05. Telepath (1:32)

[THE BOB]

"just start with the Phase Echo and follow the Right. turn it up while i'm counting.."

[buddy vector]

Well done SkyRaider. There's surely a connection here.
Like others have already said, telepath does NOT appear to be sampled from these Spiricom dialogues. Rather, these recordings were likely the inspiration for the track.
It's pretty fascinating stuff. This guy G.W. Meek intended to use radio technology to communicate with the "spirit world".. or to "reach for the dead" as it were..

[buddy vector]

I'm also hearing the droning frequency at the very beginning of Telepath is very similar (in fact the same note) as the background frequency noise in these Spiricom recordings.
You can hear it best in the first second of the 4th mp3 down on the page SkyRaider linked.

http://www.worlditc.org/k_06_spiricom_198106.mp3

...check it out see what you think.

Just want to say how glad I am that someone finally uncovered the connection with this track. I've been wondering about Telepath since first listen. It's always seemed so strikingly important/mysterious in the context of the album.

[Josh]

The voice counting *might* come from an Emergency Action Message (EAM) test. It would fit with the theme of TH. I can't find a sample of a voice that doesn't sound American, but I've read that EAMs are part of the High Frequency Global Communications System and are used by other countries besides the U.S. That could explain why the voice sounds like an Englishman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Action_Message



Yes, I'm still obsessed with finding the source of the sample (if it is a sample).

[drillkicker]

This is definitely my favorite on TH. I'm not sure about the whole thing where is contains some profound mystery, though. I just think the vocals and the synth work are put together really, really well, and maybe the mysterious atmosphere of the track makes it sound like it has something really deep in it.

[Josh]

I don't think it contains "some profound mystery", but for some reason I really want to know who's doing the counting and why it's there. My last post speculating on the source of the counting man has a staggeringly low probability of being anywhere near correct, but at the same time, no one else (to my knowledge) has offered up anything better.

Why is this so important to me? I'm not really sure. When I hear Telepath, I have this picture in my mind of an actor or more likely a broadcaster, probably English, standing in a vocal booth or sitting at a desk behind a microphone and he's getting ready to say something very important, but we, the listeners, don't get to hear the message! We only get the warm up sound check part. It's such a tease! And that's probably all it is, a tease meant to torment people like me who might care a bit too much about the devil in the details.

[Soul_Slip]

I don't think it contains "some profound mystery", but for some reason I really want to know who's doing the counting and why it's there. My last post speculating on the source of the counting man has a staggeringly low probability of being anywhere near correct, but at the same time, no one else (to my knowledge) has offered up anything better.

Why is this so important to me? I'm not really sure. When I hear Telepath, I have this picture in my mind of an actor or more likely a broadcaster, probably English, standing in a vocal booth or sitting at a desk behind a microphone and he's getting ready to say something very important, but we, the listeners, don't get to hear the message! We only get the warm up sound check part. It's such a tease! And that's probably all it is, a tease meant to torment people like me who might care a bit too much about the devil in the details.

.... the message is telepathically communicated into your subconscious...

[In_The_Annexe]

This track still makes me want to jump off a building during a lightning storm.
TH has never been a recreational listen for me. More of a "let's get incredibly depressed and cry because there's nothing we can do to save the world from us." sort of mood.
Because of this vibe ever present on this record, I hardly ever listen to it and I believe that's another reason many boc fans don't as well. It's not because it isn't a good album. It's just an emotionally painful album. I literally cannot even listen to Nothing is Real without getting teary eyed. Telepath, Cold Earth, Sick Times, Split Your Infinities, Come to Dust...
Also the ending half of Causeway makes me feel like I've lost something or someone important to me. They're all just so sad so emotionally heavy. I even had a nightmare about Uritual once. There's a reason I skip that track and no longer listen to it. I've maybe listened to TH only a handful of times... Its like picking up a book to read, opening it only to have what's inside scream at you horrible horrible things... Things of suffering.
What an incredible album it really turned out to be. Even if many didn't notice it at the time.

[herxagernsurn]

This track still makes me want to jump off a building during a lightning storm.

Really? Interesting. This track makes me want to plant trees and volunteer at a homeless shelter! Just kidding! It makes me want to retreat into my bunker and clean the guns again while muttering bible verses under my breath in a misanthropic stupor.

Seriously though, this track sounds like it sampled some rare early cold war era footage of a weird psi experiment where the subject is asked to guess at Zener cards or some shit while having their brain waves entrained with binaural beats or something like that. I can see the grainy footage in my head. I am certain it will surface at some point.

[mechanismj]

I dunno. It just makes me want to adjust my radio so that Madonna's Live to Tell comes in clearer.

I do love it, though.

[In_The_Annexe]

This track still makes me want to jump off a building during a lightning storm.

Really? Interesting. This track makes me want to plant trees and volunteer at a homeless shelter! Just kidding! It makes me want to retreat into my bunker and clean the guns again while muttering bible verses under my breath in a misanthropic stupor.

Seriously though, this track sounds like it sampled some rare early cold war era footage of a weird psi experiment where the subject is asked to guess at Zener cards or some shit while having their brain waves entrained with binaural beats or something like that. I can see the grainy footage in my head. I am certain it will surface at some point.

