The ninth volume from Phil Zampino's long-running project CHANGES TO blind is his first concept album, an examination of a life, its value, and its curiosity in sound. Developed from recent recordings and performance projects, the album is guided by plundering the oldest album in Zampino's personal collection, a 10" album from his childhood titled "A Day at the Circus". The performance was titled "The Telescopic Circus" and was performed in the Wilmington, NC series Hooked on Sonic that Zampino's record distribution and retail service, Squidco, produces each month. The extracted work becomes an apt analogy for the carousel-like existence most of us experience, as the circus theme weaves itself around the 13 tracks of the album, contrasting and blurring with concepts of life, generally and specific to the CTb experience, asking the questions:

Is life a tightrope for a pig to cross? A circus balloon blown beyond its tensile strength? The repeated watering before sudden desiccation? What is a life?

Does it deserve applause? Is it lost in a shimmering light, consumed by resonation? The woods spinning your compass wildly while birds laugh? Does life wrap itself around your garbled globe?

What is a life?

Nine Volumes. It's been a long journey, the CTb project starting in 1984 with an Atari computer, a couple of synths and a microphone. That song project was an obsession for the next decade, and paused for a few years where it was moved to NYC, changing and absorbing a tremendous amount of diversity in music and sound. Losing interest in song, and evolving tpward sonic experimentation with a tangent in sound poetry, the tools changed, acoustic instruments merged with electronics, field recordings and curious sounds. One certainty is: the journey has been persistent, and life is long and convoluted. Enjoy the circus!

"Despite this being volume nine, I only reviewed one previous volume, eight, in Vital Weekly 1433. Changes To Blind was once a trio of Phil Zampino, Mortimer deSquid & Heraldo deSquid and now just Zampino, merging acoustic instruments with electronics, field recordings and curious sounds; maybe the later includes a 10″ from Zampino's childhood, called A Day At The Circus, used on this new release.

No guest musicians on this new release, but it continues where we left off in the previous one. Heavily layered collages of found sounds, old vinyl, spoken word, some electronics here and there, and in his approach, he reminds me, as before, of some of Nurse With Wound's older records, even, perhaps, without some of the refinement. Zampino's primary instrument, however, is the computer, and it's here where all organisation takes place, in good old musique concrète fashion. By meticulously editing and rearranging, Zampino strikes a balance between chaos and order, fun and seriousness, while maintaining a playful approach.

Things never get too serious for Zampino, who has 14 pieces in 51 minutes, of which two almost fill up half the release. In those pieces, he explores the notion of minimalism, and he does it quite well-his playful approach results in what could also be seen as a form of surrealism in sound. The whole album is best enjoyed as a continuous piece of music, going from one strong place to the next."-Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly

This album has been reviewed on our magazine:


The Squid's Ear!