Songs of the Islands was made in New York City in 1996 when I noticed the quantity of discarded, loose audio cassette tape tangled in gutters, subway grills and traffic islands, and decided to start collecting it. The collection took several months and yielded tape fragments with all sorts of music, including rap, Vietnamese pop music, heavy metal, reggae, traditional Indian music and salsa. There were also non-musical discoveries, such as an episode of "All in the Family" recorded ambiently in a room with a bird chirping, and outtakes from a radio journalist's interview with a psychic. In their stylistic variety and linguistic diversity, these soundtracks describe the astounding mix of people living in New York.
Click here to hear excerpt (coming soon)