Jeff T Byrd is a formerly New Orleans-based American composer, currently living in Vienna, Austria. He’s soon to release his debut tape via Tombed Visions Records. Titled Lamb Alley after the location where it was written and recorded in Vienna’s 8th district, the album synthesises the sound of his apartment’s aging piano with surrounding noises from the street outside and echoey stone hallways of the old apartment building—in one case even the screaming of a neighbour’s young child through the wall—creating something finely textured, and claustrophobically comic.

In anticipation of the release, Jeff’s compiled a unique mix for us, something far closer to a collage including the artist’s own field recording and sounds recorded to cassette in the 80s by Jeff’s own father, Bob Byrd. Here are Jeff’s notes on the sounds:

“Interspersed among the “songs” are field recordings from my personal library (marked with an *), most of them made while traveling in America earlier this year. Three are from cassette tapes that my dad (Bob Byrd) recorded in the 80s. In the notes, I’ve tried to be as exact as possible about the location and date of recording.”

email // tristan@spools-out.com
tweet // @SplsOut

1. Marran Gosov – “Lampenfieber” (from “Baby Mann”, 1977)
2. * Mister Softee (New York City, 2 April, 2017)
3. Tom Recchion – “Space Ship” (from “Chaotica”, 1996)
4. * Rain, sloshing water (Orcas Island, Washington, 1 May, 2017)
5. Maria Teresa Luciani – “The Port” (from “Sounds of the City”, 1972)
6. * Factory hum, flagpole, trains, bike wheels on gravel (New Orleans, Louisiana, 10 April, 2017)
7. Laurie Spiegel – “Drums” (1975)
8. * Pneumatic machinery (recorded by Bob Byrd in Goodwater, Alabama, 1982)
9. Eastrod – “Sugar Baby” (from “Keep No Company”, 2016, https://eastrod.bandcamp.com)
10. * TV news (recorded by Bob Byrd in Dallas, Texas, 1981)
11. Nuno Canavarro – “Bruma” (from “Plux Quba”, 1988)
12. * Ceiling fan (Marble Falls, Texas, 15 April, 2017)
13. Lieven Martens Moana – “A Transcript From Ambae Isle (Aria)” (from “Idylls”, 2017)
14. * Chickens, crazy yelling man (New Orleans, Louisiana, 6 April, 2017)
15. Morton Feldman – “Opening” (from “Three Voices – For Joan La Barbara”, 1989)
16. * Paris Theater box office (New York City, 2002)
17. Olivier Messiaen – “Oraison” (from “Fête des belles eaux”, 1937)
18. * Thunderstorm and baby (recorded by Bob Byrd in Dallas, Texas, 1981)
19. * Hi-C sleeps (New Orleans, Louisiana, 27 June, 2015)