The Magic of Waves

Eve Marie Bouche (FR, 2023)

3min

“I discovered that I had magical powers, the powers to transform the world's soundtrack, to make it a better place to live...”

The magic of waves is an English adaptation of "La magie des ondes" (1rst prize - Short forms category - Grand Prix Nova Romania 2023, 3rd prize - UK International Radio Drama Festival 2023).

Produced by Eve Marie Bouche

---

Originally From Another Cross

Ben Gaunt (UK 2024)

8min

This is a sonic art piece, featuring some spoken word. The Leeds Cross stands in Leeds Minster.

A sign in the minster itself describes the cross: “The pieces making up the cross were found built into the medieval structure during demolition of the church in 1838. The cross would originally have stood outside the church, together with other crosses, and may have served as a grave marker. It dates to the tenth century A.D., and is carved in the Anglian style. The wheel-head originally belonged to another cross, although the shaft would have had a similar top. All the crosses from Leeds appear to have been produced in one workshop, and also have artistic links with other pieces from Wharfedale, such as the Collingham, Otley and Ilkley crosses. The upper tiers show several probably Christian figures, the angel and patron possibly copied from Irish manuscript art. At the bottom of the main faces are figures from Germanic mythology. One panel shows Weland the Smith, who was captured by Nithad, hamstrung, and forced to work as a smith. In revenge Weland murdered Nithad’s two sons and made their skulls into cups which he presented to their father, and then made Nithad’s daughter, Beaduhild, pregnant. Weland escaped by means of a flying machine, which is here shown strapped around him. He is shown surrounded by the tools of his trade and reaching up to seize a female figure, possibly Beaduhild or a Valkyrie, by the hair and skirt. The juxtaposition of Christian and pagan iconography indicates the mixed nature of tenth-century society, although the figure of Weland was sometimes employed to represent Elijah who ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot.

Ben recorded violinist and composer, James Gerrard, playing On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at. This Yorkshire folk song is based upon the hymn Cranbook; just like the Leeds Cross, it is simultaneously Christian and non-Christian. Ben also recorded James reading a sign describing the various sections of the cross, and combined these with recordings of bells, birds, and footsteps, all captured either in the minster itself or directly outside. Ben has attempted to replicate the cross’s beautiful, confusing, fragmentary character, and was inspired by its iconography, both Christian and non-Christian.

Produced by Ben Gaunt
Music by Ben Gaunt
Violin/Speaking by James Gerrard

---

XMTR Radio Hour Ep30: Ed Baxter (Resonance FM)

Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2024)

60 min / Episode 30 of 30

This XMTR (Transmitter) Radio Hour is a conversation with Ed Baxter who has recently stepped down as Resonance FM creative director after being at the helm for over 22 years. Ed has selected a number of audio works that he initiated, directed or produced during this time, with a common theme of 'creating the conditions for something to happen'. These radio experiments are a wonderful example of what occurs when this medium is stretched and contorted,  allowing for the unexpected whist setting out imaginative parameters.

Works included are:
Score for Open-heart Surgery on Charlie Watts
Shut Your Eyes to Art
SpeedDataRadio
The Exeter Whisper
Fifth Sketch for Ascent and Descent
Intimacy and Distance
Millions Flee as California Burns

XMTR Radio Hour Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio

Follow the series

---

The Ecco: Red of Visibility

Phoebe McIndoe (DE 2024)

7 min

Growing up I went to a catholic primary school where the school emblem and colour was red. We had a visiting doctor who would see us in the head mistress' study without our red uniforms on. In this red space I had my first experience of bad touch. Or as I now call it, sexual assault. This piece is an attempt, years later, to explore and reclaim the colour red.

THE ECCO is an international non-commercial initiative designed to tug at the boundaries of the world of audio storytelling, journalism, and documentary work. We bring together talents in different parts of the world — journalists, sound designers, audio producers, sound artists, & writers— all united by a common goal: to push themselves and each other out of their work-related comfort zones and explore the different shapes audio documentaries can take, where they may intersect with art and what the impact of such playful exploration can have.

