Bob Cobbing

Bob Cobbing has to be the funniest sound poet!  Alphabet of Fishes has a style unlike any other.  His voice takes on the strange rhythm, almost like breathing.  In the beginning of the song he says the words at this steady pace with emphasis on his breath.  As soon as he establishes this consistent structure, he breaks it with an abrupt, low bellowing noise that catches you totally off guard.  I like how he knows how funny it is, and he draws out the bellow way longer than any other word. 

It is so weird how half way through the song a choir of children's soft voices can be heard in the background, and to me it sounds like he is trying to orchestrate them.  Even funnier still, is when he does that strange thing with his his throat, where he is panting and simultaneously making these high squeaking noises in the back of his throat.  It is so cartoony, and he all the sudden sounds 50 years older.  

I really like how different each of his tracks are.  In "15 Shakespeare Kaku" he is not only funny, but also totally scary and disturbing.  At times it felt like i was getting my ears raped by a consortium of of mutant babies.  I also like how the poem goes through a multitude of different phases.  It is cool how he also uses his voice to create strange ambient noises, and it sounds especially weird when he overlaps it with odd machine-like samples.  

I am fascinated with generating unknown, unexpected forms in image-making, and i see this piece as seeking to accomplish a similar form of experimentation through sound.  Through each wave of noise in the song, a different range of contrast and expectation is established. I have never heard the human voice expressed in such unknown ways.  It is very fun and surreal.