16.09 Cages CD's out now

The Cages “1” CD and “2/3” 2xCDs are out now and available at HD 017.

The kid, Zach Richter, was kind enough to help me screen-print the “2/3” package a month or so ago, but I had only to gotten to print the “1” package more recently. I just wrapped up burning the black-bottom CD’s so we’re certified.

Cages is a project of mine using non-audio digital files and ripping them through MP3 encoders to create music with them. For a period of time, I was grabbing anything I could to see if something interesting could be created from it. The highlights made it onto these releases (and some future ones).


2' 51" from Cages “2/3”

The design stemmed from the desire to make something neutral and cold. Noise releases are so often wrapped up in all kinds of angst and emotion that I’m more interested in visuals that plumb other depths. Furthermore, I liked the idea of this minimalist direction for sounds that have minimal human involvement. The image of the laptop noise-dude hitting play and then checking his e-mail becomes the laptop dude that doesn’t even bother to hit play. The Cages songs are a kind of audio ready-made; I pick a source, play the game and decide whether to keep the results. Of course, the frustrating things is that when it works I couldn’t imagine being able to conjure these sounds on purpose.

You can buy the limited-edition CD releases now in a package deal, both for $12 with a free copy of the HD 019 poster, or download the jams at Cages’ Virb page.