francisco lopez: la selva

Full-length original audio piece on 24-bit/48kHz digital USB flat memory-card with non-audio blank etched vinyl. Edition of 500 copies numbered and signed by Francisco López. La Selva is an immersion into the sound environments of a tropical rain forest in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. An astonishing natural sonic web created by a multitude of sounds from rain, waterfalls, insects, frogs, birds, mammals, and even plants, through a day cycle during the rainy season. A powerful acousmatic broadband sound environment of thrilling complexity. And above all, a tour de force of profound listening. Original recordings done at La Selva Biological Station during the rainy seasons of 1995 and 1996. La Selva was premiered in an acousmatic performance at Teatro Fanal of the Fanal Contemporary Art Center in San José, Costa Rica, in August 1997. Originally released as a CD by V2_Archief in 1998. "After two years of failed attempts with multiple test pressings from the best plants and cutting engineers in Europe, the inherent constraints of vinyl led to an unavoidable conclusion: this audio piece cannot be released on vinyl... many of the naturally intense sections of 'La Selva' with insect and amphibian calls were rendered awfully distorted, with filtering solving virtually nothing at the expense of dramatic dullness... That is why this 'natural' sound piece has been finally reissued digitally, in its entirety, and with the best possible sound." --López