Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer, House of Low Culture)
SPB: Is there a record you love that would surprise people based on the music you create?
Coloccia: My answer would not necessarily be a record, but a series of found recordings and weather radios. Usually I find these at thrift stores, but sometimes they are inherited or found in abandoned houses and buildings in the US and in other countries. The found recordings are usually of people dictating, accidental recordings, therapy sessions, and nature. The weather radios are usually only conduits for one station that is broadcasting weather and emergency pre-recorded information. The only change occurs if you take the radio to a different state or city. The information is broadcast as a constant monotone loop, with subtle frequency changes.
I am interested in the forgotten and discarded nature of the these recordings and radios. The recording or radio is forgotten about, and possibly never listened to. The intent of the lost object is to be ignored and lost forever. Instead I make them part of my practice and bring something seen as worthless into everyday use. I guess it is surprising because these things are really mundane and monotonous, and basically boring and not composed or intentionally musical, whereas Mamiffer is composed, dramatic, musical, and full of intent.
Some of my favorite found cassette tapes are of the following things:
1. an unmarked white tape of recordings of airplanes taking off in the rain
2. Someone’s recorded consultation and gossip with a lawyer
3. The sounds of the ocean recorded over expired and audible listening calls
4. A recording of Finnish radio wave frequencies
5. German dictation that happens once every 10 minutes on a 40-minute tape
