Call it Requiem meets Radio Raheem. On December 15, musician Phil Kline will lead a troupe of boom-box bearers through New York's East Village to demonstrate the intersection of sound, technology, and performance art. Unsilent Night (www.mindspring.com/~boombox/xmas.htm), held annually since 1992, builds on the tape loop techniques of Brian Eno and Steve Reich. First, Kline weaves traditional holiday music - English carols and Gregorian chants - into his multitrack compositions. The result is a wall of sound vibrating at a frequency somewhere between ambient and neoclassical. Next, participants are given a cassette tape with a quarter of the entire composition on it and told to press Play simultaneously. The production's charm comes from the micro-variations in speed, pitch, and tone from player to player. As the stream of stereos snakes through the streets, mild sonic chaos ensues. "You're constantly moving in and out and around a crowd, so there's a dynamic you can't anticipate," says Kline. "It's part of the piece I have no desire to control."
ELECTRIC WORD
Skin Deep
Spaceballs
Sonic Boom
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Lookout Below
Mondo Video
