I did not know about this amazing sound poet before! Bök is an absolute master of the genre and has a magnificent voice and diction. His take on the Ursonate (on side B) is totally refreshing.

Christian Bök (1966) is a Canadian poet known for his experimental works. He was born Christian Book, but uses “Bök” as a pseudonym. In 1994, Bök published Crystallography, “a pataphysical encyclopaedia that misreads the language of poetics through the conceits of geology.”
He has also been into conceptual art, making artist’s books from Rubik’s Cubes and Lego bricks. But he’s the most famous for writing Eunoia (2001), a book where only one vowel is used in each of its five chapters.

The record (in blue vinyl) has an impeccable sound production. So do get this while stocks last.

Tracklist

SIDE A

01 – Ubu Hubbub
02 – Seepferdchen und Flugfische (Hugo Ball)
03 – Gadji Beri Bimba (Hugo Ball)
04 – Karawane (Hugo Ball)
05 – Totenklage (Hugo Ball)
06 – Dédicage (R. Murray Schafer)
07 – The Aria of the Three-Horned Enemy (R. Murray Schafer)
08 – And Sometimes
09 – Valuvëula
10 – American Dada
11 – NOYTA CCCP
12 – The Doomsday Song
13 – Mushroom Clouds
14 – Motorized Razors

SIDE B

Ursonate (Kurt Schwitters)

‘Ubu Hubbub’ is a tirade that pays homage to Ubu Roi (the pea-brained, pot-bellied dictator made famous by Alfred Jarry).

‘And Sometimes’ exhaustively enumerates all the English words that do not contain any of the five vowels (A, E, I, O, U).

‘Valuvëula’ is an alien hymn, originally written for an episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science-fiction show Earth: Final Conflict.

‘American Dada’ is a version of ‘To Make a Dadaist Poem’ by Tristan Tzara, with his text subjected to the ‘N + 7 Method’ of Oulipo.

‘NOYTA CCCP’ is a lautgedichte that pays homage to the zaum work of Velimir Khlebnikov (one of the Russian Futurists).

‘The Doomsday Song’ is a poem derived from onomatopoeia, utilized in a series of DC comics about the death of Superman.

‘Mushroom Clouds’ is part of a ‘faux aria’, inspired by the acoustic ambience in the game Super Mario Bros. by Nintendo.

‘Motorized Razors’ is an excerpt from a much longer techno lautgedichte (a work in progress entitled The Cyborg Opera).

Photo and design by Sal Nunkachov.
Released on the occasion of the first Letra Sound and Concrete Poetry Festival, Leiria (Portugal) 2024.