This was made during an immersive retreat where a curated group of talents collaborate, experiment, and support each other in crafting audio projects that are as diverse as they are profound

Produced by Phoebe McIndoe

---

The Ecco: Margery

Sara Zarreh Hoshyari Khah (DE 2024)

8min

What happens if someone finds your autobiography and republishes only very specific parts? And what if that almost ends up being the only version? A story about a selective monk, a lucky pingpong match and a woman who's not afraid to cry in public.

THE ECCO is an international non-commercial initiative designed to tug at the boundaries of the world of audio storytelling, journalism, and documentary work. We bring together talents in different parts of the world — journalists, sound designers, audio producers, sound artists, & writers— all united by a common goal: to push themselves and each other out of their work-related comfort zones and explore the different shapes audio documentaries can take, where they may intersect with art and what the impact of such playful exploration can have.

This was made during an immersive retreat where a curated group of talents collaborate, experiment, and support each other in crafting audio projects that are as diverse as they are profound

Producer: Sara Zarreh Hoshyari Khah

---

The Ecco: Sometimes

Jeff Emtman (DE 2024)

10min

Thirteen participants sing a note at their natural pitch, then recite numbers between 1 and 100 for five minutes. Then, they reach into a bowl, pull out a slip of paper, and complete the sentence written on it (not knowing that every slip has the same, one-word prompt: "Sometimes..."). At times in the piece, the sung notes are mapped onto the participants' numbers: low notes for low numbers, and high notes for high numbers. In this 10-minute version, responses are condensed for time.

THE ECCO is an international non-commercial initiative designed to tug at the boundaries of the world of audio storytelling, journalism, and documentary work. We bring together talents in different parts of the world — journalists, sound designers, audio producers, sound artists, & writers— all united by a common goal: to push themselves and each other out of their work-related comfort zones and explore the different shapes audio documentaries can take, where they may intersect with art and what the impact of such playful exploration can have.

This was made during an immersive retreat where a curated group of talents collaborate, experiment, and support each other in crafting audio projects that are as diverse as they are profound

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Participants: Colin Shea, Yannic Hannebohn, Phoebe McIndoe, Ilona Toller, Sophia Wetzke, Jasmin Bauomy, Luisa Beck, Mitsuo Iwamoto, Lena von Holt, Sara Zarreh Hoshyari Khah, Marta Medvešek, Allison Behringer, and Johanna Gilje.

---

XMTR Radio Hour Ep30: Ed Baxter (Resonance FM)

Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2024)

60 min / Episode 30 of 30

This XMTR (Transmitter) Radio Hour is a conversation with Ed Baxter who has recently stepped down as Resonance FM creative director after being at the helm for over 22 years. Ed has selected a number of audio works that he initiated, directed or produced during this time, with a common theme of 'creating the conditions for something to happen'. These radio experiments are a wonderful example of what occurs when this medium is stretched and contorted,  allowing for the unexpected whist setting out imaginative parameters.

Works included are:
Score for Open-heart Surgery on Charlie Watts
Shut Your Eyes to Art
SpeedDataRadio
The Exeter Whisper
Fifth Sketch for Ascent and Descent
Intimacy and Distance
Millions Flee as California Burns

XMTR Radio Hour Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio

Follow the series

---

Where@bouts - Episode 001 - Resale Records

Mad Genius (US 2015)

3min Episode 1 of 13

Where@bouts is the art "popcast" that remixes the world. Found sound addicts Mad Genius build stories linked to a location's ambience. Our guests conduct their world like a song.

Resale Records is a used vinyl store in Madison, Wisconsin. Owner Eric Teisberg opened shop in the late '70s, using a Quonset hut that once housed a car repair business. Nearly 40 years later, Eric looks back on his work and life with a frank assessment toward our changing relationship with music.

