A Mixtape Radio #1 - The Kite and the Storm

A monthly programme which blends textured audio from cassette recordings by Joe Wilson & Chanelle Collier with tonal imagery by Bruna Volpi and Jake Terrey. Sound engineering by Ollie Brown.

Joe and Chanelle’s audio recordings encompass ambient sounds, conversation, experimental composition and improvised instrumental response. Cassette drones, loop pedals, voice and guitar are used to echo, mimic or bend over bird calls, thunderstorms, night sounds, indistinguishable chatter, museum reverberations and urban movement. These moments captured to tape are presented in two halves as an A-side/B-side format.

Enriched by visual counterpoints for each episode, Bruna’s critical eye forms an ambiguous tonal narrative from Jake's method of stumbling into excellence. Mountain, valley, glacier, and urban horizon are presented in stereo format, to parallel the A-side/B-side format.

This program has been made on the stolen lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, we pay respect to the Elders both past and present.

Project lead and sound by Joe Wilson and Chanelle Collier. Creative direction by Bruna Volpi. Photography by Jake Terrey.

Supported by Higher Ground Studios.

This episode was made as part of the Bundanon Trust artists in residence programme, and has been performed live at the Bundanon Museum. The Museum is on the stolen land of the Dharawal and Dhurga language groups.

Field Notes

Side A - For Kites

• Sounds made on Residency, Bundanon Trust, October 2022, Development # 2.

A day in the rehearsal space, experimental sound, guitar pedals and vocals. Casio Watch Alarm; Fender Delux Reverb Tone Master Amplifier, Reverb, Vibrato; Boss ME-70 Multi Effects, Compression, Classic Distortion, Delay, Loop Pedal, Expression Pedal Octave Pitch Shift; Panasonic SlimLine RQ 2102 Cassette Recorder, Field Recording ; Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer, Reverb, Looper Pedal.

The Wind and the Sun. Playing the cassette BUN 2_8 Side A. In the grassy field where the kangaroos gather at dusk; a HEAVY wind. The Mona Lisa, a heavy kite. SOUND and sun blaring. Kite flyers running. Skin tingling. A concert to nature. Satisfying exhaustion. – Joe Wilson

Side B – The Storm

• Field Recording of a thunderstorm made on Residency at Bundanon Trust, August - October 2023, Development # 3 & 4.

A Personal Note, a Broken Heart, a Broken Body. Bundanon, a gully flat. Surrounded by hills. The storm is caught on the high rocks and is flung around the encroaching bushland. The lightning sheers across the last of the evening’s sunlight, across the way, a distance. The thunder chases the light, the sound chases the cut sky. Drawing closer. Volume rising. Bright white cracks become total for an instant. Birds continue to sing. Trees fall. – Joe Wilson