John Watermann - Dummyhead

This recording and Ambiguity were my first exposure to Mr. Watermann's work. At the record shop, upon a quick scan through the beginnings of the tracks I knew these recordings would require further attention. I purchased both albums and brought them with me to the experimental music radio show of which I was the host. Finding myself quite busy with the technical details of the broadcast I was unable to listen attentively while playing these CDs on air, but I made a cassette recording of my shows for later personal critique. The next day I visited an art gallery which featured what struck me as a rather post-apocolyptic exhibit by Susan Flemming; scraps of wood and debris piled into organic looking hats and odd structures, but with electric glows radiating from deep within. As I passed through the exhibit I listened to the recording of my previous night's radio broadcast and the Watermann set began. The effect was a sort of epiphany in which Watermann's psycho-technological soudscapes blended seemlessly with the paintings and it was as if the sound were being emitted by the lean-to formation subject matter in the artwork its' self. I later wrote Mr. Watermann and described the experience, thanking him for his contrbutions to the world of experimental audio and we enjoyed many more correspondences up until his passing.