Lithuanian Children Talking 1983 – 1994

Friend: “Is that the name of the band or…”

BricolageMusic: “…nope, it is what it says on the cover.”

There’s some wacky stuff out there, I’ll admit it, but nothing could have prepared me for this one. For £1 the lovely men at Rare&Racy parted with this treasure. Now because my relationship with CD-R’s is comparable to that of a Whippet and rabbit shit, I had to bury my nose deeper and find out more. The guy who’s releasing it goes under the pseudonym of Toaster In The Bath, he had to say this:

I came across the recordings because my friend, who was living with me at the time was one of the children on the recording and her Dad wanted to get the tapes burnt to CD.

So here’s some musings on and around it:

Lithuanian Children Talking 1983-1994 (toaster in the bath)

Over the last decade or so there has been an ongoing debate amongst music writers into Heidegger’s notion of Geist (‘ghosts’) and more specifically, Hauntology – the study of ghosts.  The questions arose following the enquiry of Jacques Derrida’s article under the English title, Of Spirit. The argument, about music and Hauntology, which has become synonymous with blogger K-Punk, has given rise to the question, ‘Does, and if so where does, Hauntology appear in music?’

Followers of both music and philosophy have been keen to point out instances where it does arise. Without examining all formal proposals for entrants into this exclusive, paranormal, club I want to lay claim that Lithuanian Children Talking 1983-1994 is an apposite example of Hauntlogy and hopefully from that, make a clear distinction as to which other sonic artifices are credible reference points of this supposed Genre.

The key element for me is that, as Derrida makes clear through the structure of his argument, our conception of Hauntology is inextricably linked to our notion of Geist. As is such, the depictions of Geist must realise or share properties with our conception of Geist.

Now herein lies the problem, what writers appear to have done is to search through other texts by Derrida in search of how we can derive a suitable definition of Geist, not as concept but as art practice – Writing and Difference being the main culprit. They have used these texts to seek a link between a conceptual idea and an artistic representation, which I believe to be an ambitious endeavor due to the requirement to bridge a metaphysical gap.

Instead of this linear method, I propose an inside out approach: to find artifacts of ‘Geist as representation’ and then find concurrence or difference with notions of Hauntology. 

In a questionably successful article by Brian O’Connell in reference to a more credible one by Jan Verwoert it is argued:

As Verwoert points out through his own invocation of Derrida, a double possession takes place: the artist takes possession of the appropriated object by performatively consuming it within a given practice, while at the same time that practice is possessed (in the ghostly sense) by the discourse that accompanies its act of appropriation.

Now without making this article too laborious it is worth pointing out that between this Toaster In The Bath character, his flatmate and the father they appear to have offered a CD-R that seems to fit perfectly with several readings of Hauntology, all in reference to Derrida.

I don’t think that this is the sole sonic artifact of hauntology by any means, I just believe it to be a true one. As I await the arrival of ‘People Take Warning! – Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs’ and replay Burial etc. I’m going to see what else can fit the mould in my own non-academic, uninformed way. I just want to point out that if you hear a scenester rant on about how some Goblin record is like soooo Derrida, tell them to fuck off.

CD is available by mail order for £1 +SAE if you email: toasterinthebathrocks@gmail.com