Errant Bodies, ISBN 9780977259410, U.S.A. / Denmark, 2007, English
This is another essential book for any artist interested in sound, originated by the clever and productive mind of Brandon Labelle, a conceptual experimenter. Labelle extends most of his artistic practices and interests with a good dose of research, publishing precious books on focused themes. This is a collection of essays about radio art edited with Erik Granly Jensen, focusing on radio art as a radical culture that can finally be expressed through networking and streaming. So here we can find texts on the history of pirate radios, experiments in FM, suggested performance schemes, apo33’s experiments in remotely connecting buildings through microphones and then airing these sounds throughout a city. We also find a detailed history of electromagnetic sounds, or narratives of auditory life, with producers retelling their peculiar personal experiences. In this rich assembling of different material that reveals how radical radio is still very prolific, the mixture of theory and practices is well balanced, and may provide enough motivation to trigger a reader to get some equipment and start producing work of their own. This can be easily appreciated by listening to the beautiful accompanying CD, which is full of recording bits, networked actions, field recordings, streaming experiments and mixed strategies. Its nineteen tracks includes work by apo33, Steve Bradley, John Hudak & Joe Resinsel, elpueblodechina, Jason Kahn and Kode9 among others, and can be considered as an important and seductive introduction to radio art.