Distant Antenna

A remote broadcast tower outside New York City sends its message out into the area. Tonight they play a recorded performance of the group Mono Puff.
Beyond the orange mountains west of the city, thin night clouds settle, and the sun's rays can no longer hold back the interference from the distant antennas.
 
Against nature, a family labors to isolate the sound of Mono Puff from the static. Like so many others before them, they strain at the fine tuning knob of their receiver. Finally free, they hear and understand.
This recording is dedicated to their struggle.



Quoth the Johns:

This recording was cooked up quite spontaneously at the end of the marathon tracking session at Unique Studio in Times Square. Romanian-born actress Elina Lowensohn, star of "Nadja," a number of Hal Hartley films, and the upcoming "Devil When Down to Newport" video, did the voice-over. There are no samples or loops, just real records scratching along, and live radios being tuned.

—John Flansburgh
[source: monopuff.org's online Unsupervised Libretto]



Corrections? Let me know.