Storm Warning by Vax
Underground electronica from the wintry nuclear dream life of the early (to mid) 1980s. This was the early Reagan era, when a potential nuclear war seemed to hover over us like a sword pointing down at our scalps, before Gorbachev's reforms and the friendlier ending to the decade. (But then Chernobyl happened and changed everything, for me at least.)
Produced at the York University Electronic Music Studio (1982-83) and at Leland Studio in Toronto ("Kali," 1985). Ingredients include synthesizers, found sounds, binaural field recordings, radios and electrical stimuli, loops and knobs. Originally issued as a cassette in 1989.
Notes (written while uploading this in 2019): What was I listening to in those days? Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, PiL, Pere Ubu, and other early cold wave industrialists (Nurse With Wound?), minimalists like Steve Reich, and other heralds of the zeitgeist (Joy Division, et al). And reading William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Herbert Marcuse, anarchist theory, chaos magic, Gurdjieffian "self-remembering," and all that.
Tracklist
| 1. | On the Farm | 7:13 |
| 2. | Radio Four | 4:59 |
| 3. | Architecture (incl. The Rains) | 6:55 |
| 4. | Tunnel Vision | 6:18 |
| 5. | Kali Devouring Planets | 14:04 |
Credits
License
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Adrian Ivakhiv (ee-VAHKH-eev) has worked in multiple genres including electroacoustic, chamber, choral, avant-rock, free improv, ambient, and experimental composition. He has made electronic music under the alias "vax" (pronounced "vah(kh)") since the 1980s, and conducted the St. Nicholas Choir in Toronto from 1987 to 2000. He lives by the Salish Sea. More info at blog (first link below).