Sam Kidel - Disruptive Muzak

this guy totally ripped off Brandon Locher on this release - https://brandonlocher.bandcamp.com/album/10-years-of-my-idea-of-fun, his "Conversations" experiment.

I'd compare it to early Scanner, but not as interesting. If there was some response by the abused call center staff regarding what they're hearing then perhaps there would have been a purpose, but ultimately it comes across as prank calls in the name of art.

To be fair, all of this stuff is ultimately a total rip-off of Eno who ripped off lord-knows-who. Just enjoy it.

They aren't exactly the same idea, I would attribute it more towards coincidence. Brandon Locher recorded the result of putting two different call centers in the same call, recording their responses, and playing it back(?), resulting in an empty, meaningless, somewhat hostile conversations. Kidel played back his "muzak" to call centers, resulting in something more wistful as employees speak into the void.

300 copies for sale now on Boomkat, limited edition in blue.

thanks for that information. just ordererd myself one of those.

Very interesting and unique piece of conceptual sound art. Truly gets you into a dreamy state of reflection about the plight of callcenter agents. You feel the eternal redundancy and almost surreal monotony of their profession, and it translates well into a state of relaxed ennui. While this record feels strangely empty, like a spare room without any personality, it's always encouraging and friendly. Actually, the cover artwork captures this peculiar atmosphere perfectly, with it's evocation of carefree home computing, Windows95 wallpapers and hotline boredom. It all amounts to a coherent and fascinating release, with a very different kind of peaceful ambient bliss. That's especially true for the B-Side, which omits the voice recordings, yet still vividly conveys the conceptual flair.