audio Show 996: Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention by Hali Palombo for Wave Farm

“Interval Signals” are short pieces of musical phrasing, a sound effect or recorded speech that shortwave radio stations use to “introduce themselves” when broadcasting. The signals announce the start of a broadcast and create an identifiable touchstone for listeners old as well as those hearing the station for the very first time. Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention (named for the title of China radio station’s Voice of the Strait’s highly recognizable interval signal) is a work that restructures interval signals from eight different countries into miniature compositions played on instruments and in styles that are significant departures from their original form.

Hali Palombo is a composer, visual artist, and filmmaker from Chicago, Illinois. Born in Northfield, Minnesota, she has had a natural curiosity about the Midwestern United States since a young age. Her work often weaves the absurd and mundane beauty of Illinois into her records, short films, drawings, and paintings. Palombo is an avid practitioner of “plunderphonics”: sampling existing musical/aural works and intertwining them into something brand new, whether its shortwave radio and CB radio samples, wax cylinder audio, or field recordings taken from Midwestern points of interest. She also draws great inspiration from endless adventures around the country—be they on Google maps or in her car—often photographing, filming, or drawing her findings.