Taking a lot of inspiration from Christian Maclay’s work, I decided to try some new methods of working with vinyl records. By exploring the potential of the medium as he did with Record Without a Cover, and the performative, deconstructivism elements of Guitar drag, I created three sound works.
The first two were 7″ singles which I attached to my sandals. I walked around and out my flat, collecting bits of dust and dirt in the grooves as I did and scratching the surface. When played, these would produce random popping noises, which would range from a faint crackle to loud and uncomfortable cracks. The needle would occasionally jump to a different position, disrupting the linearity of the listening experience. The chance occurrences reminded me of John Cage’s work, William’s Mix, in which magnetic tape splices are randomly rearranged and played together over 8 channels.
My third recording, the longest of the three, was a deconstruction of the soundtrack to Chariots of Fire by Vangelis. Fitting with the theme, I decided to wreck this one by tying the record to my leg and running with it.
