William Basinski “92982.3”
From the netlabel release 92982 on 2062 Records
« Something from a long time ago…In Brooklyn, 351 Jay Street…A fruitful evening in the studio…Home at last after a day of work at the answering service, answering phones for Calvin Klein, Bianca Jagger, Steve Rubell, and all the other somebody people…
In our space station: home in my studio experimenting live. James is in the adjacent studio painting masterpieces. Roger is in the front, gluing old shoes on canvas and painting them orange…I’m clicking the old Norelcos back and forth between channels…All the windows are open. The sound is spreading all over downtown Brooklyn mixing with the helicopters, sirens, pot smoke and fireworks…
It’s crunchy, it’s distorted…it’s Basinski archive circa 1982. The third track some of you may recognize: a shorter version was included as ‘Variation #8’ on Variations: A Movement In Chrome Primitive. So, this night in the studio spawned a direction I would follow for some time. As I love this document of that night, I thought you might like to put what came later into context, so I’m releasing this archival recording. The last track is a newly recorded reprise of the first track that I recorded with the original loop in February 2009 in Los Angeles. — William Basinski quoted on Last.fm
The Wire Magazine has selected William Basinski - 92982 as one of the Top 50 Records of 2009 in the January 2010 issue: 2009 Rewind
«Basinski’s music is characterized by repeating loops of magnetic tape, playing endlessly on his reel-to-reel, saturated with reverb and short lived time delays. About a year ago, in April 2008, I met Billy at the Resonant Forms festival in Los Angeles. There, I witnessed his impressive live performance. That moment is still alive in my memory, and is recalled with his music. On a table there are two Norelco reel-to-reels, one tin box full of tape loops with a “Tootsie Rolls” logo, and various cylindrical objects. Basinski fishes out long and winding snakes of tape, and feeds them through the magnetic heads, stretching out the remainder of the loop between cups, cones, upside down water bottles and vases. These proceed to play, endlessly, through effects and faders on the mixing board. Only the hiss of the tape reminds me of this dying technology, which is still very much mechanically alive, in Basinski’s hands. —Headphone Commute »
- Available through 2062 Records
© 2062 (2009)
