Haunted by the Kunstkopf

A „Kunstkopf“ is also called a „Dummy head“. I prefer the first term.

It is a very intriguing recording device, available in the upper 4 digits EUR class if you are in need of one carved out of wood...

In modern installations, the actual head is represented by special X-aligned condenser microphones.

Before, there are wood, styrofoam & vinyl heads with inbuilt condenser microphones which allow for binaural recordings, „real stereo“, as we understand it.

Various artists, like CAN used it in their studio sessions as a recording device instead of standard microphones, since the studio seemed too sterile, too exact. With the artificial head, one could make recordings that could be perceived as if actually sitting in the natural stereo field.

Mostly, this device found a home in Radio Plays.

A very enchanting short demonstration is to be found on YT (in German):

by nokturnal

Haunted by the Dynamophone

 At a Certain Point, a man had a haunting Idea about broadcasting Sound:

Thaddeus Cahill: Electric Music

Let's quickly describe the device he imagined first, the Telharmonium:

Cahill built a large, quite a few tons heavy transformer bank (The Mark I weighed 7 tons. The Mark II weighed almost 200 tons). It is considered the first electromechanical musical instrument dating from c. 1896. Electric tubes were neither invented than transistors, so this was the only contraption he could use to generate electric music sounds. He considered it as an electric organ.

As amplifiers also were not invented yet, he invented some kind of loudspeakers (basically horns with an electrically driven diaphragm, today known as "Tweeter") for live performances, which were attended and received quite well, for example by Mark Twain.

Cahill also seems to be the inventor of additive synthesis, as he added so-called "color wheels" to his contraption, which did the job.

But then, Thaddeus Cahill developed another, revolutionary idea:

He wanted to distribute his electrical signal to people out there. So, since radio was still in its diapers the only possible network was: 

Phone lines, powered by his second device, called the "Dynamophone"

It got advertised in newspapers when transmissions would be available, so one could dial in and pick up the receiver at the right time.

There are no recordings available of the devices, nor tangible remains. The devices were too heavy, and quickly overcome, by more simple and less energy-consuming devices.

It can be said, Thaddeus Cahill's machines caused a lot of "Crosstalk" along the not yet shielded phone lines. So one having a phone conversation could have easily been overtaken by outer worldly sounds.

Last but least, for sure, this must be the first known synthesizer, with a commercial streaming service attached.

by nokturnal

Muzak, Mallsoft

 Music, this wonderful entity, often takes on a consciousness of its own; triggered by human and non-human intervention, a stream of audio particles flows out of a source - and seeps away from the noted auditory presence into the cracks of other fault lines as well, for these cracks and crevices of the mainstream are often full of mysterious signals that develop their own unconscious agendas unnoticed at the margins. These audio particles then often lie unnoticed in invisible breeding stations for long periods of time before being attracted to a new event. 

In the climate of the cold war after 1945, especially in the USA, the strangest creative blossoms emerged, most of which had nothing particularly good in mind - for example "Background Music", later also known under the brand names "Muzak" and "Seeberg", or quite hip "Elevator Music". "Background" is the most important term here, because behind purring orchestras, whining violins and extra-lascivious voices was a scientifically proven recipe - namely, to brainwash larger gatherings of people in a nasty way. Not particularly flashy - after all, you didn't want an assassin, but happy-brainless work and leisure zombies. 

These groups of people (e.g. the employees of a company, or factory workers) became test subjects without ever having signed a contract; without them noticing it, their consciousness was stolen, and returned to them in an altered form.

At some point the unfortunates had no feelings of their own anymore, only Pavlovian reactions to events that were given to them in a gentle way. Perhaps this is how the great callousness began, the lack of empathy with other human beings in this horrible modern age a zombie has no personal feelings.

But then, the annoying background droning was simply turned off and replaced by radio stations - which, of course, again fit into the psychological-musical scheme. But "Muzak" in its antiquated guise no longer mattered.

Nothing happened for many years.

Then came Vaporwave.

Vaporwave, this indeterminable giant entity, which is oddball to Western ears, but has a gigantic millionaire life in Asia. And this huge blob of wacky ideas has at least about 50 subgenres, which may sometimes amaze the connoisseur in their radicalism.

From the idea "Vaporwave", just like "Muzak", is not music to enjoy. But instead of shuffling zombies the apocalypse has happened here long ago. You can often tell that from the postings on various scene pages - the shimmering cocoon consists in truth of boundless contempt. Well and honestly meant nostalgia waves like "synthwave" or "chillwave" have finally turned into the ultimate rejection, the caricature of all former consumer values. For example, the genre "Mallsoft": to very strangely recreated "Muzak" of the 1980s we see only a picture of an abandoned shopping mall, where the electricity and escalators still work; but nothing is transported except dust and bad thoughts from the old days. 

