LeRoy Stevens & Bernhard Schreiner: Lobed Comb Jelly Loops / Fortunate Isles

The basis of Lobed Comb Jelly Loops is a seven-second audio clip recorded on location by Stevens, featuring voices of Monterey Bay Aquarium visitors observing an invertebrate exhibit. Editing and effect-processing took place in Frankfurt by Schreiner. The clip is repeated, and with each successive play the fragmented speech becomes increasingly coherent. The seemingly simple structure of the audio is subverted by a constantly increasing volume and a number of envelopes that gradually slur the language from melodic to demonic. Fortunate Isles consists of two audio recordings: a field recording by Stevens of an Ethiopian Timket celebration in Los Angeles and an instrumental studio piece recorded by Schreiner in Frankfurt. Unfamiliar with Ethiopian chant, Stevens came upon the ceremony in the early morning near his home in Elysian Park, drawn in by the complex tonal qualities and vocal phrasing emanating through the landscape. The studio-piece by Schreiner brings to mind the invisible mu