Voice Crack was a Swiss electronic free improvisation group. Formed in late 1972 by Andy Guhl and Norbert Möslang, Voice Crack were initially a free jazz duo. They began incorporating pre-recorded tape effects and live sound processing, and by 1983 they eliminated any normal instrumentation in favor of what they call "cracked everyday electronics:" Mundane objects such as "radios, turntables, transmitters, dictating machines" and other items are cracked open and manipulated to produce "new sounds using magnetic and radio waves in a complex system controlled by movements of their hands and by light."
The resulting music - which consisted of various overlapping buzzes, clicks, drones and oscillations - has been described as, "Cascading magnetic waves arc across the sky as three-headed critters race and rummage through alien flora ... or at least that's what it sounds like."; and was favorably compared to some of John Cage's work.
Voice Crack collaborated with Borbetomagus, Butch Morris (as part of a larger ensemble), and were members of poire z. The group has now disbanded.
Famous quotes containing the words voice and/or crack:
“It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear.”
—Italo Calvino (1923–1985)
“Why don’t you put something on the phonograph, a low-down mean blue. Play it over and over again until you crack it and get sick of it and then go back to work. I do it all the time.”
—Robert Rossen (1908–1966)