Tabs Out

Brigitte Bardon’t – Radio Songs

11.21.19 by Ryan Masteller

Hey, are you even allowed to do this? I’m not sure if there isn’t a squad car on the way to my house right now just because I’m listening to Brigitte Bardon’t’s “Radio Songs,” and it’s not because the real Brigitte Bardot suddenly awoke from a nap in St. Tropez and sicc’d the fuzz on me. Although that would be quite interesting, and the chase even may take on some sort of international espionage or action film overtones where I’m the debonair rogue in possession of illicit goods on the run from multiple factions. I mean, beyond what’s going on in my normal everyday life, of course. Gotta dodge them international spies and whatnot!

No, what I’m talking about here is the deliberate manipulation of songs on the radio. Brigitte Bardon’t – which I’m now under the impression is a pseudonym – flitted about to a bunch of different cities (in the United States, Canada, Italy, … Canada) and recorded the radio, manipulating the recordings into this glob of a mixtape where static and tunes and collide like they’re in a gladiator arena and fighting to the death. Static always wins by the way – there’s some sort of scientific property that governs sound and its eventual decay. I wanna say entropy? Let’s go with that.

“Radio Songs” is a fascinating collage that documents specific moments in time, and regardless of whether or not you’re actually familiar with any of the broadcasts – there’s a lot of banter and processing into incomprehensibility, and I’m honestly not hip to a lot of these tunes – the result still feels like its own weird thing. That’s the magic of Brigitte Bardon’t. That’s why I’m tossing this tape on the passenger seat of my Aston Martin and pulling on my driving gloves and getting ready to peel the heck out from the parking lot of this remote hotel as sirens sound in the distance. It’s because I believe in it, its realness, its standalone identity.

Do what I tell you. This exists in an edition of 100 from Already Dead. Check it out, man.

SqrtSigil – Materia

11.18.19 by Ryan Masteller

It’s been a long time since I’ve played “Final Fantasy VII,” but I’ll never forget the endless hunt for materia and the boundless joy of figuring out how to properly equip it to deal damage to monsters prone to the opposite effect or to absorb damage from monsters attacking me with the same effect. I was really good at “Final Fantasy VII,” but so was anyone, probably, who had their trusty strategy guide on hand. I found all the good stuff, in order, and I was able to prepare myself properly for Sephiroth and his infernal accomplices. Although Emerald Weapon always gave me trouble. I don’t think I ever beat Emerald Weapon.

SqrtSigil is like a mana spring you stumble across in some remote place early enough in the game when you can’t just fly your ship or whatever to restorative locations. Maciek Jaciuk, one of the founders of the Plaża Zachodnia label, weaves field recordings into his bubbling ambient textures, emerging with melodic textures that wouldn’t be out of place at some sort of remote monastery hospital, where benevolent monks and other clergy administer healing balms after you’ve faced some sort of tragic fantasy trial and come out with your life. Hey, sort of like a mana spring in “Final Fantasy,” or Lothlórien. 

“Materia,” then, is health magic equipped to your traveling armor, where at every step a micro amount of health or strength returns (and there are in fact items you can equip in the games that can help you do just that). The tiny fragments of sound are woven together and progress through their iterations until a full picture emerges, like when you get real close to an impressionistic painting, where the paint is all muddled and weird and you can’t make anything out, and slowly back up until the painting itself becomes clear. I swear to god those Monets look bizarre when your nose is touching them, but you won’t be able to dwell on it too long before museum security ushers you back out into the rainy alley you snuck in through. 

Where was I? Oh right – “Materia” is a perfect soundtrack for those miniature moments in games like “Final Fantasy” when you find yourself in a secret, safe place. Edition of 25 from Sweden’s Purlieu Recordings (only 9 left!).