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The RCA Mark II

by C. Spencer Yeh

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  • The RCA Mark II
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1.
I 04:20
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2.
II 02:09
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3.
III 04:14
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4.
IV 01:35
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5.
V 03:14
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6.
VI 03:28
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7.
VII 03:42
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8.
VIII 02:37
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9.
IX 02:57
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10.
X 03:33
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11.
XI 02:45
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12.
XII 03:38
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about

"The RCA Mark II" is a follow-up to Yeh’s recent vocal work and is focused solely on the non-musical operation of the famed RCA Mark II synthesizer. Built and installed in 1959 at Columbia University, it was the first programmable synthesizer and became the bedrock upon which the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was founded. The machine has not worked since 1997.

While visiting a friend at the university, Yeh discovered the synthesizer and began to make regular trips to work with it acoustically: flipping switches, rubbing surfaces, turning knobs, and plugging/unplugging cables. Using contact and room microphones, Yeh recorded these operations over the course of several sessions, and the recordings became the basis from which he composed this 12-track LP. The artist then further manipulated and processed the material through a series of live performances, which were recorded and edited to complete the album.

The finished tracks are jagged, sparse, and hypnotically rhythmic. In listening to the record, one does not so much hear the original synthesizer, but rather an artist dismantling the historical weight of the source through a composition of its transformation from a legendary machine to a one-ton hunk of scrap metal no longer operational. It is here perhaps that Yeh finds virtuosity and spectacle in the most basic acts of instrumentation, the movement and clank of mechanical parts.

The album was designed by Robert Beatty and includes liner notes by Andy Battaglia.

Vinyl LP
12.25 x 12.25 inches
38:18 minutes
Edition of 500
November 2017

credits

released November 1, 2017

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about

C. Spencer Yeh image

C. Spencer Yeh New York, New York

C. Spencer Yeh is an artist, musician, and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been featured in programs at MoMA, The Whitney, The Walker Art Center, The Institute of Fine Arts at NYU, the Kitchen, the Renaissance Society, Empty Gallery, and The Liverpool Biennial. His video work is represented by Electronic Arts Intermix in New York. ... more

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