Loops & Topology  – Airwaves (Serrated Records)
“Airwaves” is the product of the collaboration between Australians, Loops and Topology and inhabits a space between historical record, curio and the avant-garde.  Its 99 tracks distil significant global broadcasts and communications from the first century of wireless transmissions into 76 soundtracked minutes. It is presented in reverse chronological order, from “Tuning In” in 2001 back to the transatlantic Morse code letter “S” sent from Cornwall to Newfoundland in 1901.

The broadcasts are presented as loops or edited highlights which are then underscored with instrumentation to emphasise the moment(s). They draw on jazz, chamber music, pop and the margins of high art and the resulting score is sometimes comedic, sometimes baroque, sometimes clichéd, sometimes intense but largely inventive.

Highlights for me were the hurried instrumental cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop”, playing whilst President Clinton denies then admits his sexual encounter with Monica Lewinsky – it’s very amusing - and by the 1960s section there are soundtracks to “Turn on, tune in, drop out” and “Revolution 1968” which meld funk with Terry Riley’s “In C.” It’s a madly entertaining, educational, harrowing and pleasant hour.
www.myspace.com/topology
www.jonathandimond.com/loops
Willsk

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