LOFO was a small collection of three cassette releases built around lost stories: things cut away, misplaced, misheard, or only half remembered. Each release took an idea about something that has slipped out of focus: the hidden frequencies of a famous mp3 test track, a forgotten garage recording turned corporate hold music, and a mysterious space age radio signal. We worked deeply on the sound for each tape, letting these lost narratives shape the listening experience. The tapes were part of the Internet Yami-Ichi black market (an internet market in real space) and were sold at Transformer.
LOFO is a collaboration
with Yoana Buzova
Here are the stories of each of the 3 releases:
TOM’S LAST DINNER
By compressing lossless or high quality audio files to mp3, a codec based on human perception, there are always leftovers. These cut-off frequencies are released on audio cassette, an ancient medium also known for its unauthentic and noisy sound. The cassette becomes the pallbearer of these ghostlike frequencies, one carrying the loss of the other.
The daddy of mp3 is German scientist Karlheinz Brandenburg. But there are always two in that game. To create mp3, Brandenburg had to appreciate how the human ear perceives sound. A key assist in this effort came from Suzanne Vega, therefore making her the mommy of mp3.
‘I was ready to fine-tune my compression algorithm,’ Brandenburg recalls. “Somewhere down the corridor a radio was playing “Tom’s Diner.” I was electrified. I knew it would be nearly impossible to compress this warm a cappella voice.”
Now, when music by anyone is compressed to mp3, from Marilyn Manson to Justin Bieber, it is replicating the way that Brandenburg heard Suzanne Vega.
Such a romantic story… isn’t it.
But some part of the track was lost. It could never enter through the door of mp3. Something had to be cut away, forever unheard. That is exactly what we seek for.
The lost frequencies of Tom’s Diner (a cappella version) are presented on side A of this cassette. A forensic remix of 22 minutes is on side B. We couldn’t find a better name than Tom’s Last Dinner: the last meal before crucifixion. What mankind had to sacrifice before getting into debates around intellectual property and file-sharing.
CISCO DISCO
This story starts in a garage in the US, back in 1989. In that garage, Tim Carleton and Darrick Deel recorded a track called Opus No.1. It never left that garage. Not until Darrick became one of the developers of Cisco’s IP phones. When it came time to choose music for the default hold tone, Darrick remembered their track from ’89.
It became the hold music for over 65 million phones. Millions of people have listened to this track. It found a place to dwell.
But… hold on…
Now it has found a second home on the internet, with people who record the hold tune music, post it to YouTube, and put it on while they write code, put their baby to sleep, or sweep the kitchen. Released as an endless cassette loop.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Let’s go back to the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the space race between the USA and the Soviet Union was hot. Both sides built and tested rockets as fast as possible, desperately trying to be first. Both had their successes and their failures. The world watched and listened.
The Soviets announced the successful launch of Sputnik I on October 4, 1957 and published the radio frequency for everyone to hear. In Italy, two brothers scavenged what radio equipment they could and tuned in. They listened more carefully than anyone else and recorded their observations meticulously. The listening station they built was called Torre Bert.
There they recorded SOS signals, heartbeats and voices coming from space on dates where no space flights have been reported in history. Those became one of the main triggers of the conspiracy theory of the Lost Cosmonauts: people who allegedly entered outer space but whose existence has never been acknowledged by either Soviet or Russian space authorities.
One of the recordings is especially controversial and very interesting to us.
The story of Ludmila.
In May 1961 Achille and Giovanni Judica-Cordiglia picked up a signal on the space frequency: a woman speaking in Russian. Some interpret the recording as the first woman in space, seeking help before burning while her capsule enters the atmosphere. Others deny this and claim she is not speaking authentic Russian. Others have difficulty making anything out of the tape at all.
Whatever happened is lost. Ludmila is lost. And we are lost in translation.
This release is dedicated to this story and the inability to understand this recording.
We have selected translations by users found on YouTube comments and various forums. Each with their own interpretation. All in a fierce discussion and on a quest to find what she says.
On side A is the original recording, followed by the different translations, which are spoken out by Google Translate. They offer different scenarios, confuse, and even amuse.
Side B is a scripted discussion we have put together from different YouTube comments following the recording.