A TED talk took me through a rabbithole on a blog that now just redirects to a scam website that hosts some gambling products or something, but back in 2012 (accessible through archive.org), was known as ifoundyourcamera.net. The website’s purpose was to act as a blog where someone would upload various photos to a blog that they’d found on peoples’ disposable cameras just left lying about, then hopefully people would be able to find their photos through the blog and receive their lost camera. However, a secondary function of the website is to feel this weird way- discomfort, maybe- to the photos viewable on the website. The website is full of photos that were never meant to be seen. Art like this has always fascinated me— it’s what I really appreciate about Bull of Heaven’s Elsa, Are You In There? as that’s just a someone’s voice on some telephone tape or something, and the sad lonely drone compliments the lost feeling of it all. As I walked through my neighborhood today, I listened to Unedited Voice Memos. It’s a similar thing to ifoundyourcamera, but with sound. Audio never meant to be heard. There are a few actual songs on this, the last one is really spectacular and very in the vein of Betelmire. But anyway, the sky is a light grey. The sidewalk’s gotten brown and everyone’s inside because the day is short of “perfect weather” to most folk. And by the time I’m hearing the very end I’m face to face with rain droplets. It’s the end of what may not be the best album ever, but alternatively is a singular work of art and something that shows how connected we are as people.
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