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:
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)
““The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)