Nathan Mcninch

A BRIEF AUDIO HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE
10.20–11.26.2005

Artist: Nathan McNinch

Title: a brief audio history of agriculture

Label: ORAL

Catalogue #: ORAL CD08

Release date: July 20, 2005

Tracklisting:

a,b,c,d,e

a brief audio history of agriculture: This project began with an unlikely source: a t-shirt, which read ‘if you eat, you will have an interest in agriculture.’ From conversations aboutthe ways in which agriculture and farming practices have shaped our lives in North America derived primal ideas on a language to represent agriculture. Early in the spring of 2004, as the snow wass just melting, I made some recordings of myself “playing” a derelict rusty piece of farm machinery abandon in a field. I was quite taken with the sounds I was able to record and with the extent to which I was able to “play” the machinery as an instrument. It was in these recordings that I discovered both the language and the story of this CD: a history of agriculture told using sounds created with the tools of agriculture. Initially the piece intended on developing using some sort of timeline, starting with the most basic elements: seeds, soil, water… and progressing to modern day mechanized tools. A combination of the old and the new; the banging and scraping of antique metal milk containers combined with the soft humming of a contemporary milk tank coolant unit. More subtle aspects of the history of agriculture, migration, drought, a recent move away from “the family farm’…were brought in. And here it is: the brief audio history of agriculture, all on one CD.

Key selling points:

– First full-length solo work, not self-released. Unlike most of field recording based pieces, composition is here the master key.

– A new release on ORAL, the label directed by Eric Mattson, music curator for MUTEK festival and independent producer for: MUTEK_rec.

– A “must” have for all lovers of experimental, subtle but intriguing releases.

– Carefully mastered by John Sellekaers-METARD (Ant-Zen, Klanggalerie, Noise Museum, Quatermass, Sub Rosa).