In the Country of Last Things

An imaginary Soundtrack to Paul Austers dystopian novel 'In the Country of Last Things' (published 1987)
Compiled by Dogura Magura | October 2009

Duration --> 1:25:00
Bitrate --> 320 kBit/s | 44.100 kHz
Filesize --> 194,6 MB
Encoder --> Logic Pro 8.0.0

I really liked the dark atmosphere in Paul Austers novel 'In the Country of Last Things' and I thought it would be a great enjoyment to compile an 'imaginary' soundtrack in the spirit of this book.

Altogether this mixtape is meant to be like a walk through devastated cityscapes in a collapsed dystopian society, where people are desperately searching the ruins/streets for food and other essential items. Therefore I used some spatial soundscapes and field-recordings which describe a soiled environmental (for instance: footsteps on broken glass + demolished bricks, vague remnants from radios or turntables with crackling vinyl, sounds from burning objects etc.. ), sometimes accompanied by experimental use of human voice.

SOURCES:

Several albums from different countries + genres (1916-2009), sound-excerpts from movies + surreal short films, excerpts from sound- or videoinstallations at art exhibitions (mostly visual artists), spy-related radio sound-excerpts taken from shortwave radio stations and some field-recordings from soundtransit.nl.

SYNOPSIS TO PAUL AUSTERS NOVEL 'IN THE COUNTRY OF LAST THINGS' (1987)

"A postapocalyptic quest set against a backdrop of urban deprivation. The masses are homeless, theft is so rampant it is no longer a crime, and death — by arranging either suicide or assassination — is the only way out. Buildings collapse daily, driving huge numbers of citizens into the streets, where they starve or die of exposure — if they aren't murdered by other vagrants first. Government forces haul away the bodies, and licensed scavengers collect trash and precious human waste. Weird cults form around the most popular methods of suicide. Anne Blume comes to this unnamed city in search of her brother and finds friendship — even love — amid the devastation."

Hope you've already read the book!

TRACKLIST:

Title 01: Satz 1
Artist: Hermann Nitsch
Album / Source: Komposition für Orgel in fünf Sätzen
Year: 1995

Title 02: ............. (Your Name Here)
Artist: Iversen
Album / Source: 42 Minutes
Year: 2005

Title 03: Untitled 1
Artist: Sleep Research Facility
Album / Source: Dead Weather Machine
Year: 2004

Title 04: Mines
Artist: Laurie Spiegel
Album / Source: Obsolete Systems
Year: 1971

Title 05: Noh-Miso I
Artist: Kuniharu Akiyama
Album / Source: Music for Puppet Theatre of Hitomi-Za / Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol.2
Year: 1962

Title 06: Soundscape
Artist: Klaus Hinrich Stahmer
Album / Source: Sound Sculptures
Year: 1985

Title 07: Kreukeltape
Artist: Machinefabriek
Album / Source: Marijn
Year: 2006

Title 08: Imperfect Reliability
Artist: Alejandra Salinas & Aeron Bergman
Album / Source: Permanent Installation with Sound at the 'Museu das Rendas' / Vila do Conde, Portugal
Year: 2008

Title 09: Cage du grand escalier / Exhibited at the Alvar Aalto Architecture Symposium
Artist: Gavin Bryars
Album / Source: A listening room (chambre d'ecoute)
Year: 2006

Title 10: Travelon Gamelon (Music For Bicycles): Promenade Version / Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April 27, 1982
Artist: Richard Lerman
Album / Source: Travelon Gamelon
Year: 1982

Title 11: Sound excerpt, taken from the movie 'Aus dem Leben der Marionetten'
Artist: Rolf Wilhelm
Album / Source: Aus dem Leben der Marionetten - From the Lifes of Marionettes / Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Year: 1980

Title 12: Crackle Box, Thumb Piano
Artist: Stephen Vitiello
Album / Source: Box Music
Year: 2008

Title 13: Dramatisches Waschbecken
Artist: Annie Goh
Album / Source: Sound excerpt, taken from a field-recording from Anne Goh (Berlin)
Year: 2008

Title 14: Interferenz 1
Artist: Atom™
Album / Source: Liedgut
Year: 2009

Title 15: Winter (Outtake)
Artist: Wendy Carlos
Album / Source: Sonic Seasonings
Year: 1972

Title 16: Feedback mq lp48,3
Artist: John Baker
Album / Source: The John Baker Tapes Vol.2 / Rare & Unreleased Workshop Recordings (1954-1985)
Year: 1963

Title 17: Harbouring wails
Artist: Caro Snatch (carosnatch)
Album / Source: Plan in it EP
Year: 2008

Title 18: Drum Mode
Artist: Gray (Vincent Gallo, Jean Michel Basquiat & Wayne Richard Clifford aka Justin Time)
Album / Source: Downtown 81 / Soundtrack
Year: 1981

Title 19: The Orgy Persons
Artist: Drahomira Song Orchestra
Album / Source: The Return Of 120 Magicians
Year: 2006

Title 20: It Strangely Disappears
Artist: Masaru Satoh
Album / Source: The Throne of Blood (Soundtrack)
Year: 1957

Title 21: Spiderhand Forest Moves
Artist: Masaru Satoh
Album / Source: The Throne of Blood (Soundtrack)
Year: 1957

Title 22: Warraw 10
Artist: Natalie Rose Lebrecht
Album / Source: Warraw
Year: 2007

