composed / edited / mixed by Thomas Bey William Bailey @ High Plains Driftworks, spring 2010

track listing:

total running time: 30:00 (program repeats on either side of cassette)

notes: this is the first in a series of threnodies built from the sounds of what Paul Virilio has termed 'globalitarian' war. Inspired by the combat sound collages of Åke Hodell (his Strukturer III in particular), the aesthetic sensibility of Iannis Xenakis, and (last but not least) numerous accounts of post-traumatic stress from anonymous combatants, this is a fairly uncompromising blast of concrete technique from TBWB, psycho-acoustic musician and the author of the book Micro Bionic. More than just a hastily assembled pastiche of explosions and gunfire, U.U.U.U. is a dynamic and fully-realized piece punctuated by spectrally morphed / convoluted voices, percussion accents and other synthetic surprises.

Strangely enough, given the computer-aided contents of this release, the chosen format for U.U.U.U. is audio cassette. This is not being done purely out of economic necessity, but also because of the special tension that the cassette's mild surface noise adds to the quiet lulls in an already tense piece of music. As is the case with many 'cassette culture' releases, this comes in a unique package designed and hand-assembled by the artist, with the cover art invoking camouflage patterns, heightened anxiety, etc.

Of course, since a good many of us don't have a functioning cassette player anymore, anyone ordering this tape will also receive a unique download code and instructions for retrieving a high-quality digital audio file of the album.

To sum it up, each cassette order includes:

* 1 pro-duplicated cassette, in 'hazard / caution yellow' opaque tape shell (only 100 tapes in this color.) 30 minute audio program on either side.
* 1 clear, soft vinyl, snap-shut cassette box (dimensions: 9 1/8" x 6 1/2")
* 1 professionally printed transparency insert
* 1 unprinted vellum rear-panel insert
* 1 signed / numbered, laminated card including 'download code.'

Please note that, although this is a strictly limited edition of 100 tapes, this is *not* an attempt on my behalf to create a fake condition of scarcity- my attempts to find more cassette shells in this color were not successful. A 2nd edition of this will be released on white or clear tape shells (or maybe another audio format altogether!) after this edition is sold out.

official release date April 20 2010. Please limit 2 tapes per customer.

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