John Wall, Alex Rodgers

John Wall, computer, editing sound manipulation. Alex Rodgers, voice, real and computer-generated, text-to-speech. Mastered by Jacques Beloeil. Edition of 200 copies "Wall and Rodgers’] last two collaborations have intermingled Rodgers’ leftfield drawling voice amidst microscopically-forged electronic tracery. The texts (by no means the arbitrary stream of consciousness they sometimes appear to be) have always felt more-or-less paramount, but that doesn’t equate to clarity, and in the first of the pieces, Rafia Longer, the voice is positioned low in the mix, just about projecting itself above Wall’s shuffling rhythmic surface (very different from almost everything Wall has done in recent times), with a recurring refrain about a “halo of candyfloss”. The latter piece comprises four fragments of utterance, articulated by synthetic voices using text-to-speech algorithms. The content is simultaneously prosaic and outrageous, clearer than ever yet completely ambiguous. Wall treats them with kid gloves, delicately dusting them with thin shards and slivers of electronics, in the process shining a spotlight on the truly bizarre and downright hilarious train of discontinuous thought emanating from Rodgers. Available on 7-inch vinyl, it’s the kind of release for which the phrase “weird and wonderful” could have been invented." (5:4 review)