alan lamb @ faraway, 1979.08, credit unknown
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this is a special edition of framework:afield produced here at framework HQ in memory of composer and biomedical research scientist alan lamb, influential recordist of abandoned telegraph wires in the australian outback since the 1970’s. lamb sadly passed away on april 18th, 2025 at his home in perth, australia.
i was studying abroad in dublin around the time that i was making my early forays and explorations into experimental music. it was the mid-90’s. through an exceptional local boston radio station (where i grew up) and one college friend, i had already discovered the likes of zoviet*france, illusion of safety, controlled bleeding, current 93, and others. many of the releases i was finding were released or distributed by staalplaat, which i had heard also ran a shop dedicated to these sounds in amsterdam. it became my mission, before i returned home to the u.s., to visit this shop. and when i finally got there, the summer after my studies were completed and i had embarked on the required student backbacking trip, it did not disappoint. in a massive basement space on a curved street that jutted out into a canal, it was full of sounds i’d been hoping to hear (there was no internet streaming yet, of course), and, more importantly, sounds i didn’t even know existed. working there that day (if i’m not mixing up memories) were frans de waard, and radboud mens (of course, as yet, i had no idea who those two gentlemen were). they didn’t begrudge me the hours i spent checking out stacks of cds, and carefully selecting a to-buy pile that fit my budget (and my backpack). and they also recommended several things i didn’t know at all, insisting i should check them out.
one of those was alan lamb‘s first solo release, archival recordings: primal image / beauty, recorded over many years, even decades, but only released publicly by a label called dorobo in 1995. i was instantly blown away. i had never heard anything like these (literally) unbelievable sounds, and what really made my jaw drop was the understanding that they had been gleaned from found objects, activated by nature, presented to my ears more-or-less as they were. it is very possible that it was the discovery of this artist that initiated my specific interest in field recording. a field recording focused not (just) on birds and water and city soundscapes, but on the hidden wonders of our environment, both natural and man-made, discovered through focus and attention, requiring something akin to meditation to both hear and appreciate. i didn’t quite realise how important his work had been to the development of my ear and my listening philosophy until i heard the sad news of alan lamb‘s passing – it had just always been there, through my entire sonic journey, massive and universal. i can not thank you enough, dr. lamb, for finding these sounds and presenting them to my ears.
if you would like to explore alan lamb‘s background, journey, and artistic views further, i encountered some interesting reading while preparing this tribute. john jenkins‘ chapter about lamb in his book, 22 contemporary australian composers is very informative, and lamb‘s own article, the metaphysics of wire music, is simultaneously scientific and poetic. i could find no information about the publication of this article, but both it and jenkin‘s book are available online – see the links in the playlist below.
meanwhile, the great australian label room40 has already embarked on a schedule of re-releasing lamb‘s works. night passage was re-released this past november, and primal image / beauty is available for pre-order now. i don’t know about re-release plans for the night passage demixed compilation, on which ryoji ikeda, thomas kõner, lustmord, and bernhard günter work with lamb‘s original wire recordings, but it is currently available on archive.org posted by dorobo themselves – again, see the link below. and lamb‘s actual first album release, the glorious collaboration with experimental cello-player and vocalist sarah hopkins, is available directly from her, either on bandcamp, or from her website on cd (i’ll always regret that my own copy of that cd has been lost in the french postal system since 1996, when a package from anomalous records didn’t manage to complete it’s journey from seattle to my student apartment in paris. i wonder where it ended up? i hope whoever found it enjoyed it).
[time / artist / track / release / label]
00:00 – 01:20 / framework / framework:afield intro
https://frameworkradio.net
01:10 – 10:21 / sarah hopkins & alan lamb / sky song / sky song / abc records
https://sarahhopkins.bandcamp.com/album/sky-song
01:22 – 01:59 / framework / show notes
https://frameworkradio.net
03:42 – 20:34 / alan lamb / beauty / archival recordings: primal image / beauty / dorobo/room40
https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/archival-recordings-primal-image-beauty
03:57 – 07:49 / john jenkins (read by framework) / alan lamb / 22 contemporary australian composers / nma publications
https://www.rainerlinz.net/NMA/22CAC/TOC.html
12:20 – 31:25 / garry bradbury & alan lamb / 7:40pm / the wired lab / wired open day 2009 / taiga
https://taigarecords.bandcamp.com/album/wired-open-day-2009
14:41 – 25:03 / alan lamb / fragments of the outback / loose canon: sounds from the australian experimental underground / australia council for the arts
https://www.discogs.com/release/5214354-Various-Loose-Canon-Sounds-From-The-Australian-Experimental-Underground
15:38 – 18:23 / alan lamb (read by framework) / section 10 / metaphysics of wire music / [publisher unknown]
https://www.scribd.com/document/380009375/Alan-Lamb-Metaphysics-of-Wire-Music
21:46 – 29:48 / ryoji ikeda / #13 / night passage demixed / dorobo
https://archive.org/details/vvaa-night-passage-demixed-night-passage-demixed
28:50 – 29:55 / alan lamb (read by framework) / section 12 / metaphysics of wire music / [publisher unknown]
https://www.scribd.com/document/380009375/Alan-Lamb-Metaphysics-of-Wire-Music
29:53 – 42:48 / alan lamb / last anzac / original masters – night passage / dorobo/room40
https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/night-passage
35:00 – 47:23 / alan lamb / journey on the winds of time / austral voices / new albion
http://www.newalbion.com/blog/-austral-voices
37:47 – 38:32 / alan lamb (read by framework) / section 9 / metaphysics of wire music / [publisher unknown]
https://www.scribd.com/document/380009375/Alan-Lamb-Metaphysics-of-Wire-Music
44:57 – 57:48 / david burraston & alan lamb / 8:05pm / the wired lab / wired open day 2009 / taiga
https://taigarecords.bandcamp.com/album/wired-open-day-2009
50:06 – 51:17 / alan lamb (read by framework) / section 13 / metaphysics of wire music / [publisher unknown]
https://www.scribd.com/document/380009375/Alan-Lamb-Metaphysics-of-Wire-Music
51:06 – 58:30 / sarah hopkins & alan lamb / new journey / sky song / abc records
https://sarahhopkins.bandcamp.com/album/sky-song
52:49 – 57:54 / bernhard günter / untitled 1/96 / night passage demixed / dorobo
https://archive.org/details/vvaa-night-passage-demixed-night-passage-demixed
57:34 – 58:13 / alan lamb (read by framework) / section 18 / metaphysics of wire music / [publisher unknown]
https://www.scribd.com/document/380009375/Alan-Lamb-Metaphysics-of-Wire-Music
58:20 – 59:00 / framework / framework:afield outro
https://frameworkradio.net