EX-CROWN "646 592 3423"(Whiteness and Pinkness)

What a cool tape. The A side is a collection of recorded phone calls made by Ex-Crown (aka "Miles Pflazn") to various payphones in New York City. First he says where the payphone is located (New York Chess Club, subway payphone F line 6th avenue, Angelika Film Center, etc...) and then we hear the recording of the call. If anything it shows the disappearance of the payphone in the American landscape. Almost all of the calls result in "I'm sorry this number is no longer valid". The only one that actually gets picked up is not a payphone at all, but a Chinese laundry.

The B side "Please Say a Command" is a humorous bit of Miles talking to the voice activation system on his cell phone: "bring me oysters in a half shell", "pay my rent", "take me on a long vacation", "I have a gun", "get a job"! There seems to be a breakdown in communication between this man and his machine.

The tape is spray painted pink and comes in a white spray painted case, with a double-sided glossy photo insert.

Miles was part of an underappreciated duo called Crown Now that probably only I and Jelle Crama were fans of. Actually, I bet Id M Theft Able was a fan too. They had some really great tapes that mixed poetry with musique brut. I suggest you track those down if you can. I'm not sure how one would procure a copy of the phone calls tape. Maybe call the number of the title? (Whiteness and Pinkness website - Ed.) At any rate you can check out some of Miles' semi-recent sounds here and there are a few Crown Now tapes for sale on discogs.