fresh today.

This Radio Ballad is a musical journey along the M1 as it was being built in the late 50’s.

Producer: Charles Parker
Music: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger

Listen to more Radio Ballads

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In The Dark: The Everything Is Fine Forecast

Ewan Cameron  (UK 2022)

Randomly Generated Thought · Episode 8: The Everything Is Fine Forecast

7 min

The Shipping Forecast but it's you having a panic attack.

Produced and performed by Ewan Cameron as part of an ongoing podcast called Randomly Generated Thought. 

Selected as part of a new producers listening event be In The Dark

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In The Dark - Di Major

D Peterschmidt  (US 2020)

D Peterschmidt · Di major

5 min

An abstract take on the traditional public radio two-way format, D explores the relevance of names.

Produced by D Peterschmidt as part of Union Doc’s “Augmented Audio Realities”

Selected as part of a new producers listening event be In The Dark

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