Title 23: Time Fist
Artist: Pocahaunted
Album / Source: Island Diamonds
Year: 2008

Title 24: We are no more thinking about the title
Artist: Pauline Oliveros & Reynols
Album / Source: Pauline Oliveros in the Arms of Reynols
Year: 1999

Title 25: Silent Uprising
Artist: Beneath the Lake
Album / Source: Silent Uprising
Year: 2005

Title 26: Onsra
Artist: Fennesz
Album / Source: Venice
Year: 2004

Title 27: Mcleod Ganj - Drain noises
Artist: Benjamin Woods
Album / Source: Sound excerpt, taken from a field-recording from Benjamin Woods
Year: 2008

Title 28: Perosinho - Rain, thunder, bark
Artist: Joao Ricardo
Album / Source: Sound excerpt, taken from a field-recording from Joao Ricardo
Year: 2006

Title 29: Hornby Island - Footsteps 2
Artist: Phil Thomson
Album / Source: Sound excerpt, taken from a field-recording from Phil Thomson
Year: 2004

Title 30: Torn Under The Window Light
Artist: Bibio
Album / Source: Vignetting The Compost
Year: 2009

Title 31: Sound excerpts, taken from the experimental short-film ''Wavelength' (with the Lo-Fi-Beatles tune 'Strawberry fields forever')
Artist: Martin Snow / Sound: Ted Wolff
Album / Source: Sound excerpt taken from Martin Snow's experimental short-film 'Wavelength'
Year: 1967

Title 32: Randomly used spy-related sound excerpts taken from shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin.
Tracks: a) YT [S8], b) 'A' [G8], c) Magnetic fields [E9], d) Workshop [XW], e) Spruchnummer 1 [G20], e) Whiskey Tango Viente Y Uno [V19]
Artist: Unknown
Album / Source: The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations
Year: 1997

Title 33: Baandspiller I Solnedgang
Artist: Svarte Greiner
Album / Source: Til Seters
Year: 2008

Title 34: Sound excerpt, taken from the surreal short film 'La Perle'
Artist: Unknown
Album / Source: La Perle - The Pearl / Directed by Henri d'Ursel
Year: 1929

Title 35: Csille
Artist: Mihály Víg
Album / Source: Filmzenék: Tarr Béla Filmjeihez (Soundtrack)
Year: 2001

Title 36: Mogg Bay - Zen Jiggers
Artist: Katarina Soukup
Album / Source: Sound excerpt, taken from a field-recording from Katarina Soukup
Year: 2005

Title 37: Woman with Dustpan and Broom
Artist: Sylvia Hallet
Album / Source: White Fog
Year: 2002

Title 38: Boulder, Colorado - Ouray footstones
Artist: Toby Sinkinson
Album / Source: Sound excerpt, taken from a field-recording from Toby Sinkinson
Year: 2006

Title 39: Soaked Pt. 3
Artist: Philip Jeck & Jacob Kirkegaard
Album / Source: Soaked
Year: 2002

Title 40: Gagra
Artist: Gultskra Artikler
Album / Source: Kasha Iz Topora
Year: 2007

Title 41: Absinthe Patriote
Artist: Blood Axis & Les Joyaux de La Princesse
Album / Source: Absinthia Tätra
Year: 2004

Title 42: The Bubble Massage
Artist: Iasos
Album / Source: Inter-Dimensional Music
Year: 1975

Title 43: Way Their Crept
Artist: Grouper
Album / Source: Way Their Crept
Year: 2005

Title 44: The Blue Whale
Artist: Labelle & Roden
Album / Source: Site Of Sound (Of Architecture & The Ear)
Year: 1999

Title 45: Montreal - Silo Sound
Artist: Anna Friz
Album / Source: Sound excerpt, taken from a field-recording from Anna Friz
Year: 2005

Title 46: Sound excerpt taken from the experimental film 'Les Chants de Maldoror'
Artist: Unknown / Presumedly J.A. Caesar (Musical director for Terayama's theater company, Tenjo Sajiki)
Album / Source: The experimental film 'Les Chants de Maldoror' / Shuji Terayama: Experimental Image World Volume 5
Year: 1977

Title 47: Q-/-Uatre Petites Betes
Artist: Joan La Barbara
Album / Source: Voice is the Original Instrument
Year: 1976

Title 48: Laboratory of Hearing - From the Rumor of a Cascade (phonogram, 1916)
Artist: Dziga Vertov
Album / Source: Baku: Symphony of Sirens
Year: 1916

Title 49: Dimeniloningen
Artist: Manon Anne Gillis
Album / Source: Euragine
Year: 1994

Title 50: Toques
Artist: Tsuki
Album / Source: I wish that Mountain could have an Eye
Year: 2006

Title 51: Palace of Ignitions
Artist: :zoviet*france:
Album / Source: Shouting at the Ground
Year: 1988

Title 52: Noh-Miso VIII
Artist: Kuniharu Akiyama
Album / Source: Music for Puppet Theatre of Hitomi-Za | Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol.2
Year: 1962

Title 53: Lucky Strike
Artist: Arnold Dreyblatt & The Orchestra of Excited Strings
Album / Source: Propellers In Love
Year: 1986

Title 54: Untitled
Artist: Paavoharju
Album / Source: Laulu laakson kukista
Year: 2008