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Labor Camp Orchestra is the Aural Branch of the Labor Camp.
Since it's gradual inception between 1998-1999
Labor Camp Orchestra
remains committed
to construction of auditory experiences,
which follow no singular philosophy, process or idea.
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Labor Camp Orchestra CDs : "Songs From The Labor Camp" + "Theater Of Operations"
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Tractatus : Reading from Wittgenstein
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NOTES:
All German texts in "Tractatus: Reading from Wittgenstein" come from "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Additional textual elements (tracks 5, 11, 12) come from John Cage's "Empty Words, Part III" lecture. Fragments of archival recordings from September 11, 2001 have been used in track 11.
For lyrics translations and additional information,
please see the Project Page.
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra except:
German voice by Erik Brandt (tracks 1-11)
Additional voices by Pamela Johnson (tracks 5, 11, 12)
Soprano Lori Lewis (track 5)
Violin and viola by Ava Szychalski (track 6)
Written, performed and produced by the Labor Camp Orchestra.
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Songs From Above
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NOTES:
All songs in the "Songs From Above" cycle were written,
performed and produced by the Labor Camp Orchestra.
Arabic and English lyrics for each song are based on
authentic leaflets deployed by CENTCOM (Central Command)
during the Gulf War, and by coalition forces during
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Millions of leaflets such as these were dropped from
aircraft flying over target locations in Iraq.
Additional textual elements (tracks 17, 19) come from
John Cage's "Empty Words, Part III" lecture.
Archival recording from a video shot in Iraq during
Operation Iraqi Freedom was used in track 20.
For lyrics translations and additional information,
please see the Project Page
See a series of 19 short films
based on "Songs From Above" song cycle.
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra except:
Arabic voice on all tracks by A.Z.
Additional voice by Pamela Johnson (tracks 10, 11, 12, 17, 20)
Empty Words recitation by George Rosar (track 19)
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Russian Songs
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NOTES:
The two songs set to the poetry of Anna Alexandrovna Barkova
initiate the new (and long overdue) thematic thread
devoted to the rich and dark poetic tradition
of the 20th century Russia.
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra
except:
Antonia Maistrova (Russian voice in "joy" and "paradise")
Lori Lewis (soprano in "paradise")
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Three Drawings
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NOTES:
"The Three Drawings" consists of three pencil drawings
and three sound compositions. The songs and drawings
function as a set of narrative pairs, with visuals
complementing and expanding the audio, and vice versa.
Specific imagery evoked by texts implemented in audio
compositions inspires the content of the drawings,
and conversely, sentiments emerging from the drawings
often define the approach to sound.
See the Project Page
Archival recordings of: a speech by Joseph Stalin used in
"govorit moskva", and a recitation by J. R. R. Tolkien in "w czarnym, czarnym lesie".
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra
except:
Pamela Johnson (English voice in "so leben wir alle tage")
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Quotations from Chairman Mao (Chinese Songs)
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NOTES:
Lyrics for all songs in this set are based
on a variety of texts and poems by Mao Tse-tung.
The two exceptions are: "a picture of Mao"
which utilizes fragments of archival maoist propaganda
materials, and "self-criticism" the lyrics for which
were written on the basis of peculiar metaphors,
terminology and dynamics of the red rebel language
common during the Cultural Revolution.
The premise of "self-criticism" song echoes
the format of violent public struggle and denunciation
sessions during which thousands of arbitrarily selected
individuals were humiliated, beaten and forced to confess
to often entirely fabricated trespasses.
"destroy and build", "abolition of war", "man and woman",
"advance / retreat" contain texts from "Quotations from
Chairman Mao Tse-tung" also known as the Little Red Book.
For original text files see the RESOURCES secition.
Archival recordings from Cultural Revolution era used in
"a picture of Mao", "man and woman" and "mount liupan".
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra
except:
L.Z. (Chinese voice in "crossing the summit", "dividing
the land", "militia", "clouds", destroy and build",
"abolition of war", man and woman", "jinggangshan",
"mount liupan")
H.Z. (Chinese voice in "fairy cave" and "jinggangshan")
Rosemary Szychalski (voice in: "poor and blank")
Ava Szychalski (voice in: "militia" and "poor and blank")
Mao Tse-tung (voice in: "a picture of Mao")
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Therapia Magna (Arabic Songs)
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NOTES:
Arabic Songs are one of several current and
ongoing projects at the Labor Camp.
