[hiland]

 

Radio Kills
Francesco Spampinato
Bologna, Italy: Starlab Productions & Silver Fuckin' Records. 2007

Radio Kills is a sound collage inspired by the heavy-metal cult movie Trick or Treat (1986) where a teenager receives the only existing copy of the last unpublished LP of his dead hero, the rock singer Sammi Curr. If played in reverse, the record contains subliminal messages of death and violence.

In Radio Kills, the radio is to be played in reverse. It combines recordings from Italian commercials and religious, musical and political radio broadcasts. Like Trick or Treat, Radio Kills contains subliminal messages from a speech by Guglielmo Marconi, originally recorded on wire in 1932, where the father of radio recalls the early developments of wireless communications from 1901 to 1920.

Radio Kills also reflects the role of Bologna, Italy, in the evolution of radio. Bologna is the place of birth and early training of Marconi, but also the city where radio has been revolutionary exploited by the activist group behind Radio Alice during the 1977 student revolts.

Radio Kills follows the invitation by American artists Christopher Williams and John Kesley (Bernadette Corporation/ Reeena Spaulings) to join Radio Daniéle, an experimental radio program broadcasted in Bologna and Zürich during 2007.Radio Daniéle features interventions by Cory Arcangel, Paul Chan, Calire Fontaine, Gareth James, Martin Kippenberger, Paul McCarthy, Thurston Moore, Seth Price and Lawrence Weiner. Radio Daniéle is dedicated to the French director Radio Daniéle Huillet (1936-2006).

Cool, thanks.