THE CRACKLING 1996 HERE SPARK CORE TIDE CHARGE ACT PROCESS CHANGE STEEL WATER

Composed by John Duncan with Max Springer Recorded by John Duncan at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) Computer sequences engineered by Max Springer and Benzine Design and Layout by Tom Recchion Mixed at AVW, San Diego Released by trente oiseaux TOC 961 NECROPOLIS The Stanford Linear Accelerator tunnel is a straight line of prefabricated steel structures several stories high, connected end-to-end, 2 miles (3+ kilometers) long. Inside, microwave electron drivers are set every 10 meters, each unit emitting an intense, disorienting 120Hz buzz that creates phasing effects with the other units near it, all in an enclosed straight line that stretches out to a vanishing point. These drivers propel electrons in parallel paths along the tunnel up to velocities just under the speed of light, toward a collision chamber at the far end where the paths split and the electrons are driven into each other head-on. The collision chamber is a solid-steel cylinder roughly 20 meters thick, with a hollow center roughly the same diameter as the length of a one-bedroom apartment. The temperature of the center at the moment of collision reaches 3 billion degrees Kelvin, cooled by a liquid nitrogen cryogenic system. The chamber and several monitoring stations are mounted on a multi-story steel scaffold that was originally designed by shipbuilders to support a supertanker in drydock. This entire structure occupies the far end of a much larger prefabricated steel building, that itself is easily large enough to house several 747's, one on top of the other. The place is full of contradictions: structures built to dwarf and outlast their creators, designed to generate subatomic events that take place in a time scale that is experientially impossible to imagine, using forces and processes that are hostile or lethal to human life, yet are entirely human-created. A 'city of the dead' that seems to have an existence of its own with or without its operators. For this work, the electron is understood as a metaphor for the process of life: isolated, compelled by a system that uses the electron's own energy to force it into a path that leads at a constantly increasing pace to certain destruction -- to a point of certain change, of complete resolution and the beginning of a new process.

HOME: UNSPEAKABLE 1996 Composed by John Duncan and Bernhard Günter Released on trente oiseaux "Best record of 1996!" --Jim O'Rourke

CHARGE FIELD 1996 Track composed with Giuliana Stefani included on Antiphony Released on Ash Ash 3.4

Photo © Julian Hills

CHANGE 1996 Track included on The Mind of a Missile Released on Heel Stone Stone 003

TRINITY 1996 Track included on A Fault In The Nothing Double-CD released on Ash UK Ash 2.6

HYMN 1996 Track included on State of the Union produced by Elliott Sharp CD released on Atavistic, USA

THE RUUD E. MEMORIAL CHOIR / PSYCHONAUT 1996 Clear-vinyl limited-edition EP released on Robot Records, USA. THE RUUD E. MEMORIAL CHOIR 30-voice choir directed by Duncan. PSYCHONAUT recorded at FLARE, Amsterdam Mixed at the Sweelink Academy Electronic Music Studio, Amsterdam

THE RUUD E. MEMORIAL CHOIR In the winter of 1992, Ruud Ekelhof travelled to Estonia to join friends there for a one-day trek across the frozen Gulf of Finland to Helsinki. Soon after they started out, the more experienced local hikers noticed that the ice was cracking under their weight and the group decided to turn back. Determined to go forward, Ruud refused to join them and went ahead on his own. Six months later, his body was discovered floating in Helsinki Harbor. Within days of this news, Ruud's closest friend Arkadi was found dead with his girlfriend, esphixiated in a household accident. During the preparation of a joint memorial planned for Ruud and Arkadi, a set of notebooks were discovered where Ruud kept his writings, including texts he'd written in a secret language that he and Arkadi had developed. I copied the complete text of these notebooks for a 30-voice choir, giving each member one page that was unique, one page that was shared by at least one other choir member, and one page that was shared by all. This recording was made at a live performance held during the all-night memorial service held August 1993. Texts from the secret language are spoken by Peat Moss.