Although the subject of Iraq war is approached by
the Labor Camp Orchestra with the same scrutiny
as Cultural Revolution, World War II or other
world conflicts, these events (and artifacts they generate)
are processed here well before they attain the status
of historical material. Thus the Arabic Songs
serve as a direct expression of one
of the most fundamental methodologies/sensibilities
at/of the Labor Camp: the careful, critical, immediate,
yet thorough, analysis of contemporary social and political reality.
Text and voices (in Arabic and English) for most songs
in this set come from recordings prepared by
the United States Marine Corps (USMC)
Center For Advanced Operational Culture Learning (CAOCL).
These CAOCL audio materials called "Tactical Iraqi Arabic
for Marine Expeditionary Forces" are designed to support
Marine forces deploying to Iraq as part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Text utilized in "deadly force" is based on a transcript
of a YouTube video shot during the war in Iraq.
Additional voices come from:
instructional language tapes "Practical English for arabic Speakers;
Pamela Johnson in: "kisses of fire";
David Goldes in: "deadly force";
unidentified Iraqi insurgents in: "kisses of fire".
All instruments by the Labor Camp Orchestra.
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Camp Songs (Formerly "Silent Help")
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NOTES:
A selection of various recent research projects
conducted at the Labor Camp, and focusing directly on
Camp subjects.
"friendly faces" is based on the poem by Primo Levi
entitled "If This Is a Man". "future" is based on an excerpt from "Kolyma Tales" by Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov.
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra
except:
Gaetano Cunsolo (voice in "friendly faces")
Pamela Johnson (voice in: "future", "3 x H", "camp cola" and "this is labor camp")
Rosemary Szychalski (voice in: "only the beginning", "camp cola" and "this is labor camp")
Ava Szychalski (voice in: "camp cola", "what is this", "this is labor camp" and "no end")
H.Z. (voice in: "this is labor camp")
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (voice in: "no end")
fragments of archival Chinese propaganda recording used in: "america"
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Vexations
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NOTES:
Vexations is perhaps one of the most unique compositions of
Eric Satie, for whom Labor Camp holds special fondness.
Short chordal passage of this 1893 piece
is accompanied by a note from Satie:
"To play this motif 840 times in succession, it would be
advisable to prepare oneself beforehand
in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities."
Such unusual compositional characteristics of "Vexations"
as well as its extreme duration, present specific physical
performance and endurance problems. For this and other
philosophical reasons Labor Camp Orchestra embraced
"Vexations" as one of its flagship "root compositions".
Presented here are some of the numerous interpretations
and explorations of the Satie theme undertaken at the Labor Camp.
All instruments by the Labor Camp Orchestra.
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Love Songs
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NOTES:
"The Love Songs" series initiated from research
into the characteristics of popular song lyrics.
A determination was made at the Labor Camp
that certain themes and their unique phraseology
are of special value to the public.
Fragments of lyrics from songs
performed by groups such as ABBA or New Kids On The Block
were selected and utilized in this body of work.
"Love Songs" is an ongoing project of the Labor Camp Orchestra.
"in the lab" is based on the experiments
with Bell Labs Text-to-Speech Synthesis technology.
All vocal material in this composition (as well as fragments of "V")
is generated and delivered by a Bell Labs computer.
Texts in "my angel" and "love letter"
are based on two "declarations of love"
found on the Internet.
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra except:
Aydin Mohseni (lead voice in: "neverending song")
Joan Johnson (voice in: "longing")
Pamela Johnson (voice in: "practice", "one life", "nothing")
Rosemary Szychalski (voice in: "we fall", "love letter", "touch me baby", "i need you")
Ava Szychalski (voice in parts of "V")
David Duke (voice in: "white xmas")
Anonymous caller (voice in: "fuck you twice")
Archival recordings from various airline crashes utilized in
"vertical dive"
fragments of archival Chinese propaganda recording used in "love letter"
voices of unidentified employees of multiple funeral homes used in "always".
