Assembled and mastered by Francisco Meirino in 2008 at Shiver Mobile using various damaged blank tapes, a 1977 cassette recorder, a 1960 dynamic microphone, a 1964 dictation machine and various piezo transducers.
1. tapes : magnetic ghosts
2. head cleaning
3. (amplified) dioxide
4. auto-reverse and end
Released by Sentient Recognition Archive (usa)
Pro-press cdr, euros : 8.-
In Bagatellen (february 2009)
Magnetic Ghosts (Sentient Recognition Archive) consists of minimalistic play with a 1970’s cassette player, some antiquated audio gear, damaged tapes, and contact mics. The questionable predictability of tape
— by way of hidden artifacts —
has been cause for study for decades. Ilhan Mimaroglu was bisecting and overdubbing before extensive comparative studies could even be launched.
Meirino is more overt in his exposition, as the track titles say (“Head Cleaning,” “Auto-Reverse and End”). Like the other disc, Magnetic Ghosts renders preconceptions of the material futile. The tracks consist of variations on mechanical repetition with little recognizable sound — tape hiss features prominently in a few spots, which, in tandem with the other components, comes off surprisingly structured.
Elsewhere Meirino transforms the tape player’s tiny motors as makeshift drone sources, interspersed with the faint clicks of second-stage moving parts and tape heads. It’s an examination of the potential of discarded materials, which may or may not have been music documents in themselves, and it works.
Alan Jones