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[LESS-LETHAL - a lecture about music as weapons] （中文版本請按此）

LESS-LETHAL
From Jericho to psychoacoustics

The direct relationship between sound and behavior has been documented
outside the military over the centuries, from the musical treatment of
mental patients in the Ottoman Empire to Muzak's stimulus progression
theory. LESS-LETHAL is a sound art and research project that explores
the link between music and non-lethal weaponry throughout history,
with a rather sarcastic approach. In 2007, the first chapter of the
experiment was published as a compilation CD where eleven sound
artists from all over the world were invited to create a 'sound
weapon' (a musical piece that could be used as a weapon in an armed
conflict) to compensate for the armies' and PSYOP's (Psychological Operations)
complete lack of research. Currently, ALKU is working on the second volume,
which will be specifically focused on subliminal messages and mind control
applied to music. This lecture is a walkthrough of that relationship
between audio and warfare from ancient times to the recent
developments in the weapons industry, and an invitation to think about
how we perceive sound and music.

ALKU is a record label and artists collective founded in 1997 in
Barcelona by Anna Ramos and Roc Jiménez de Cisneros. The label's
catalogue is a challenging compendium of unclassifiable music and
various concept-driven collective projects and installations.

For further info, see http://personal.ilimit.es/perkele/alku/less-lethal.html
http://www.vivapunani.org/ or http://alkualkualkualkualkualkualkualkualkualku.org

"Played 'LESS-LETHAL' real loud today in the office.
People loved it, except for the people who didn't love it"
(Jon Leidecker, producer-musician)

Album cover of LESS-LETHAL, vol. 1

Review on Neural Magazine, Italy
http://www.neural.it/sound/2007/05/various_artists_lesslethal_vol1.phtml

Review on Musique Machine
http://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=1678

Review on Modisti
http://modisti.com/phpbb2/various-less-lethal-vol-1-vt9144.html

Introduction on MusicThing, UK
http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2008/02/less-lethal-album-as-non-lethal-weapon.html