TOTENTANZ: december 2011

01 Another Day Another Depression (44:05)

Ingrid Willemse: voice

Willem De Ridder: voice

Andrew McKenzie: narrator, library music LPs, synths, sound effects, live mix

Recorded ca 1985-90

These All Chemix Radio episodes came in a box-set containing two C90 cassettes with 2 more episodes (Encoded Message and Radio Rabotnik) that will be posted later. The story of ‘Another Day Another Depression’ starts  with birds merrily chirping around while the voice of McKenzie is  introducing the war situation amid menacing sounds of air raids and  falling bombs over the city. Later enter the 2 survivor protagonists  Ingrid and Willem, shut in their bunker, arguing about their future,  until they finally decide to go out for a walk. Though De Ridder claims  there was never any preconceived plan for a Radio session, it seems  McKenzie’s text was written beforehand and a general plot was decided  on. The rest is obviously improvised, though, and would have benefited  from some post-production. During the 1980s, Andrew McKenzie (aka  The Halfler Trio) collaborated with Willem De Ridder on different  projects, including The Spiral Information Service, NYX and SNUFF. They  possibly met during the heydays of Radio Rabotnik freeform radio mixes  in 1982. On ‘Another Day…’, he’s probably responsible for most  of the library music LPs used as background, with some pops from the  vinyls noticeable here and there. Ingrid Willemse, a  Dutch top-model and actress, took part to some of De Ridder’s Radio Art  Foundation radioplays, as well as De Ridder’s theater play ‘In De Wachtkamer – A Continuous Story’ (=In The Waiting Room). She was also featured on The Halfler Trio’s ‘One Dozen Ecomomical Stories By Peter Greenaway’ (1989-93) and ‘Fuck’ (1992). Known for her role in the film ‘Let The Music Dance’ (1990), Willemse is now a TV producer.

02 Kali (44:07)

Nicole Veldman: voice

Hessel Veldman: synth

Cora Emens: voice

Willem de Ridder: electronics & voice

Andrew McKenzie: objects, noises and synth

Ben Uijtjens: recording & live mix

Recorded 1989

According to the New American Radio presentation, the 1989 Kali radioplay was “an  unusual sonic meditation. Kali invokes the Hindu goddess associated  with death, destruction, and disease. Though often represented as a  terrifying monster, garlanded with skulls and bearing a bloody sword in  one of her many arms, Kali is also worshipped by many as Mata, the  Divine Mother.” This live radio session is credited to FNT-CORA on the cover, also known as FNTC (see previous post with same line-up except McKenzie replaced by… Jon Rose!). Kali  is an obscure mystical ceremony recorded from a remote dark cave –  well, you know, the reverb effect actually. Priests and worshippers are  uttering undecipherable chantings and interjections. Sonic events creep  in your mind like worms in a rotten fruit in a part Lovecraftian  nightmare, part psychoanalysis gone wrong. People involved were  obviously having fun here – and you’re necessarily having fun when using  a whistling hose (near the 10mns mark). Other sounds include  unidentified percussion and noises, metal objects, male falsetto voice  chanting an hymn around 22:50. The last 15mns is an industrial-ambient  soundscape without vocals build from beautiful musique concrète sounds,  synth and sound effects. I guess the gorgeous synth is played by Hessel Veldman (SM Tape)while the great noise-scape is the work of Andrew McKenzie, both masters in their respective field. It’s an impressive conclusion to a remarkable All Chemix Radio episode.