Avant-garde radio drama?

March 17, 2007 3:51 PM

I just listened to Radio Inferno and it completely blew my mind. What should I listen to next?

So, I just listened to Andreas Ammer's Radio Inferno, and I think it might be the most wonderful thing I've ever heard. The music, the complicated interweaving of languages, the humor, it all works together to a kind of storytelling that could only work in an audio form.

Later, it hit me that two of my favorite records ever (Cage/Patchen's The City Wears a Slouch Hat and Artaud's To have done with the judgement of god) would both fall squarely into the category of Radio Drama. I guess I'd previously thought of radio drama as being all detective stories, Abbott and Costello, and Ira Glass.

I'm sure these three pieces are not isolated incidents, so where can I find more experimental audio drama? If you were to teach a semester class that started with the Artaud recording and ended with Radio Inferno, what else would you assign? Any suggestions for books or websites on this kind of work would also be great.

Thanks.

posted by roll truck roll to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Best answer: (I doubt I can come up with anything you haven't already run across, so I'm adding this as a favorite to see what others have to say . . .)

You might like some "text/sound" art (for lack of a better phrase) . . . e.g., Alvin Lucier's I am sitting in a room. Diamanda Galas also comes to mind (e.g., Vena Cava.) Also, have you tried stumbling around UbuWeb for more of this sort of thing?
posted by treepour at 5:18 PM on March 17, 2007

Best answer: You might be interested in the work of Joe Frank. Not quite as dadaist as what you've cited, and a bit hit-or-miss, but often spectacular.
posted by googly at 7:12 PM on March 17, 2007

Addendum: If you do check out Jow Frank, start with the series "Work in Progress" and "In The Dark." These tend to be a bit more stream-of-consciousness and experimental. You can find more info on him here. A symposis of a typical show (one of my faves) is here.
posted by googly at 7:18 PM on March 17, 2007

Response by poster: Well, I guess, ask an obscure question, don't get very many answers.

I love that you mentioned Lucier, treepour. This thread about Lucier led me to this book, which introduced me to Erik Satie, Kraftwerk, Joe Meek, and a zillion other people.

I'm not at all familiar with Galas, though I've seen her name here and there. I'll have to check her out.

googly, Joe Frank sounds awesome! I've listened to a few of the samples on his site. He's like a multimedia Spalding Gray, or something.

But I will say that his site confuses the crap out of me. Is there anywhere that I can buy an actual, physical CD rather than navigating through all of the weird membership levels, etc.?

Thanks a lot, guys.
posted by roll truck roll at 3:57 PM on March 22, 2007