Funkenspiel, by David W Halsell

Funkenspiel

by David W Halsell

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price

1.	Ionosphere and Guidance 04:38		buy track
2.	The Bulgarian Incident 03:57		buy track
3.	The Torkham Opportunity 03:41		buy track
4.	Rendezvous, Gomal E-7 05:12		buy track
5.	Lo Wu Control Point 03:45		buy track
6.	The Russo-Angolan Operation 06:19		buy track
7.	Telstar Tropical Spherics 03:04		buy track
8.	The Arctic Van Allen Haarp 06:30		buy track
9.	Goodnight, Dark Knight 02:02	info	buy track

about

Funkenspiel is a noise/music assemblage recording of shortwave radio, spacecraft transmissions, and atmospheric phenomena. In performance, this is remixed dub-style with live shortwave broadcasts. Funkenspiel includes repetitive rhythms, bursts of noise, and undulating radio signals. A prominent feature in the source material is the use of “number stations”– repetitious coded vocal messages of unidentified origin, transmitted via shortwave bands. These broadcasts are supposed covert transmissions by various state intelligence agencies to field operatives (see the Conet Project, which is where some of the source material for this project is from.)

These enigmatic transmissions are an overlapping territoriality of social influence between the social, machinistic, and political realms. Natural and man-made radio waves envelope us constantly, generating variable definitions and meaning of what is signal and what is noise. Funkenspiel thematically considers the politics of control in information transmission, the interplay and significance of noise in a sonic environment, and the metaphorical implications of the body/voice being awash in a constant flow of encoded information in radio signals.

The title of the work is a variation on “funkspiel” (radio-play), a technique used in WWII by both German and Russian forces in which foreign agents and transmitters were manipulated into treasonous activities; “funkenspiel” can be translated literally as transmitter-play or spark-play. Funkenspiel debuted at Control Acoustics, the Zeppelin 2005 Sound Projects Festival, Barcelona, Spain.

The recording was released in digital distribution in 2018 by Flat Field Records/RealMoreReal. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

credits

released January 1, 2017

"This sound collage, or more appropriately, musique concrète- descended experiment (in the artist’s words, the ingredients are remixed dub-style) features nine selections cohering into one long dose of numbers stations-infused sonic unease. The individual tracks do work in isolation, with the espionage-laden titles (“The Bulgarian Incident,” “Rendezvous, Gomal E-7,” “The Russo-Angolan Operation”) reinforcing Halsell’s divisions as far from arbitrary; the layering in late selection “The Arctic Van Allen Haarp” is impressive. Conet Project fans, take note. B+"
-Joseph Neff, The Vinyl District
www.thevinyldistrict.com/the-tvd-record-store-club/2017/07/graded-curve-new-stores-july-2017/

license

some rights reserved

about

David W Halsell Seattle, Washington

David W. Halsell is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has investigated a range of concepts including perceptual consciousness, the ecology of mind, personal and social relationships with the natural world, and the constructs of time.

More info: dwhalsell.com ... more

contact / help

Contact David W Halsell

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like David W Halsell, you may also like:

Amaro
by Jeremy Young

The new album from electroacoustic composer Jeremy Young is draped in a sense of mystery, tones flickering gently, like an old home movie. Bandcamp New & Notable May 9, 2021
go to album
Of Shadow and Substance
by Lea Bertucci

A disquieting, yet serene, reflection on industrial decay from the experimental New York-based composer. Bandcamp Album of the Day Dec 1, 2023
go to album
Cataclysmic System Binding Loss
by Carbon In Prose

Shards of static & distortion crash against disarmingly beautiful piano & synth melodies on this riveting new record from Carbon and Prose. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 30, 2022
go to album
On The Pedestrian Side
by Angela Sawyer

A fearless cult figure from New England's underground scene, Sawyer's no-fi experiments with everyday objects and body sounds are greatly rewarding to those who have the patience and curiosity to give them a chance. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jan 20, 2017
go to album
Images
by Colin Andrew Sheffield

Colin Andrew Sheffield (Elevator Bath) repurposes heavily manipulated jazz samples into gorgeously eerie soundscapes. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 20, 2023
go to album
Soft Earth
by Conor C. Ellis

Meticulously constructed and deeply haunting, immersive ambient; a lovely debut from this Michigan artist. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 23, 2019
go to album
Request Stop
by Various Artists

Brachliegen Tapes's electronic compilation finds magic in the simple act of riding the bus. Bandcamp Album of the Day Feb 12, 2024
go to album