Svietas 09 // soundscapes of the body: Jan Jelinek & more

In this episode, we dive into two compelling sound explorations.The first album, Jan Jelinek’s "Zwischen", presents a unique radio play crafted for the German public broadcaster SWR2.

Jelinek manipulates spoken words from interviewees—public figures—by extracting pauses, breaths, and non-semantic sounds between their words. These fragmented moments are then used to control synthesizers, creating layered, electronic soundscapes that blend seamlessly with the voice collages, forming twelve intricate acoustic structures. Through this process, the silences and hesitations, often seen as imperfections, become central to the poetic and sonic narrative.

The second part of the episode features Body Sounds, an archival compilation curated by Chris Phinney and originally captured on cassette by Hal McGee. This reissue delves into the raw and visceral sounds of the body, blending field recordings, spoken word, and unconventional sonic experiments. It includes a series of tracks that highlight the everyday sounds of the human form—pauses, breaths, and sounds—restructured into continuous listening experiences. The cassette sides, with their spaces in-between tracks, offer an uninterrupted exploration of these auditory fragments, inviting the listener into a tactile and immersive sonic journey.