William Basinski: Shortwave Music

Label: 2062

Local boy William Basinski (well, local when he’s not down in Florida; how could he prefer Miami to Williamsburg?) has become so popular in recent years that his early material is now finally getting reissued. To wit, Shortwave Music, first released on vinyl 10 years ago, here reissued on his own 2062 label for the first time on CD and now with a bonus track. Recorded in 1982, these tracks utilized sounds from the airwaves and were spliced and edited to form Basinski’s trademark glacial electronic atmospherics to brilliant effect. He used two old reel-to-reel decks, a regular radio and a shortwave radio, tampered with the tempo, resulting in five sprawling pieces essential for all fans of electronic music. (James)