Producer: Mad Genius

Follow the series

---

XMTR Radio Hour Ep29: Lowlines

Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2024)

60 min / Episode 29 of 29

This XMTR (Transmitter) Radio Hour is dedicated to Lowlines - a sonic scrapbook, a passport to roam, tuning in to the pulse of place, with 2 episodes from this series follows food entrepreneur & urban place-maker Petra Barran as she travels through the Americas, meeting people with profound connections to the places they’re from. We’ll join Petra as she travels from London to New Orleans immersing herself in a Second Line parade and then on to the Amtrak slow train from New Orleans to Arizona connecting with strangers along the way.

Featured: 

1. Lowlines Prologue
Petra Barran isa gatherer of people and food on the kerbs of London. She began as a food truck owner, cruising the UK, selling chocolate to any and everyone - and grew a whole multi-pronged street food organisation from there. But as her business took off and gave way to more and more meetings in glass buildings, the energy and genuine, spontaneous human connection that she thrived on started to fade away..


2. Episode 1: Second Line Footwork in New Orleans (excerpt)
New Orleans - the most human city Petra Knows know has to be the first stop on her pull to tune into the pulse of place. It’s the most magnetic of places. Here it feels like the air is thicker, the light has currents in it and the ground is …bouncy. And bubbling up from those streets is the second line, a rolling block party, a neighbourhood parade, a high-voltage current coursing through the city’s veins every Sunday with music, community, freedom and culture. For many Black New Orleanians it’s the day when you own the streets, so you better bring that FOOTWORK

The series kicks off with Petra getting her feet back on the ground at the Ole & Nu Style Fellas parade in the 6th Ward.


3. Episode 3: Trainline: Slow Train to Tucson
The Sunset Limited, Westbound - Fly or take the Amtrak? The journey or the destination? Taking the slow train to Tucson just felt right. You know when your whole body craves a more gentle, almost human tempo to carry you onto the next place? So, whilst keen to get to the wide open desert, the opportunity to stretch out the journey, savour the changing landscape through Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and have time to meet my fellow passengers was too much of a pull.  

In Episode 3 we follow the lowlines of the train tracks and the hiss, groan and gentle gyrations of the 36 hour journey as I talk off-grid living, denture cream woes, magic mushrooms and marrying the same man three times with a raft of fellow travellers - all while trying to get a decent bite to eat and a bit of shut eye.

Narrated by Petra Barran
Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio (Social Broadcasts) and Lina Prestwood (Scenery Studios)
Original score by Hannah Marshal
Mastering by Jobina Tinnemans

XMTR Radio Hour Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio

Follow the series

---

XMTR Radio Hour Ep28: A swimming event, A Requiem, Toilets, Silence and Salt Beef

Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2024)

60 min / Episode 28 of 28

This XMTR (Transmitter) Radio Hour celebrates works that have been submitted to xmtr.fm over the past year with an episode from Bristol based radio project Limbo Tapes' new podcast Limbo Calling, an exercise in mischief and the mundane from New York based Icelandic composer/sound designer Andrea Kristindottir, Berlin based photographer and audio story teller Miri Berlin takes on a haunting journey from intensive care unit to crematorium and musician and sound engineer Ivan Eastley contemplates silence. 

Works featured: 

1. Limbo Calling: Fear Swim
Pete Hazel (UK 2024)
https://limbotapes.podbean.com

2. Requiem for a Mother
Miri Berlin (DE 2023)


3. The Peephole
Andrea Kristinsdottir (US/ISL 2023)


4. Silence
Ivan Eastley (UK 2023)


5. Salt Beef and Carrots
Lucia Scazzocchio / Social Broadcasts (UK 2018)
https://soundcloud.com/socialbroadcasts/sets/cherrytree-chronicles

Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio

Follow the series

---