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The Give Series
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NOTES:
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra except:
Wladyslaw Szychalski (voice in: "yes-no", "a picture", "plantation", "silence", "time")
Rosemary Szychalski (voice in: "silence", "stay with me")
911 recordings are used in "firecalls".
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Quad and other Soundtracks
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NOTES:
Selected compositions from a series constructed for performances
of a play by Samuel Beckett "Quad."
(performed with students at MCAD during 2003,
and for use in future staging of the play.)
"combat reality" is a 15 minute soundtrack
for a Politprop lecture Nr.3 (also known as the "support/oppose" lecture.)
"simple math" is a soundtrack for an installation work
first exhibited in 2003 under the same title,
and designed to play as a continuous loop.
See the online rendition of "simple math" project.
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra except:
Wladyslaw Szychalski (voice in: "combat reality" and "QUAD / language")
Fragments of traditional Bulgarian village songs implemented in "QUAD / women"
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Unovis
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NOTES:
"unovis", "kazimir" and "una" sets are a result
of experimental analysis of the work of Kazimir Malevich,
conducted at the Labor Camp by means of sound.
For many of these components,
melodic themes and structural patterns are derived directly
from the proportions of Malevich's "Black Square"and "Black Cross" paintings.
Similarly, most words spoken in these compositions come from Malevich's writings.
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra except:
Wladyslaw Szychalski (voice in: "kazimir" (1-4), "una 2 / the emotions",
"una 4 / a determining factor", "vertical dive / the expression of pure feeling")
Anonymous callers (voices in: "3 thoughts on innere klänge")
Rosemary Szychalski (voice in: "unovis 4 / pavlov dogs")
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Kwadrat: 60 Suprematist Drawings
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NOTES:
"Kwadrat" ("Square" in Polish ) is an hour of audio material
divided into 60 one minute segments.
Preceding the recordings is a brief recitation of excerpts
from Kazimir Malevich's "Suprematism"
establishing a conceptual framework for "Kwadrat."
Each one minute fragment proposes an aural texture
conveying no particular idea, but the feeling of rhythm.
This work is meant to resemble a catalogue of wallpaper samples,
where each page presents only a fragment of potentially infinite surface.
Sound designs presented here,
are arranged in relation to their average volume,
and the amount of pure silence they contain:
beginning with textures containing no silence,
to the final composition containing no recorded sound.
All instruments by the Labor Camp Orchestra.
Wladyslaw Szychalski (voice in: "the kazimir monologue")
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56 Suprematist Sketches
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NOTES:
Collection of one minute fragments
constructed in connection with "Kwadrat" series.
These sound sketches explore the idea of aural wallpaper.
The duration of 1 minute is arbitrarily imposed,
often terminating the pieces abruptly,
to suggest the possibility of the sound textures unfolding infinitely.
All instruments by the Labor Camp Orchestra.
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Innere Klänge (set nr. 5)
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NOTES:
A selection of compositions constructed with files
generated by a custom-built audio application.
Each song is an algorithmic conversion of an 8-bit Mac icon
into sound patterns.
All instruments by the Labor Camp Orchestra.
L.T. , J.T. , M.T. , M. T. (voices in: "red cross manual")
M. T. (voice in: "woman")
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Polskie Piosenki (Polish Songs)
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NOTES:
These Polish songs (except for tracks 1, 4, 9-13)
were originally recorded for a series of short films
entitled "Piosenki."
They are songs of the heroic decades
following the end of World War II:
a unique moment in Polish history,
when viscious deception and pure idealistic commitment
coexisted in perfect harmony.
Lyrics in "child of europe" are based on a poem
by Czeslaw Milosz under the same title.
All instruments and voices by the Labor Camp Orchestra except:
Pope John Paul II (voice in: "the people's square")
Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski (voice in: "sikorski" and "zelazny marsz")
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski (voice in: "jaruzelski")
Danuta Szychalska (voice in: "matka I dziecko")
Czeslaw Milosz (voice in: "matka I dziecko" and "child of europe")
Rosemary Szychalski (voice in: "zelazny marsz")
Wladyslaw Szychalski (voice in: "biel")
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Labor Camp Orchestra CDs : "Songs From The Labor Camp" + "Theater Of Operations"
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