Bleep

Utterly essential imprint Light Arc Editions (ran by Jen Allen and James Ginzburg of Emptyset) load up the previously lost, right-on matter direct into your cortex with this three track exploration of vocal recordings by composer, performer and sound artist Joan Le Barbara. First released in 1976 and recorded at University Art Museum, Berkeley, Voice Is The Original Instrument is a masterwork of circular breathing and vocal techniques where Le Barbara explains she spent an “hour in isolation with my eyes taped shut and not touching anything with my hands, led into the performance space where my assistant had placed a variety of substances in six small glass dishes. As I touched the material, I tried to give an immediate vocal response to what I felt both emotionally and physically, without the benefit of visual information “. The result is this mind-bending trip, like Holly Herndon zipped back to 1976.