Comments on: Montage of Heck

Montage of Heck

naju — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:32:36 -0800

Newly unearthed — and not for the faint of heart — Kurt Cobain 's 1988 experimental sonic collage / mixtape, Montage of Heck. Recorded on a four-track cassette recorder when he was 21. Here's some notes on what you're listening to. And Consequence of Sound has additional info. Not recommended for work speakers, probably. What if this had started the alternative revolution instead of Nevermind?

By: naju

naju — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:41:35 -0800

(None of the articles are very clear on this, but it appears as though this recording has been circulating for a while, and has only now gained wider awareness.)

By: item

item — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:52:26 -0800

Yeah, this has definitely been out there for a while. I remember hearing a copy my buddy Travis paid an obscene amount of money for sometime in the mid 90's.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:55:11 -0800

Sweet bloody cheebus, this is fantastic listening. Yes, there is a lot of rhythmic puking and toilets flushing but if you can hear past that and imagine Kurt hunched over a 4-track piecing this together like the Orson Welles of rock it is mind-blowingly good.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:56:14 -0800

What if this had started the alternative revolution instead of Nevermind? What if Revolution 9 started the alternative—nevermind....

By: entropicamericana

entropicamericana — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:57:01 -0800

Always loved the brief montage in front of "Love Buzz" on the 45. I'll have to check this out.

By: Catblack

Catblack — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:01:28 -0800

Audio collage like this is nothing new, this one is only getting recent internet attention due to it's creator later becoming famous, and then later becoming dead while famous. I mean, it's unique, but don't think that Cobain was creating some great art movement here that was ignored. To his credit Cobain did seek out William Burroughs. There's an ocean to absorb out there about Burroughs' cutup technique collaborations with Brion Gysin. But even then they are just one rich vein in a deep mineshaft of audio collage.

By: humboldt32

humboldt32 — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:23:19 -0800

Senator, I made mixtapes. I knew mixtapes. I made a mixtape for a friend of mine. Senator, you're no mixtape.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:30:46 -0800

humboldt32, Consequence of Sound clarifies their use of the term:

"Mixtape" is in quotes there because it's not so much a mix as a collage of noises, sounds, and snippets compiled from Cobain's extensive collection, the radio, and other sources.

Musique concrète is the term generally applied to this sort of audio sampling, and it was broadly theorized back in the late 1920s, and came to life in the 1940s.

By: lownote

lownote — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:56:22 -0800

There is some precedence in calling this a mix. Williams Mix by Cage is the first that comes to mind but there are certainly more.

By: naju

naju — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:59:55 -0800

Oh yeah, "What if this had started the alternative revolution" was totally a joke. I think this is great but I'm aware it's part of a rich tradition of sound collage, etc.

By: humboldt32

humboldt32 — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:24:02 -0800

I was going to just post that if the word they chose needs quotes and clarification, they should have just chosen a better word. All the social media posts I've seen are now picking up on that poorly chosen word. Of course "Musique concrete" would be less effective than "mixtape" in the lowest common denominator world of social media. I decided to make a humorous (to me at least) quip instead.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:25:11 -0800

Nirvana fanatics know about Montage Of Heck, and apparently there are two different versions:

a long stereo version (about 36 minutes long)
a short mono version (about 8 min long).

Some material in the short version isn't on the long version, and vice versa. For instance, the clip of a Nirvana song referred to as "The Landlord" -- where Krist sings that "the landlord is a piece of shit from hell!" -- only appears in the short version. The two versions are mixed very differently. In the long version, layers of sound move around in two speakers. The short version tends to highlight certain sounds by themselves, rather then presenting them as layers.

That site also lists more than 50 sources "featured and/or hidden" in either of the two versions.

By: naju

naju — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:38:40 -0800

Cool link! It's part of the FPP :)

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 10:10:03 -0800

Arglebargle, sorry 'bout that, and your first comment clarifies that this isn't really new new, but newly publicized on the 'net at large.

By: elvissinatra

elvissinatra — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:00:11 -0800

From the Guardian: Kurt Cobain's Montage of Heck tape: his ex-girlfriend sets record straight.