tarab “take all of the ships from the harbour, and sail them into hell” compact disc

• take all of the ships from the harbour, and sail them into hell (55:25)

23five incorporated press release...

tarabtake all of the ships from the harbour, and sail them into hell 23fiveincorporated press release 06.09 the title to this album from tarab (nee eamon sprod) is striking enough in its allusions of damnation, with a watery grave a potential outcome from human activity impacting the earth. so, it may be stating the obvious that the corroded locations where mankind has scarred the surface of the earth feature prominently in the work of this melbourne based sound artist. the residual elements of these sites become the agents for metaphor and allegory in tarab’s work, documented through field recording and sympathetic actions with found objects from those sites. one such location that features prominently in take all of the ships... is angel island in the san francisco bay. once the home of an immigration station at the turn of the 20th century and later a nike missile site for the us military, angel island now rests in the hands of the us national park service, which has left some of the buildings to succumb to the forces of decay. from the sounds culled from this site and others closer to his antepodean home, tarab diligently overlays and stiches together a highly tactile composition with very little digital treatments to speak of. take all of the ships... opens with an ominous rumble whose frequencies appear to emerge from the center of the earth and liquefying the surface upon impact. as these tones ebb and flow, tarab unveils as revolving series of exaggerated details from a hyperbolic gash of two heavy pieces of metal grinding against themselves to a toxic chorale of nighttime insects to sand, wind, and surf detourned into sedimentary white noise. tarab’s compositional sensibility shifts throughout the album, at first sparsely situating these sounds into shadowy vignettes. gradually, tarab coalesces this sublime opus into an arcing crescendo which exhibits sustained harmonics rarely heard in the best of the contemporary dronemusik technicians much less from the realm of sound ecology. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

tarab “wind keeps even dust away” compact disc

• wind (11:53)
  
• keeps (9:39)
  
• even (7:15)
  
• dust (9:30)
  
• away (13:30)

23five incorporated press release...

tarab wind even keeps dust away 23five010, compact disc eamon sprod (aka tarab) professes a romantic attachment to the notion that the world is falling apart, a terminal process only enhanced by the intrinsic obsolescence from the output of consumer culture. yet, this australian sound artist is not one to wallow in the nihilism of such poetics, rather he counterpoints these thoughts with the allegorical implications of his nom de plume. tarab is an arabic word that doesn’t readily translate into english, but it might be best defined as the ecstatic surrender one can experience when listening to music. through installation, performance, and composition, sprod reinterprets the physical detritus of the landscape within a hypothetical topography where dirt, soot, and smog emerge as privileged materials, in to which he has grafted the potential for a transcendent response. field recordings are fundamental to this creative process, bolstered by sympathetic sounds activated by sprod’s own hands rummaging through crumbling leaves, rusted bits of metal, broken concrete, and shattered glass, just to name some of the more obvious sources. wind keeps even dust away is only the second documentation of sprod’s compositions; yet, it is an accomplished work on par with the best of contemporary sound ecologists (e.g. chris watson, eric la casa, toshiya tsunoda, etc.). on this album, sprod presents an intertwining series of compacted collages that tease aquatic references from abandoned and overlooked sites of the arid australian landscape. every sound of a pipe gurgling with water is but a mirage of sand, rust, and dirt cleverly tricking the audience’s collective ear. with its subtle transitions and evolving sound structures, wind keeps even dust away figures into the models of psycho-geographical wandering, as sprod explores sets of roughly cut textures, resonant frequencies, and atmospheric vibrations that are intrinsic to an imagined space and then shifts into another with its particular idiosyncrasies. while the ecstasy that the word tarab implies may not be an immediate reaction to this album, wonder and discovery certainly are as experienced through this exemplary album of re-engineered sonic dislocation. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

tarab “surfacedrift” compact disc

• surface (26:15)
  
• iron (11:45)
  
• leaf (9:01)
  
• bottle (16:29)