Thus, as a listener, one has lost on all corners - even what one did not like is now gone. Turbo capitalism has died, in dilapidated temples of consumption it still babbles on like an idiot... and we are condemned to listen to this prolonged death throes over and over again from the beginning.

by Doc Nachtstrom

Haunted by Northern Lights

Sun Wind

Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis are mostly a spectacular visual appearance in green or amber up in the polar regions (there are also Southern Lights towards the South Pole, but are not as easily accessible).

While one must be lucky to see Northern Lights on a trip covering parts of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Finland, or Norway, one must be even luckier to be able to listen to them! It is a mostly unexplained phenomenon, but it is possible, as a team of researchers confirmed and recorded it in 2016.

It has been mused and theorized that the Auroras could also be heard for a long time already. Let us quickly explain what they are:

What is called Solar Wind, and a mass of other particles from outer space, bombard our earth continuously. But since we have the luck to have a magnetic field coming with our planet, these potentially harmful loads don't land on our heads but get swirled around the magnetic poles. Thanks, Mother Earth!

The applied magnetic inter-charge covers all the mysterious and beautiful lights. They even dance, as NASA is telling us! According to the periodical changes in earth's magnetic field, so do the Aurora displays change. They are interlinked.

But for almost centuries, there remained the question, "Can we also hear them?".

As said, "Yes, We Can". Little was known of the composition of the Auroras, so for long times only myths and tales remained. But there was little doubt that they can be listened to, as well.

While mentioned by Galileo in 1619, they have been known forever, have been depicted in cave paintings in 30,000 BC, and were recorded by a Babylonian astronomer around 600 BC.

So finally, in 2016 a team of researchers was able to make recordings using special equipment. It sounds rather eerie, like snaps of a whip, but seems to make sense when one imagines that lightning can also go upwards direction.

Anyway, the acoustic phenomena will happen around seventy meters above our heads, so it is not that farsighted to think of that for the Vikings, they were the shimmering reflections of the armor of the Valkyries sent by Odin to collect the bodies of the warriors slain in battle, while in Finland fire foxes traveled through the sky so quickly that their tails produced sparks as they brushed the mountains.

The skies sound eerie.

By nokturnal

Haunted by the Taos Hum

The advent of electricity and all its wonders also came with a breeze of uncanniness

Although James Clerk Maxwell's laws explain electromagnetism quite straightforwardly, they are not for the laywoman and -man. So a little bit of mystery got carried along with all the contraptions it made possible. 

This time I would like to refer to the Taos Hum or "The Hum". Although this phenomenon has been reported in the UK in the 1950s already, in 1989 there was a massive "surge" in the city of Taos (US, New Mexico) of these kinds of reports. I think it is not for no reason, that the district is called "Tierra del Encanto" (Land of Enchantment). 

Anyways, let us come back to "The Hum" and quickly describe it:

In silence, especially in want of sleep, people hear a deep, humming noise that disturbs them, like an idling Diesel engine in front of a building or something like it. It is modulated and can become very intense. But this is not the only false explanation. Besides the car (there is none), many more explanations can be ruled out.

Tinnitus & Otoacoustic Emissions:

While our hearing apparatus is capable of emitting virtual (tinnitus) and real(otoacoustic emissions, which can be used to measure a newborn child's hearing ability) noises, it does not caper for the description of the phenomenon, at all

Locally improved Hearing along the Spectrum:

It is possible, that certain people possess extremely finely tuned access to named emissions, but alas, as well, the statistics do not match up. But static does not tell the real truth in single cases.

Electromagnetic Frequencies:

Electromagnetic frequencies can be ruled out totally because there is no way that deep frequencies could be coupled to air compression-based sound emissions

Construction Sites:

This seems a more plausible explanation since variable deep vibrations can be brought into the ground easily and span quite a distance in urban environments, where the ground is sealed by asphalt, but nothing of the like could be brought to any statistical convergence with the perceived noise emissions.

While there can be no plausible explanation, the Taos Hum, as well as the Auckland Hum and the Windsor Hum did happen to be experienced by people.

I, myself was a victim of this (believe me, not very pleasant) phenomenon. I read tons of stuff about it, talked to many people, and went out at night to find possible sources. I even went to the local transformation station to find if it could be found as a source, but to no effect. It has to be said, that I was in a stressful situation at work at that time. 

A while later, as the stress was ebbing off, the phenomenon got weaker and easier to deal with. So I started to forget about it. But when, after all, I took a vacation in a mountainside cabin, travel was a bit far and stressful, I took the same experience! No power grid in 50 Kilometers! And no construction sites, trees only.

So: it could only come from me!

