Augustė Vickunaitė uses reel-to-reel tape recorders and audio tapes as her primary musical instruments, collecting and recording them to create samples through a fully analog process. Her live sets unfold with a dramaturgy reminiscent of cinema or theater. For Vickunaitė, the tape recorder is both a tool and a medium – a device through which she channels and communicates her conscious and unconscious world. The sounds of her sets are unmistakably machinic, shaped by the noisy mechanisms of the tape machines: warm, thanks to their analog character, harsh and dark, reflecting the technical glitches caused by the wear and tear of aging equipment, and at times humorous, reminiscent of old cartoons. In the end, her work becomes an analog audio collage – a constantly shifting sonic narrative unfolding inside the boxes of her reel-to-reel tape recorders.

Augustė Vickunaitė is a sound experimenter with a background in physics. Using vintage reel-to-reel tape recorders, she creates layered compositions from found material, field recordings, voice, instruments, objects, and the malfunctions of decaying technology. Known for her theatrical, darkly humorous approach to tape music and noise, she has performed throughout Europe at venues including Cafe Oto in London, KM28 Berlin, and Volksbühne, and festivals such as Seanaps and Braille Satellite. Augustė Vickunaitė recently released her first solo CD, Dance Alone and is preparing for an upcoming residency at Elektronmusikstudion EMS in Stockholm. She is currently based in Berlin.

archive.org/details/@augustevi

< See all artists