Jim Fassett: Strange To Your Ears

Musique concrete experiments from 1953, narrated by Jim Fassett, musical director for CBS Radio and the intermission announcer for the New York Philharmonic. Did you know you could record something - and then SPEED IT UP or SLOW IT DOWN - and make it sound WACKY??!! Well, the greater American public needed to know at some point, if only to prepare them for the tape edit adventures they'd hear in pop music in the decades to come, so points to Fassett for getting his brainwave when he did. And as we now know, the crying-baby-played-back-at-half-speed meme never loses its ability to turn heads, so kudos to Fassett for being one of the first to stumble on it. Fassett is especially enamored with de-tuning birdsongs and punching out the long tones in order to program new melodies and harmonies, which he explored in greater detail on his 1960 LP Symphony of the Birds, which you can find today on CD.

Side 1
Side 2 (track 1)
Side 2 (track 2)

Album audio & artwork

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