Robert Ashley
Automatic Writing (LP)
LabelLovely Music, Ltd.GenreExperimental
Out of stock
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condition (record/cover): NM / EX
Built around Ashley's Tourette's syndrome: the involuntary half-words, mumbled doublings and vocal tics his nervous system produced regardless of intent. Four years of recording and editing, then surrounded with a Polymoog drone, a faint Hammond, and Mimi Johnson reading the French translation (by Monsa Norberg).
The LP collects four pieces: the title work (46-minute central composition) and three older voice studies (Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon, She Was a Visitor, In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women). Sessions moved between Mills College, the American Cultural Center in Paris, and Mastertone in New York. The piece sits at the threshold of audibility. Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound has cited it as a foundational record. 1996 CD on LCD 1002, 2019 remaster on LML 1002.
Release notes
Produced, recorded and mixed at The Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College (Oakland, California), The American Cultural Center (Paris, France) and Mastertone Recording Studios (New York City) Mixing assistance at Mastertone Recording Studios Published by Visiblity Music Publishers A mix of the monologue and electronics was used in the video tape composition, "Title Withdrawn" (from "Music with Roots in the Aether: video portraits of composers and their music") by Robert Ashley
| A | Automatic Writing | 18:00 | |
| B | Automatic Writing | 27:58 |
- William Farley
- Artwork [Silhouette]
- Ken Cornet
- Design
- Patrick Vitacco
- Design
- Robert Ashley
- Electronics, Synthesizer [Polymoog], Voice, Words By, Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By
- Rich LePage
- Mixed By [Mixing Assistance]
- Paul DeMarinis
- Other [Switching Circuit Designed And Built By]
- Monsa Norberg
- Translated By
- Mimi Johnson
- Voice
