John Watermann - Calcutta Gas Chamber

Cat.#.: CSR52CD
Format: CD, jewel-case with four-paged full colour booklet
Release date: September 2006

Price: 10,00 €
Tracklist: 1. First shudder project: an intellectual challenge to convert victims into heart-shaped soap (7’56) / 2. Second shudder project: fitting the gas hose (3’36) / 3. Third shudder project: a vague demonstration of trembling (8’01) / 4. Fourth shudder project: the black milk clasp (clubbing, tearing, wrenching, cutting, spurting, boiling, processing) (7’48) / 5. Fifth shudder project: breasts of the naked wall (4’33) mp3 / 6. Sixth shudder project: the shredding of human tissue (13’34) / 7. Seventh shudder project: power house freeze (4’37) / 8. Eighth shudder project: walking the giant corpse (most of the actors already in quick lime) (6’44)

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Press info: The concept of aurally conveying the horror of a gas chamber was realised through field recordings in an abandoned electrical power station in Brisbane in 1992. The sounds are grating and harsh, a mixture of field recordings and electronic manipulations. One can rarely pinpoint a location or action but the images the sounds conjure up are of all sorts of nefarious activites related to death by machinery. The sleeve notes take you into the horror that is the Calcutta Gas Chamber. A beautifully composed and produced CD, completely remastered and re-packaged.

Reviews: “Australian artist J. Watermann got the idea for this album after a visit to Calcutta in 1990 and especially after the nightmarish experiences during his stay. The artist wanted to recreate the horror he was witness from. He tried to recreate the atmosphere through field recordings he did in an abandoned electrical power station in Brisbane in 1992 and other electronic sonic manipulations. We became used to this kind off receipt, which here resulted in a kind of soundscape where Watermann moves on the edge of noise. A few spoken vocal parts accentuate the feeling of fright, injecting a spooky element. This is an extreme and minimal listening, which I’ll strongly recommend to the heaviest fans of this style!”

DP, Side-Line: www.side-line.com