>:) by Hextape
Hextape’s new concept album >:) (‘angry smiley”) scatters the listeners across 35 mins of chopped up jungle, footwork, techno, noise, and classical cello directly inspired by the solo rave-like experience of an MRI machine. The sounds of an MRI usually evade recording, as electrical equipment interferes with the magnetic functions of the machine, yet produce a constant stream of electrical noise as it uses electro-magnetic and radiofrequency waves to create resonant imaging of a subject’s body. Upon realising the MRI produces music that could rival some of the best sound artists of our time, whilst being inextricably ephemeral and unique to the patient’s body, Hextape approaches their memories of the sound like a recitation from an oral culture.
Drawing on the artist’s experience both as a patient and as a guest researcher at the Melbourne Brain Centre, >:) imagines a secret world of sanctioned and pirate radio stations only audible inside the scanner, conveying the siren song of the hospital both inward (to the listener) and outward (to the rave).
~~~
Hextape (aka Bridget Chappell) is an award-winning artist working across raves, contemporary and classical cello, hacked sound technology, and ungovernable space. They make dance and experimental music, custom sound systems, pirate radio stations, doom metal, podcasts, poetry and essays. Their albums ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ (Anterograde, 2019) and ‘Undertow’ (Heavy Machinery Records, 2020) received critical acclaim. Chappell is an artist larping as a scientist; data sonification, 3D sound modelling, live coding, siren phase cancellation, etc. They have been involved in artist-run projects like Sound School (VIC) and Watch This Space (NT), and try to leave a trail of rave breadcrumbs wherever they go.
@hextape.wav
www.bridgetchappell.com
Tracklist
| 1. | >:) | 4:16 |
| 2. | Acieeed (in the brain) | 4:37 |
| 3. | 2 Big Animals | 6:12 |
| 4. | Loc'd Out | 3:44 |
| 5. | It's Not Brain Surgery | 2:01 |
| 6. | Motor Cortex | 4:41 |
| 7. | Loc'd Out II (keep it locked) | 1:24 |
| 8. | Anti Convulsant (5am bulk bill closing set) | 1:54 |
| 9. | What Temperature Do You Keep The Magnet At | 3:18 |
| 10. | At Sea (catch me if you can) | 3:28 |
Credits
Mixing: Hextape and Tig Kokiri
Mastering: Andrew Huhtanen McEwan
Artwork: Photography by Chelsea Farquhar, graphic design by Daria Healy Koljanin, Hextape logo by Dominic Sargent.
Thank you to the Melbourne Brain Centre, The Development Lab, Arts House, Arts NT, Rebecca Glarin, Samaan Fieck, the Wheeler and Coolhaas families, Jesse Sullivan, Rach Kendrigan, and everyone else who helped out.
This album was recorded and produced on the unceded lands of the Gadabanud, Kaurna, Nukunu, Kokatha, Arabana, Latje Latje, Gunai-Kurnai, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people. Powertrip acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the true custodians of this land and wishes to pay respects to their elders past and present.
