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LADIK, KATALIN — Water Angels
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Head-spinning, previously unreleased sound art by Hungarian force of nature Katalin Ladik, exploring the relationship of sound and womens bodies thru forms of collage, performance art, and poetry - RIYL Diamanda Galas, Teresa Winter, Annea Lockwood, Lszl Hortobgyi
Alga Marghens 2nd survey of Ladiks legacy, Water Angels follows from the 2019 compendium Phonopoetics with an unmissable immersion in previously unexplored regions of her music, which was just one part of a practice spanning poetry, performance art, creating and acting in her own plays and happenings. These set of ears slept on her Phonopoetics LP and are now playing catch-up here to a remarkable body of work that strikes us as witty, ludicrous, and ravishingly expressive of a rich artistic life and personal philosophy. Elements of Hungarian folk, sampled classical records, and self-taught extended vocal techniques meet textual inspiration from James Joyce and Lewis Carroll, and the sounds of her first husband, composer and ethnomusicologist Ern Kirlys custom 58-string zitherphone in an enchanted sort of dramaturgy that reminds us to Annea Lockwoods sensorial aesthetics as much as Teresa Winters avant-songcraft and the imaginary, worldly spaces evoked by Katalins one-time engineer Lszl Hortobgyi, adding up to a real feast for searching and hungry listeners.
With all material salvaged from tapes and significantly improved by sound engineer Boris Kovač, were assured these works have never sounded better, suitably so for their first release. The A-side hosts her standout Water Angel (1989), a wondrous 25 min work mixing her own lyrics with Lewis Carroll and Joyces, in a range of naif to possessed voices, over backdrop of field recordings and Kirlys unique zitherphone sounds, culminating an eruption of Carl Orffs Carmina Burana. The B-side follows her timeline to 1990s Three Orphans, where she occupies a starker sound stage with a flux of voices, giggling, gurgling, and bewitching, and vaulting into Hungarian folksong. Finally, three 2019 compositions White Bird, Ice Bird, and Electric Bird spanning free concrte to a carousel of gurning vocal tekkerz, and yielding her strange vitality in the modern day.
Alga Marghens 2nd survey of Ladiks legacy, Water Angels follows from the 2019 compendium Phonopoetics with an unmissable immersion in previously unexplored regions of her music, which was just one part of a practice spanning poetry, performance art, creating and acting in her own plays and happenings. These set of ears slept on her Phonopoetics LP and are now playing catch-up here to a remarkable body of work that strikes us as witty, ludicrous, and ravishingly expressive of a rich artistic life and personal philosophy. Elements of Hungarian folk, sampled classical records, and self-taught extended vocal techniques meet textual inspiration from James Joyce and Lewis Carroll, and the sounds of her first husband, composer and ethnomusicologist Ern Kirlys custom 58-string zitherphone in an enchanted sort of dramaturgy that reminds us to Annea Lockwoods sensorial aesthetics as much as Teresa Winters avant-songcraft and the imaginary, worldly spaces evoked by Katalins one-time engineer Lszl Hortobgyi, adding up to a real feast for searching and hungry listeners.
With all material salvaged from tapes and significantly improved by sound engineer Boris Kovač, were assured these works have never sounded better, suitably so for their first release. The A-side hosts her standout Water Angel (1989), a wondrous 25 min work mixing her own lyrics with Lewis Carroll and Joyces, in a range of naif to possessed voices, over backdrop of field recordings and Kirlys unique zitherphone sounds, culminating an eruption of Carl Orffs Carmina Burana. The B-side follows her timeline to 1990s Three Orphans, where she occupies a starker sound stage with a flux of voices, giggling, gurgling, and bewitching, and vaulting into Hungarian folksong. Finally, three 2019 compositions White Bird, Ice Bird, and Electric Bird spanning free concrte to a carousel of gurning vocal tekkerz, and yielding her strange vitality in the modern day.