Voice Crack
         

Select another interview to read

 

 

  
 

Voice Crack

October 1997

  

Andy Gühl and Norbert Möslang are more commonly known as Voice Crack, they live in a small town called St. Gallen, located about 100 kilometers from Zurich. Their collaboration together has spanned nearly three decades. I first met Voice Crack when they came to Atlanta in 1996. They performed in the Mattress Factory, and all whom witnessed it were speechless. I had planned on visiting them in Switzerland when we first started our planning stages for this expedition.

Charity and I stayed in their studio which overlooked one of the oldest churches in St Gallen , it dated back to the thirteeenth century. We interviewed them in their studio which was surrounded by everyday crack'd electronics.

  
 
PJ:
 Norbert, maybe you could give us a little background on the history of Voice Crack?

 
NM:
We began our collaboration in 1972. At this time we played normal instruments like piano , saxophone, bass clarinet, contra bass and percussion. Andy played the bass, bass clarinet and percussion. We also played self-made instruments and used, everyday electronics. In 1983 we decided to only play our everyday cracked electronics. Since then we stopped playing normal instruments.

 

  
CE:
 Can you explain what 'cracked everyday electronics' are?

 
AG:
If you look on the table for example (the table is filled with broken electronic pieces). If you put this apparatus (a small device one would find in a hospital) on your body you will feel some vibrations directly to the body. If you put some electricity through it you will hear a pulsating buzzing sound. This is one cracked everyday electronic.

 

  
PJ:

So you've created a different use for a standard electronic device.

 

 

(Norbert leans over and picks up a bicycle light. It, too, has a constant pulse of light flashes. He then turns on a receiver and takes the light and sweeps it over the receiver. The static changes to beeps and bleeps as the light comes into contact with the sound waves of the receiver.)

 

  
NM:

 

This here is a possibility to use light as an instrument.
 
PJ:

How did you discover that there was other uses for these devices?

 

  
AG:
(holding an ancient recording device) This is a microphone that was used as a pickup on my cello. I performed the sound with an oscillator. For me, this is one of the first electronic instruments. Using this amplification transformation, we found an electronic wave, so we opened this machine and if you touched it inside it would make unusual sounds. Doing all of this stuff we found other acoustical sounds. This was twenty years ago.

 

  
PJ:

Could you discuss some of the recording procedures that you have in the studio?

 
NM:
Most of the records that we've done have been live in the studio. We didn't use the possibilities of the studio. It's cheaper if you only spend one or two days in the studio. We are still very interested in using the actual studio as a cracked electronic device itself.

 

  
PJ:

How did the name 'Voice Crack' evolve?

 
NM:
In the beginning we put out records just under our names. The third LP we did was entitled 'Voice Crack'. After this record we went to the States and people called us Voice Crack

 

  
PJ:

Could you discuss your installations that you've worked on?

 
AG:
When we work together we use waves. We use optical waves to make acoustical waves and if you work with optical waves you can make optical installations. The installation art that we produce interacts with the people at the installation. This cracked tape recorder here was used in the recent installation in New York. We used a looped sound that was amplified once people were in the room. If there were no people in the room you would only hear the motors going . If many people in the room moved you had different sounds . This was one example.

 

  
PJ:

Is this similar to the old echo-plex machines?

 
AG:

 

Yes it's a looped tape . . .

 

  
NM:
One of the other installations that we did, you only see waveforms, no sound. Some pictures have a sound source, other pictures are only created by magnetic waves. The TV's are placed on record players on which we placed magnets, and by turning the magnets they create a moving picture. Sound forms on other TV's are changed by magnetic waves.

 

  
AG:
We started with the contacts on this speaker here. If I take these contacts and connect them to an old TV tube . . . if you do this correctly . . . you will produce a picture. You can change the volume and it changes the waveform. It's a very simple physical thing that you can see on the oscillagraph. We've played concerts with a TV monitor before us and people would look at the waveforms changing. It was like a picture conducting the sound.

 

  
PJ:

Are there any artists work that have inspired your work ?

 
NM:

 

Life is the best thing for inspiration . . . little things that are all over.

 

  
AG:

 

To produce art, I can find things in the mountains, changing lights . . .

 

  
CE:

Where do you find all of this equipment that you use?

 
AG:

 

On the streets....... rubbish. Twenty years ago here, people would throw things away that were very useful. A lot of materials that we have were found on the street. We know many people who have special things. Friends will bring us things . . .

 

  
NM:

 

We also find things in toy stores.Things we can use.

 

  
PJ:

You've both worked together for twenty-five years. What are your working methods with each other?

 
NM:

 

We need to see a mind doctor. (lots of laughter)

 

  
AG:
Twenty five years is a long time, but it is also a short time. For me it's no problem. We both have our own things that we work on.

 

  
PJ:

How do you feel about the support that you get from consulates and institutes?

 

  
NM:
The curator of the Swiss Institute saw an installation that we did . . . she asked us if we would be interested in doing something in New York in the Swiss Institute. The other thing is, if we get an invitation from a consulate abroad we have the possibility to do something. We have to write a letter and if they're impressed then we just travel there. It's good to have these possibilities. You have to ask them, the different organizations.
 
AG:
That's the good thing about working together for twenty-five, people don't think that we think ten minutes about something.
 
PJ:
How has the media responded to your work, have they been supportive?  
AG:

 

People write about the music, not so much the installations.

 

  
PJ:

Do you have your own publishing company?

 
NM:
Most of our records we publish by ourselves because we had some problems with companies that did publish our first work. We found it was better to publish ourselves because we then had control but, if you have a good company it's also good. The last record we did was published [through] a company of a friend, but there we had control. The big problems . . . are distribution, because if you're a very little company, it's hard to get the records to the shops. Because the music is not easy listening, it's not easy to find a shop which buys our stuff. But there are a lot of people all over the world that are interested in this kind of music.

 

  
PJ:

Have you ever thought about producing an event that combined cracked electronics with traditional instruments?

 
NM:
If someone would write the piece (more laughter)

 

  
PJ:

What are some of your thoughts about the Internet?

 
NM:
It's like a great jungle, you have to find your own way, like in a big bookstore or a library. The most difficult thing about the Internet is finding the things that you are interested in. I think e-mail is a very good thing to have, communication with people abroad, this is a very good thing.
 
AG:
It's a game, you can go on the search machines, the e-mail stuff is very quick. I used it four weeks ago to find materials in Zurich. It was the first time that I did that. It works. This installation here (he points to something in the back) happened because of communications on the Internet.

 

  
PJ:

Tell us a little bit about your web site?

 
AG:
My son did that. It comes very naturally to him. He has a small company and designs web pages for other people too. Norbert knows how to make the web stuff. In the future we will do it.