This album is the first of three resulting from a series of experiments in 1982 using lo-fi technology to extract sounds from the airwaves and weave them into musical tapestries. Using two "norelco" reel-to-reel decks from the ’60s, a radio and a shortwave radio. Basinski recorded samples of music from the radio, edited the tape into loops of varying lengths, and slowed them down. These themes were then layeded together in real time to an accompaniment of randomly shifting shortwave radio static. the themes explored were often brief excerpts [3 or 4 notes] from musak versions of popular standards by manipulating these themes and mixing them with an existing symphony of electronic information, Basinski has created a series of melancholy, atmospheric aural landscapes for the listener to inhabit. The music is timeless and compelling a remarkably original experimental music album.