''Getting a Head'' is the debut solo album of live

improvised music Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

by experimental sound artist Bob Ostertag. It features Ostertag playing a homemade real-time sound sourcing system with

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

on guitar and Charles K. Noyes on percussion. The album was released on LP by Rift Records in 1980. It was later released on CD by ReR Megacorp in 2000, and by

Seeland Records Seeland Records is an independent record label created by Negativland in 1979 to release their own recordings. It is a reference to the song "Seeland" by the band Neu!, who also gave Negativland the basis for their name, Sea-Land Corporation, ...

in 2001. In a review of Ostertag's 2009 book, ''Creative Life: Music, Politics, People, and Machines'', Chris Gehman described ''Getting a Head'' as "wonderfully strange and inexplicable". The sound sourcing system used on ''Getting a Head'' comprised three reel-to-reel tape recorders and four to six helium balloons to control the tape tension. It was conceived by Bryan Medwed and developed and deployed by Ostertag. Ostertag referred to this invention as "One of the first ... times that tape manipulation techniques developed by electronic composers for use in the studio were adapted for live performances and improvisation."

Tape system

The idea behind Ostertag's real-time sound sourcing system came from Bryan Medwed, a friend from the

Oberlin Conservatory of Music The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...

Ostertag and Medwed had attended. Ostertag developed the concept and produced a tape loop recording and playback system. The device consisted of three open-reel tape desks placed side by side, with a spool of recording tape on deck one running through deck two and onto a take-up reel on deck three. Deck one recorded the musician on channel one via the mixer, which was played back on the middle deck to the mixer. Channel one was looped back to deck one, via the mixer, where it was re-recorded. The middle deck also recorded the mix on channel two, which was played back on deck three. Channel two was looped back to the middle deck, where it was re-recorded. Ostertag modified the middle tape machine so its playback and recording speed could be changed during the performance. This increased or decreased the sound pitch and

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

. To maintain the tape tension as the middle desk's speed changed, he ran the tape on each side of the middle deck through

grommet Curtain grommets, used among others in shower curtains. A grommet is a ring or edge strip inserted into a hole through thin material, typically a sheet of textile fabric, sheet metal or composite of carbon fiber, wood or honeycomb. Grommets ar ...

s suspended by four to six helium balloons. Ostertag manipulated the sound of performances by varying the speed of the middle deck and changing the combination of record and playback heads on the three decks. Ostertag said this

experimental musical instrument An experimental musical instrument (or custom-made instrument) is a musical instrument that modifies or extends an existing instrument or class of instruments, or defines or creates a new class of instrument. Some are created through simple modi ...

was "highly unstable". The balloons rose and fell with the

sound pressure Sound pressure or acoustic pressure is the local pressure deviation from the ambient (average or equilibrium) atmospheric pressure, caused by a sound wave. In air, sound pressure can be measured using a microphone, and in water with a hydrophone ...

created by the music, and often pulled the tape off its track in a breeze. He recalled: Playing' the instrument was an exercise in disaster control, while the usicianperforming with me was placed in the awkward situation of never quite knowing how the contraption would mangle the sound next."

Reception

In a review of ''Getting a Head'' at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, François Couture said Ostertag began experimenting with sound sampling a decade before it became a commercial viability. He called Medwed and Ostertag's invention "the strangest contraption". Couture wrote that Ostertag's manipulation of Frith's performance produced "a warped mirror image" of his guitar that was "strange and unsteady". He felt that "In Tundra" is "much better", stating that Ostertag made Noyes' "eerie" percussion "nightmarish". Overall Couture described the album as "a bit crude", but nonetheless "an interesting document". Gregory Sandow wrote in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' that the sounds in Ostertag's duet with Frith on side A "move in short, almost breathless little impulses" and are "lively and alert". Side B with Ostertag and Noyes is more "peaceful", and Sandow felt that its final movement, with a sound loop repeating itself, "is especially lovely".

Track listing

Sources:

Liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Personnel

* Bob Ostertag – homemade tape contraption *

– guitar *Charles K. Noyes – percussion, including bowed cymbals and junk metal *Bryan Medwed – tape contraption concept Sources:

Sound and artwork

*Recorded by Bob Ostertag *Side A mixed at Sorcerer Sound *Side B mixed at Noise, New York City *Liner notes by Bob Ostertag *Photography by Ruth Thorne-Thomsen, Tina Curran Sources:

Notes

References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Getting a Head 1980 live albums 1980 debut albums Experimental music albums Free improvisation albums Recommended Records live albums Seeland Records albums