(Lost In A Sea Of Sound) A world of so many facets. Sounds pouring though space with infinite attributes. Cadence, chaos, harmony, purpose, sometimes these conditions stand alone and in other instances the aural field is tossed together. Indochina Soundscraps is representative of the conglomeration of the world of sound. From the rhythmic clanking of train wheels rolling on tracks, to the simple ancient flute of ancestral music, these recordings weave the sonic spectrum with concise fluidity. Abigail Smith recorded these passages about four years ago. Origins are from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Just last year Justin Rhody edited and processed everything, turning Indochina Soundscraps into a beautiful sonic tapestry. Drums, strings, voice, harmony and tons of timeless grooves, with forty minutes of material, Indochina Soundscraps has room to be patient and explore it's world in depth. Beginning and ending with the nostalgia of the railroad, ceremonial drums escort the conscious through school rooms and street corners. Radios are played from open windows, phone conversations drift though the air, heads bowed to ancient alters, life moving at an oblivious pace. The true beauty of Indochina Soundscraps is how well everything flows together. This fluid degree is so meticulously crafted, the feeling we are welcomed to be there becomes ever present. For anyone who enjoys world music or uniquely special sounds, Indochina Soundscraps holds a value that is pleasantly difficult to measure. Released on the eh? label in cassette format in an edition of one hundred, download coded included. This composition is very fitting for a label exploring both the farthest reach and inner essence of sounds. Cassette copies are currently available and should seriously be listened to. - Robot Rattle

(Disaster Amnesiac) Chances are that if you live in the United States, and possibly Europe, you probably haven't been able to travel internationally for the last few months. We all know the reasons why, so no need to go into that here. Good news from eh? Records on that front, especially for fans of Musique Concrete and Southeast Asian culture, has come in the way of a cassette from New Mexico-based artist Abigail Smith! Indochina Soundscraps is a collection of field recordings made by Smith in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in 2016. It features all kinds of great sounds from that region. Snippets of street level construction and commute noises, radio broadcasts, school sing alongs, and monastic chanting are blended in a fine, flowing, and very organic way that puts the listener smack dab among these various environments. Disaster Amnesiac has particularly enjoyed those latter sounds, with their booming drums and clattering resonant metal tones. As I've listened, my mind has been very satisfyingly transported to what I imagine those locales to be like, and in this time of forced immobility, Soundscraps is much appreciated for that. It would seem likely that this cassette (with download) would appeal to both the peripatetic and the sedentary alike. For the former, under the current societal conditions it could serve as a reminder of travels planned or executed. To the latter, in could be an imaginary window into distant worlds. Either way, Disaster Amnesiac suspects that those who find Indochina Soundscraps, no matter their proclivities, will find this release refreshingly compelling. I sure have, especially in this period of little movement. This release makes me hopeful. - Mark Pino

(Vital Weekly) Maybe, just maybe this is the future of traveling? We no longer go to places, see the sites, hear the sounds and smell the food, but instead listen to cassettes of places? Or, perhaps, that is what we already set out to do? I have not been down Indochina, so i can't relate easily to the sounds captured by Abigail Smith in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam while traveling these counties in November and December 2016. In 2019, these recordings were mixed by Justin Rhody (formerly of Friends & relatives label). As the title indicates, the recordings are as raw as they come, scraps. Mainly these are from music and a bit of spoken word. On the first side mostly shorter bits and bobs and the second side also longer. I had no idea what I was hearing. Music from an exotic place, but without much context as such. This could be pure entertainment, religious music, street artists, folklore or whatever. It sounded great though. It didn't make me go online and find out the current travel situation in these countries, nor purchasing a plane ticket to these places, but as I said, as an alternative for a holiday (an activity not necessarily up my street anyway): why not? - Frans de Waard

(Bad Alchemy) Mein Favorit als Reisemuffel ist Indochina Soundscraps (eh?112, C-44 in Weiß), O-Ton aus Vietnam, Laos und Cambodia, die ABIGAIL SMITH in Santa Fe zu einem Eastern für die Ohren geschnitten hat. Aus Fahrten in klapprigen Zügen, dem Sprechchor von Erstklässlern, dongender Ri­tualmusik, einer zarten Flöte allein, einem Karaoke-Schmachtfetzen in Low-Fi, Verkehrs­lärm, mehr Getrommel, Saxofonschmus und Entenquak, Katzenpop in schrägen Gelbtönen und einem Mahamantrachor a capella. Und zuletzt ächzt nochmal der Zug. - Rigo Dittmann

(Sound Projector) Indochina Soundscraps (EH? 112) is by Abigail Smith, made from recordings she brought back from her tour of Southeast Asia in late 2016. I see she’s also a visual artist, and interestingly enough works in the collage mode, using small scraps of papers to create colourful artworks and art books. It’s tempting to think she might apply similar techniques to her sound art here, but I’m not sure if it’s directly analogous. Indochina Soundscraps contains a lot of diverse sources and information, but it’s presented in a fairly linear method, one episode fading in after another; she doesn’t do “layering”, as some phonographers do, in an attempt to present a kaleidoscopic vision of another world. Instead, each audio image stands on its own merit, and there’s no interest in doing witty or surreal juxtapositioning of elements to disrupt the listener’s sense of normality. At the same time, there’s no context or annotation given, and we have to digest the sounds (music, nature, voices, traffic, street sounds, and various uncertain things) as best we may. - Credit must also be given to Justin Clifford Rhody, a photographer with whom Smith has collaborated before. Rhody likes to photograph found objects at flea markets that interest him, as well as staging odd performance events to produce puzzling photographs. He did the editing and mixing of the raw materials, so perhaps some of the success of this release is due to his efforts. We would certainly agree that this record is “carefully curated” as the press notes have it, though I didn’t find it especially “deeply psychedelic and transportive”. The general pace of the odyssey is rather slow and measured, and somewhat linear to boot; where one hopes for a taste of exotic spice, one mostly gets a rather ordinary dish of rice. - Ed Pinsent

(Kathodik) “Indochina Soundscraps” di Abigail Smith (da Santa Fe nel New Mexico), è una raccolta di registrazioni d’ambiente raccolte durante un viaggio nel sud-est asiatico nel 2016, tra Cambogia, Laos e Vietnam. Strade, interni, radio, gracchiamenti vari, voci, canti e danze. Dentro ma proprio dentro. Se il nudo e crudo è il vostro, questo è vostro. - Marco Carcasi

(Chain DLK) I know little about this group, but the liner notes state that this was recorded by Abigail Smith in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, November-December 2016, edited and mixed by Justin Rhody, 2019, and mastered by Theodore Schafer. I know nothing about any of these artists, so let’s dive into the music itself. Part 1 is an interesting mix of sound collage. Bits of voice, someone playing the flute, random noises, a crowd of people, karaoke, some drumming. The result is much like listening to a documentary but skipping around between the chapters. There is a kind of continuity in its discontinuity. If you like your field recordings raw and interestingly juxtaposed, this is for you. Much of Part 2 is a bit more traditionally put together, like they recorded a performer at a street festival, and I found myself waiting for them to change the channel. The last part of this side is more like Part 1, with cars driving by, livestock noises, and processed chanting, which makes it a bit more interesting. Overall, I found Part 1 to be much stronger and more engaging but all of it is well put together and carefully crafted. This tape weighs in at around 44 minutes and is limited to 100 copies. - Eskaton