This is the last explanation I could accept, that the sense of hearing of some people is extremely fine-tuned to hear inter-organ noises produced by the body itself.  In extreme silence, we can even train ourselves to listen to the sound of our nervous operating system, it is about 4KHz hiss.

No one else was there.

by nokturnal

Worship the Glitch

ELpH vs Coil "Worswhip the Glitch" Vinyl

The legendary Industrial Music-Duo Coil was always at the forefront when it came to using audio technology as a vehicle for the "Otherworld" ("Time Machines"). In the midst of the band's highly creative and turbulent 1990s, Peter Christopherson and Jhonn Balance (both sadly deceased) noticed strange glitches in their equipment during various sessions. And Coil wouldn't have been Coil, of course, if the two original artists hadn't immediately personalized this occurrence; as "ELpH", a hybrid of machine and spirit being:

“During the studio sessions that developed into what would become ‘Worship the Glitch’, Coil became aware of random compositions emitting from their gear, and were at odds with constant ‘accidents’ that were perpetually plaguing the recordings. The band called these unintentional emissions ‘ELpH’: a conceptual being that is one part physical equipment, one part celestial being… constantly playing the role of trickster, throwing a wrench into Coil’s methodology. Eventually, these accidents and mistakes were embraced by the band, and the process of misusing audio software to create intentional ‘errors’ was adopted as a musical technique. The acceptance of the ‘mistake’, and the use of discovered mistakes as intentional elements slowly became the drive and concept behind the album, thus birthing the title ‘Worship the Glitch.“(¹)

For me personally, Coil were always quite great, admirable rogues, who knew exactly how to get their listeners and fans in the right mood - with mysterious, self-invented urban legends. They always work: "Worship the Glitch" may or may not come from a ghost, the music creates a very strange, unreal feeling in any case - and that even without colorful pills and 4/20 technology (I would recommend the former only to experienced psychonauts at Coil sessions anyway).

"Worship the Glitch" was released in 1995 under the band name ELpH vs Coil. It should be noted that already one year before the EP "Born Again Pagans" was released under the band name Coil vs ELpH. There are no surviving explanations for this, but on the original release there are such wonderfully enigmatic notes as: "Patent Pending 184" or "Taken from the forthcoming double compilation CD 'The Sound of Music' (Threshold House Records - Due Spring 1995)" - a release that of course never existed.

(¹)https://www.daisrecords.com/products/elph-vs-coil-worship-the-glitch

by Doc Nachtstrom

Rosemary Brown, Music Medium

Rosemary Brown (1960-2001), Music Medium

The renowned David Toop once wrote, "Sound is a haunting, a ghost, a presence whose location is ambiguous and whose existence is transitory. The close listener is like a medium who draws out substance from that which is not entirely there." (¹) But what is meant by "there"? If the sound presented is incomplete, is there a ghostly presence that fills the void?

Let's consider Rosemary Brown, a British housewife who claimed to have been visited by a strange tall man with long, white hair when she was seven years old. Decades later, he revealed himself as the ghost of Franz Liszt, the once-famous composer. Liszt dictated a musical piece to her, and with some supernatural help, guided her hands on the piano. Not only Liszt, but also Bach, Grieg, Debussy, Schubert and Chopin lined up to dictate their unfinished musical business. Brown recorded these pieces and gained fame, at least in England, where citizens cherish their oddities and preserve them at all costs.

However, there is one riddle: how could Brown write and play these seemingly complex pieces of music with only minimal piano training during her childhood?

(¹) David Toop, "Sinister Resonance: The Mediumship of the Listener", Continuum 2010

by Doc Nachtstrom

Haunted by EVP

For eras, the EVPs have been haunting us - Now there might be an evenly haunting explanation...

Since the beginning of the usage of voltaics, humanity has started to spread a globe of radiation around our mother Earth, which is expanding at the speed of light in all directions. So we see that since the first official overseas transmission in charge of Guillermo Marconi, 125 years have passed, which equals

1.1825913 x 1015 Kilometers or, 7,905,134.6 Astronomical Units.

This is to say: A very vast distance that our signals reached over time in space. Talking about space, we assumed that radio waves would move at approximately the speed of light in empty space. But space is not that empty, after all. Fine dust, small agglomerations of dust, tiny particles, agglomeration of particles, and lighter and larger particles, all yet unidentified. What all these phenomena can do for us, is to mimic a vast echo chamber, a delay device, that sends reflections of our own sent signals back to us. So in a sense, we are listening to the dead, but we cannot talk to them. In a larger sense, the acquisition of the broken signals may be due to pareidolia, too. But I still think the reverberance of our electronic past is a great opportunity to understand our electromagnetic ancestry and have our past selves reflected.

by nocturnal

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