Voice Crack was a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 electronic free improvisation

Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....

 group. Formed in late 1972 by Andy Guhl and Norbert Möslang, Voice Crack were initially a free jazz

Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...

 duo. They began incorporating pre-recorded tape effects and live sound processing, and by 1983 they eliminated any normal instrumentation in favor of what they call "cracked everyday electronics:" Mundane objects such as "radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

s, turntable

Phonograph

The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...

s, transmitters, dictating machines

Dictaphone

Dictaphone was an American company, a producer of dictation machines—sound recording devices most commonly used to record speech for later playback or to be typed into print. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark, but in some places it has also become a common way to refer to all such devices, and...

" and other items are cracked open and manipulated to produce "new sounds using magnetic and radio waves in a complex system controlled by movements of their hands and by light."

The resulting music - which consisted of various overlapping buzzes, clicks, drones

Drone (music)

In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...

 and oscillations - has been described as, "Cascading magnetic waves arc across the sky as three-headed critters race and rummage through alien flora ... or at least that's what it sounds like."; and was favorably compared to some of John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

's work.

Voice Crack collaborated with Borbetomagus

Borbetomagus

Borbetomagus are a free improvisation/noise music group. They are cited by critics as pioneers of aggressive improvised noise music.- Biography :...

, Butch Morris

Butch Morris

Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris is an American jazz cornetist, composer and conductor.-Biography:Before his musical career, Morris served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War....

 (as part of a larger ensemble), and were members of poire z

Poire z

poire_z was an electronic free improvisation music group formed in 1998. The group's members all have long careers in improvised music; critic Fred Grand of Avant calls poire_z a "post-AMM supergroup."-Band history:...

. The group has now disbanded.