Haha planting trees to Telepath. Hahahaha oh boy. I chuckled. xD

[In_The_Annexe]

I dunno. It just makes me want to adjust my radio so that Madonna's Live to Tell comes in clearer.

I do love it, though.

Wow, I've always wondered why this track sounded familiar... That explains it. Thanks for letting me know that. My mother was a massive madonna fan and so I must've heard it as a child on TV! Wow. That clears that up. Haha

[mechanismj]

I dunno. It just makes me want to adjust my radio so that Madonna's Live to Tell comes in clearer.

I do love it, though.

Wow, I've always wondered why this track sounded familiar... That explains it. Thanks for letting me know that. My mother was a massive madonna fan and so I must've heard it as a child on TV! Wow. That clears that up. Haha

It is kind of a running gag around here that Telepath has something of a connection to Live To Tell. There are some similarities in terms of timbre and melody I guess, but I think that is as far as it really goes.

That said, who the hell is not a fan of that song!? It is easily one of the best things Madonna ever did.

[machinea]

The day they played this album it was noon on the west coast and I got well and truly high just as it started and sat in rapture for the entire hour listening to TH. I was also on here reading the reactions in real time. That album release was like Christmas and my birthday wrapped up as a child and delivered to me as an adult. I got immediately where they were headed with it, it was a film score to a movie that doesn't exist, something between early 80s horror and the Apocalypse. It also was damned outstanding production and mixing and less lofi than previous releases. It's a heavy album, it isn't whimsical at all like earlier offerings. These guys are the same age as I am so I feel a kinship to the journey of our decades and having pretty similar influences and exposure to things at the same ages. It felt like a natural progression to me in content and style.

[Soul_Slip]

The day they played this album it was noon on the west coast and I got well and truly high just as it started and sat in rapture for the entire hour listening to TH. I was also on here reading the reactions in real time. That album release was like Christmas and my birthday wrapped up as a child and delivered to me as an adult. I got immediately where they were headed with it, it was a film score to a movie that doesn't exist, something between early 80s horror and the Apocalypse. It also was damned outstanding production and mixing and less lofi than previous releases. It's a heavy album, it isn't whimsical at all like earlier offerings. These guys are the same age as I am so I feel a kinship to the journey of our decades and having pretty similar influences and exposure to things at the same ages. It felt like a natural progression to me in content and style.

Wish I had been there for that event. Next time I will not miss anything. It was an album they had to make and I am grateful for it.

[Glen_Glog]

I always thought that sounded like Oliver Reed -- maybe a sample from his Hammer films or ZPG or something

[2020k]

I don't think it contains "some profound mystery", but for some reason I really want to know who's doing the counting and why it's there. My last post speculating on the source of the counting man has a staggeringly low probability of being anywhere near correct, but at the same time, no one else (to my knowledge) has offered up anything better.

Why is this so important to me? I'm not really sure. When I hear Telepath, I have this picture in my mind of an actor or more likely a broadcaster, probably English, standing in a vocal booth or sitting at a desk behind a microphone and he's getting ready to say something very important, but we, the listeners, don't get to hear the message! We only get the warm-up sound check part. It's such a tease! And that's probably all it is, a tease meant to torment people like me who might care a bit too much about the devil in the details.

I really do agree with this. I searched for Telepath-oriented posts tonight to see if anybody found the vocal sample yet.

The picture in my mind has always been different. It's of an exhausted scientist, pushed to the limits of an experiment, and knowing that the outcome of whatever is he is a part of testing is going to have absolutely devastating results. Being a part of this has aged and drained him, as well as the team that he is talking to, and they're all in a very somber laboratory, stonefaced, working. The end result of the experiment is not devastating in the way of causing harm to anybody inside of the experiment, but the devastation comes in knowing his experiment is going to confirm that something grave may happen outside of the contained space, and that he is powerless to stop it.

Think the A-Bomb or something like it. I'm sure people working on any sort of project that is created for the sole reason of having a very powerful, negative reaction aren't always particularly happy to be working on it.

[steeldancer-x]

Maybe a schizo-moment but I always perceived it as them. It could be their voices. Maybe why we haven't been able to pinpoint it anywhere (and also why ppl are so curious abt it).

[desfax]

it is their voices. it's ring modulation, probably some sort of formant shifting as well but that could just be a result of the ring modulation. my guess it's that it's some old analog ring modulator they found, (in some interview, i cant remember which one, they mention driving several hours away to pick up some obscure piece of equipment. maybe it's that) they were playing around with it and recording it and that sample made it. he says things like "this is quite pleasant", and "play it back and see what it sounds like", but im just about 99% sure it's their own voices heavily filtered through this ring mod and formant modulation. I've been able to almost completely replicate this effect simply by formant shifting several octaves down and using LFO-modulated ring mod in ableton live. it's almost disappointingly simple.

it is definitely not subliminal, historical, or a secret message

[Sherbet Head]

My only knock against that theory is the accent. You can tell it's traditional well-spoken English, which is very different from the bros' native Edinburgh twang, but of course, one of them could be (or know of) an accomplished impersonator.

My gut feeling is that it's a sample