Little Engines

Little Engines

Share this post

Little Engines
Little Engines
Damien Jurado's Postcards and Audio Letters: Christmas 1983

Damien Jurado's Postcards and Audio Letters: Christmas 1983

Forrest got a ghettoblaster. Tracks 3 & 4 plus voice memos with Damien about the album

Little Engines
Nov 12, 2024
∙ Paid
6

Share this post

Little Engines
Little Engines
Damien Jurado's Postcards and Audio Letters: Christmas 1983
Share

Boomboxes of the ‘80s with their astounding microphones, damn! The opening of “Christmas 1983” is one of my favorite moments on the album. Is this your family? Were these your neighbors? I hate at least half of what I relate to with the dad/granddad here.

Listen to “Christmas 1983” below. For paid subscribers, Damien and I trade voice memos about the project.

🖤AV

From Atomic Pop:

These aren't plot lines from an afternoon soap opera, nor are they vignettes from Paul Thomas Anderson's latest Magnolia-like film. These are real life moments caught on tape that make up the strange and beautiful human experience…

It's the intimate nature of the tapes that initially made Jurado feel like he shouldn't listen to them. As collected on the CD, the tapes have a similar effect on other listeners. And that is part of their allure.

"These people are you, they are me," Jurado adds.

"The beautiful thing about these tapes is that there is nothing to do. I find them, I release them," he says, sounding like an audio equivalent of Duchamp or Warhol, who also relied on "found objects" to create their art.


LITTLE ENGINES IS FREE ONLINE AND IN PRINT, BUT A PAID SUBSCRIPTION IS ENORMOUSLY HELPFUL AND UNLOCKS LITTLE EXTRAS


Damien Jurado’s
Postcards and Audio Letters (2000)

Tracks 3 & 4: Christmas 1983

1×
0:00
-8:49
Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade.

1. Robert 1972
2. Angel 1972
3. Christmas 1983
4. Christmas 1983 (Part 2)
5. “Hi Dawn. This is Phil.”
6. Phil Wakes Dawn
7. Phil at the Airport
8. “Our Kid is Getting Hurt”

Tape salvation and editing: Damien Jurado
Polaroids: Adam Voith
Design: Jesse LeDoux


More voice memos with Damien about the album. We pick up where he and I left off in our first memos, which you can hear at the end of Angel 1972.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Little Engines to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Little Engines
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share