Recorded 10 and 15 December, 1997 at Speakeasy Productions, Baltimore, MD
DDD, live to stereo
Engineer: Jeremy Meyers
Photography: Harold Dorwin
Design: Matthew Ross Davis and Joseph Zitt
Produced by Comma
Manufactured by Allied Digital Technologies, NY, NY


Tracks:

1. Hypertensimproverty (improvised by Comma)

2. Sevenroughs (Matthew Ross Davis)
Sevenroughs takes as its inspiration the novel The Western Lands (1987), by the late William S. Burroughs. The piece is divided into seven parts (performed without pause), each corresponding to one of the seven ancient Egyptian 'parts of man' (according to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, trans. E. A. Wallis Budge), to which Burroughs refers as souls. Text within the work is derived from both The Western Lands and the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Each part creates a sonic portrait of the soul that it describes, incorporating the performers' own ideas and thoughts about their own lives.

- the sekhem (or form)
- the khu (or intelligence)
- the bo (or soul)
- the ka (or double)
- the khaibit (or shadow)
- the sekhu (or body)


3. Approaches and Departures (Pauline Oliveros)
Pauline Oliveros composed Approaches and Departures (Appearances and Disappearances for solo, duo or ensemble) on 4 February 1994 during Hildegard Kleeb's performance of Roland Dahinden's installation at the Swiss Institute in New York City. Originally conceived as an instrumental work, the score provides each performer with a strategy for approaching or departing from a pitch of his or her own choosing. Comma is the first ensemble to perform this work vocally, and this is the first recording of Approaches and Departures.

4. Carved with Breath (Joseph Zitt)
- Bringing Forth the Voice: "Twenty-two foundation letters: They are engraved with voice, carved with breath, and placed in the mouth in five places." (Sefer Yetzirah 2:3)
- Weavers: Hold a chord, then change your pitch, one at a time, introducing increasing numbers of notes into the phrases with which you change.
- Ramah: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentations and great weeping. Rachel is crying for her children, refusing to be consoled about her children, for they are no more." (Jeremiah 3:15)
- Baton: One person starts a sound. Another continues and ends it.
- Shuundak: One person starts a sound. The others join, echoing its beginning. Another ends the sound. The others echo that ending.
- Threads and Facets: One person sings a phrase.Another repeats it, changes it, repeats or changes an earlier phrase, or sings something new.
- This Colony Breath (after Kenneth Gaburo): Whisper quickly ... slow down ... add voices ... drop consonants ... slow down further ... repeat in another language ...
- Halleluyah Ketjak: One person chants a syllable in a repeating vigorous rhythm. The others join, chanting the same syllable in contrasting rhythms at the same tempo and with the same phrase length.

5. Song Books (John Cage)
The Song Books are 90 solos for voice (numbered 3-92) collected into four categories (song, song using electronics, theatre, theatre using electronics), and marked as either relevant or irrelevant to the subject "We connect Satie with Thoreau." Cage specifies that they may be used by one or more singers, and that any number of solos may be performed in any superimposition possible. Compositional procedures were chosen by chance, and included techniques already used in previous compositions (like tracing star charts or composing by 'taste') as well as brand new procedures.The solos which appear on this recording are: 7, 9, 12, 17, 49, 52, 68.

6. angelorum (Thomas Bickley)
angelorum (a contemplation of angels in Jewish and Christian tradition) translates into English as "of angels." This nine section vocal piece begins and ends with chant from the western church tradition. The other movements focus on the seven angels mentioned in I Enoch 20. Texts sung and spoken reflect each angel's attributes and responsibilities (e.g., VI: names of fallen angels; VII:'Holy' sung in Hebrew, Latin and English).

- In paradisum ("May angels lead you into paradise: when you arrive may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem.")
- Uriel (over forces of nature)
- Raphael (healer, caring for mortals)
- Raguel (tender of luminaries)
- Michael (archangel over all angels)
- Sariel (tender of forces which lead mortals astray)
- Gabriel (over paradise. the seraphim and cherubim)
- Remiel (tender of those who rise from the dead)
- Chorus angelorum ("May the choir of angels lead you, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you enjoy eternal rest.")


7. Corduroy Piano Dream (improvised by Comma)

We would like to thank all the people who supported us and helped to make this recording possible, especially: Kurt Kolb, Stacy Davis, Lisa Mages, Pauline Oliveros, David Patterson, and H. Chris Christner.