Behold! Another Bandcamp release that I’m definitely interested in. Cowlamp is an experimental sound collage music project from Michigan that uses found sound, analog electronics, and tape loops to create soundscapes that, when I listened to bits of the first track, can be similar to stuff like Nurse With Wound and Negativland.
Here are the tracks, in order:
“tape 1”-The whole album starts off with a woman’s voice, leading to a piece with distorted analog synthesizer and tape loops of speed-manipulated harmonica. It gradually becomes lower and lower in fidelity.
“(tell me about flint)”-This begins with a collage, followed by schoolchildren singing accompanied by piano. A woman’s voice shows up talking to the children, accompanied by mechanical string-like noises and synthesizer.
“tape 2”-A tape loop of bubbly noises.
“(mandolin)”-This consists of an out-of-tune mandolin piece, with faint sounds coming from a Christian rock radio station (I recognize the song; it’s a worship song that I’m very familiar with), in the background.
“tape 3”-A tape loop of strange distorted and warped noises.
“(sunset number two)”-A tape loop piece featuring a strange synthesizer improv and some tape effects.
“tape 4”-A tape loop consisting of strange warped noises. The same as “tape 3”, but this time without distortion.
“(first rate kids)”-An old radio broadcast that has a bit of static, backed by out-of-tune ukulele.
“tape 5”-A tape loop of manipulated mouth sounds. That’s what it sounds like.
“sermon”-A sample of an old church sermon appears, accompanied by strange mechanical sound effects. Later on, you hear a tape loop of a dog whimpering and panting. An ice cream truck later appears, followed by backwards noise effects.
“tape 6”-A tape loop of distorted backwards piano, or something like that.
“(time)”-A series of random voices talking about the age of the recording.
“tape 7”-A tape loop of distorted and warped mechanical noises.
“(tickets please)”-A field recording, but I’m not sure what the location is. You can sure hear children in the background, along with some music.
“tape 8”-A tape loop of distorted and sped-up bird noises. It is also only a minute long.
“(water)”-Consisting of someone urinating. Perhaps the only bad track on the whole tape.
“tape 9”-A tape loop of beeping noises.
“(communist)”-A 12-second snippet of what I think is a hearing conducted by Joseph McCarthy.
“tape 10”-A tape loop of distorted piano and accordion (I think).
“(paul bunyan)”-A 23-second snippet of an altered sample of a song about Paul Bunyan, ending with a strange reverb effect.
“tape 11”-A tape loop of a collage of voices saying “right” and “left”.
“let’s go again”-A sound collage consisting of the tape butchering of a rock n’ roil song.
“farewell to tape loops”-A warped mechanical noise appears, along with backwards piano.
“goodbye”-A 31-second snippet of a voice sample of a woman talking about the “proud heritage” of Flint, Michigan.
“etc.”-The closing 25-second snippet consists of a warped recording of metallic clanking.
This album is one of the most interesting pieces of tape collage music that I had ever come across on Bandcamp, and if you’re into strange homemade experimental music, check the whole thing out here at: http://cowlamp.bandcamp.com/album/cowlamp-unplugged
The Crazy Mind of Tré Roland 