We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Kristen Gallerneaux - Ring the Rattle

from (re​)​Sounding by multiple artists

/

about

Ring the Rattle—the title a nod to Tenor Saw’s 1985 dancehall classic “Ring the Alarm”—is an electronic composition. Samples include nineteenth-century wood rattles, conch shells, and an Estey field organ. Using analog synthesis and Ableton Live, the embedded sonic potential of these instruments was explored at a granular level. Samples were fed into generative and time shifting filters, which transformed basic sounds into ambient soundscapes and drones. An expanse of space emerges through heavy dub echo. Rattles become the rally of hand claps and organ trills are propelled into deep bass percussion. The conch sounds off throughout as an alien voice.

Historically, the conch and rattle have lived multiple lives. Conch trumpets—once living creatures—have been used since the Bronze Age for their harmonic, amplified tones in religious ceremonies. Their spiritual properties include dispelling negative energy from a space. On plantations, they were used by slaves to announce secret late-night meetings to plan uprisings. Conch shells traveled with people to rural America from far-flung places, where their expansive resonance was useful in calling farm workers in for meals.

The origin of wood rattles—sometimes called ratchets—is unclear. While they existed for several centuries as noisemakers, in the seventeenth-century night watchmen began to use them to “raise the alarm” to trouble. In the 1880s, they were used by British police to signal for help or to indicate that a crime was in progress. Police soon adopted whistles for their longer sonic reach. During World War I, wood rattles were issued to soldiers. Unable to safely use their voice or a whistle without removing their gas masks, rattles like these were effective in signaling the threat of poisonous gas attacks.

In “Ring the Alarm,” Tenor Saw opens with the lyrics “Ring the alarm, another sound is dying.” The song itself is built on the embryonic “Stalag 17” riddim, first used by Ansel Collins and named after the Billy Wilder film.

- Kristen Gallerneaux

credits

from (re​)​Sounding, released May 25, 2020

license

tags

about

Seven Count image

Seven Count Troy, New York

Angus McCullough, Jake Nussbaum and Adam Tinkle.
sevencount.net
@sevencountseven

contact / help

Contact Seven Count

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Ring the Rattle, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Beans joins the show to discuss his album release, "ZWAARD".

listen now