Douglas Moffat - Montréal Phonographe
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180g, white vinyl, one-sided, long playing record
Recorded by Douglas Moffat
Text by Danial Canty
Mastering by James Plotkin
Lacquers by Chicago Mastering Services
Plating by Mastercraft
Pressed by RIP-V
Released by ORAL and The Dim Coast
Design by black sheep design
montrealphonographe.ca
This project begins with a daydream. What would the island of Montreal sound like if it were a vinyl record? If you could somehow place the island on an immense turntable, what textures would be revealed in its surface?
Answering these questions began with the development of an all-terrain stylus that could transduce the textural changes of the ground plane into physical sounds.
The dream of the sound of impossible surfaces is not new. In an essay from 1919, Rainer Maria Rilke wondered what sounds the skull might reveal if only it could be traced by a stylus. A few years later, Lazlo Moholy-Nagy while contemplating new potentials for the phonograph, exclaimed ‘I wonder how your nose will sound? ’
This record continues in this spirit of imagined sounds etched into the polished surface of the record. Attempting to make the impossible tangible, yet never achieving a convincing verisimilitude. Instead, it is hoped that the sounds released here will continue to provoke further sonic daydreaming.
Released October 1, 2012
The Dim Coast / #1