In contemporary urban culture, sound is one means of claiming turf, and low frequency is often associated with power and authority. This is best exemplified by the “bass cars” that have become ubiquitous in the urban landscape. Greater status is enjoyed by the owner of the car with the most powerful sound system, with the best woofers. Low frequencies are capable of permeating everything in their path: other vehicles, architecture, bodies. Heard long before they are seen, one thinks of the scene in Jurassic Park in which the rippling water in the glass signals the imminent arrival of the tyrant lizard, T. Rex.

The recordings used in Chakra Subwoofers were created using an industrial accelerometer (a very sensitive transducer used to detect minute vibrations). The accelerometer was attached to acupuncture needles inserted in each of the body’s seven chakra points. The recording documents a meditation session wherein attention is focused on each of the chakras in succession. Each channel was manipulated separately to enhance the internal body sounds and minimize the inherent noise of the electronics, which is a byproduct of the amplification process.

—Paul Dickinson