Spatio-sensory by James Goode
Composed in 2003 for an eight-channel audio installation at Granny's, San Francisco. Stereo version.
Prologue to the Second Unveiling (2004):
There are no incorrect answers. On the surface, eight pieces of the puzzle are in evidence; eight organs of aural transmission that can be perceived as being open-ended; a long, brightly lit and immaculate walking tube with mirrored walls, an unlocked door at either end. As it stands, our individual interpretations of the imagined taste of a particular sequence of spatially distinct sounds may lead us to wildly disparate narrative conclusions – an opaque prognosis. Until the tests are in, and the entire audience’s narratives are compiled, the night is still young, fresh, unmowed. The pulp of pages yet to be remains unformed, aloof. The bicameral audience, having seen the parts that were made visible by a spatio-sensory device which conveyed four of the speakers as eyes, two as ears, and one each as nose and tongue, is made the brain and nervous system of the operation. Each unique story, emerging from the experience, a different color, shade, texture, flavor, tone, or combination thereof, dovetailed and concatenated to form a whole. A highly animated form of spatial synaesthesia ensues, the sensory organs moving about the room as the sounds associated with them migrate from speaker to speaker; from ear to eye, eye to nose, nose to tongue, and tongue to ear, the imagination and its powers of visualization (not to mention its olfactory and gustatory equivalents) persuaded to follow in step. Comedy or horror? Again, the multiple choice is yours. Beyond the sensory, the emotional content of the body’s experiences as it moves through time and space offers clues to the listener. These are both innate and constructed from sensory building blocks, along with the listener’s own memories, which are both triggered and toggled by sensory and emotional events in the piece; input received from all of the senses, both real and imagined. The eyes, ears, nose and tongue don’t even have to be human! (De gustibus non est disputandum.)
Composed and produced by James Goode. Copyright 2003.
James Goode: tapes, electronics, objects, devices
James Goode has recorded and/or performed with Chris Cohen, John Dieterich, Shelley Hirsch, Bill Horist, Bär McKinnon, Roger Powell, Greg Saunier, Ches Smith, Trey Spruance, Gregg Turkington, William Winant, and many others. Since 1992, he’s worked with Coalinga group Faxed Head (as "Fifth Head"), adding extreme tape manipulations and electronics to their already over-the-top sound.