Sound can be thought of with a simple definition, or as a much more complex concept. In the work of Sid Yiddish, the idea of “sound work” covers a wide range of artwork that includes live sound-making, sound-harvesting, sound recording, music making, broadcasting, and even some accessories that don’t make their own sounds, but assist in making sound with the help of other objects.
Yiddish’s new platform is Q4 Radio (Quennect 4 Radio) online, where he has just been named as the assistant program director. Q4 Radio streams live at www.que4.org/radio, and as of November 17, the station goes live at 1710 AM, with an eight mile radius reception possible throughout Logan Square, Humboldt Park and downtown Chicago.
Part of his new duties include hosting The Radio Room, an experimental broadcast that includes old time radio shows, radio airchecks, plus other implemented features. “Working on and hosting that show is the part of the job I am really happy about,” says Yiddish. The program airs on Sunday afternoons from 4:00–7:00 p.m.
His recording career has continued unabated since starting in the InterArts program. He’s just signed to a German label (Shit Noise Records), where he has already released two new CDs: To Bo Meets Sid Yiddish Part 1, featuring Sid working with To Bo of Germany; and the confrontationally-entitled If Your Life Is Shit, Don’t Blame Us, a collaboration with Canadian artist Gooze.
When not in the recording booth or generating experimental sound art and music, Sid has been dreaming up ideas for his Multiples class with Book + Papers Arts professor Miriam Schaer. His most recent one has a connection to sound, of course: a series of instrument/guitar picks made from various repurposed materials: gift cards, expired credit cards, paper CTA passes, grocery store cards. Yiddish has already sold some to a Columbia College Marketing faculty member, and will pitch the final product to a ShopColmbia rep in the class. “From there, I hope to bring them to ShopColumbia,” says Yiddish, “where it can be displayed for sale alongside my CD Safari Freakshow Adventure, which I worked on with the Danish group Clean Boys.”
For information on other Yiddish recordings and CDs, including the new Sid Yiddish And His Candy Store Henchmen release Cyberspace Easter Egg and his work with Sharkey Asbury, click here.
