Show 170: Radio Wonderland by Joshua Fried

Joshua Fried contributes free103point9’s latest show for the Radia network. The Radio Wonderland slogan is “turning the bits and bytes of commercial culture into the driving backbeat to our dance of independence.” (Wait a a minute–doesn’t THAT sound like an ad right there? Oh, the recursion is making us dizzy.) Every Radio Wonderland show starts with an empty palette, and all sounds are gathered from a live boombox playing commercial FM radio. All processing is done in Max/MSP software written by Joshua Fried. And all the processing is controlled in real time by Fried, using a vintage steering wheel (from a Buick 6), old shoes hit with sticks, and various gizmos. The surreal touch of using these ordinary objects is meant to underscore the absurd disconnect between digital controller (drum pad, mouse, infra red) and the sound it triggers or controls. This live recording was made in February ’08 at the Spark Festival, Minneapolis Minnesota. The 35 minute raw material was condensed and gently remixed by NYC producer DJ Easy Beat.