Electronic instruments-- synthesizers and MIDI-- have been a powerful influence in the past thirty years. From Walter Carlos to Depeche Mode, it's been a staple of recent popular music. Pioneers in this medium include David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Vince Clarke, Walter Carlos, and Herbie ncock. It is a much loved, and also much hated, medium.87 responses total.
It would seem Europe has more of an affinity for electronic instruments than the US does. Synthesizer music during the 80's came about during the second British Invasion in music, and the current technodance craze that is sweeping Europe is keeping it alive to a degree. American musicians are avoiding this craze like the plague; it is almost reminiscent of their disdain for disco and the unemployment the machinated music brought about (A&E's History of Rock N' Roll, video). Yet MIDI comprises a huge amount of music manufactured today. Does America have a love/hate relationship with this medium? MIDI especially has some shortcomings. Many of the sounds can sound phony, especially when technicians try to make them sound like real instruments. I've never heard a satisfying violin or trumpet sound on a module. But it is in this regard that I think electronic music as a whole has potential. It's not supposed to sound like a real orchestra; it's at its best when musicians use unusual sounds and intricate riffs. The advantage synth has as a whole is that musicians can acheive super-tight percussive riffs with less effort (and fewer drum lessons, I guess). It shines when it beeps, whirrs, and beats. Musicians are learning. When a solo instrument is called for, they generally use the original electric or acoustic version. MIDI through acoustic piano and electric guitar is now possible. A musician will make a sample if a pre-recorded digital sound sounds too thin, or will use an analog synth (although these are bulky and are becoming rare). Hopefully, electronic instruments will earn their respect along with the electric guitar.
Well, MIDI is just a standard for communcating between electronic instruments, not a sound source. The really interesting thing about the current trend is the use of "retro" electronic instruments, stuff from the 80's and even the 70's. Analog drum machines, etc.
The problem with electronic music, as I see it, is the fact that often it attempts to imitate 'real' instruments rather than making its own sounds. Of course a synthesizer can't sound *just like* a trumpet--but it could sound *just as good as* a trumpet.
Wonderwall, by Oasis, uses synthesized string tracks. They sound pretty genuine to me. America does indeed have certain problems with synthesized music. Rage Against the Machine semi-prominently states in its liner notes that no synthezation or looping was used in production. Many bands try to limit themselves to natural insturments as much as possible.
I became a Walter Carlos fan back when the LPs were shiny and new: my LP of SWITCHED-ON BACH is so old that it has a *grey* Columbia label in the center. Carlos has been best known for the Bach arrangements, and those are all that Columbia/Sony have kept in print. Besides the original SWITCHED-ON BACH disc, there is also a collection of the Brandenburg Concertos, half of which is drawn from early recordings, and half of which was recorded specially for this collection. But many of my favorite Carlos performances were of works by other composers, and since I heard them as a child they remain my mental ideal of those pieces. Snippets from Monteverdi's opera ORFEO; some Scarlatti sonatas; Purcell's "Music For The Funeral of Queen Mary;" Rossini's overture to THE THIEVING MAGPIE; movements 2 & 4 from Beethoven's 9th. These are all from the LPs THE WELL TEMPERED SYNTHESIZER and WALTER CARLOS' CLOCKWORK ORANGE (*not* the official soundtrack release). Carlos was, for better or worse, most of my introduction to classical music. There was an excellent interview in Playboy about 15-20 years ago in which Carlos talked about life as a transsexual. When the first burst of fame hit, Carlos was crossdressing, and the Columbia publicity department invested a lot of energy in keeping their star out of public view. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get into Carlos' work from the Wendy, post-op years. I suspect that the resolution of the sexual tension had an impact on the art, somehow. But I still love the old stuff; I was listening to the CLOCKWORK ORANGE album just tonight. Not too long ago I heard some new synthesized Bach material: probably on the CBC radio. This was being performed by a woman, under the general title of "Bach for the 21st Century." I've lost the scrap of paper which had the artist's name; time to go web searching, I guess. Maybe I need some Tomita CDs.
I really like the Wendy Carlos album "Beauty in the Beast," this is a mid 80s effort featuring (now her) original compositions using the scales of various cultures from around te world. My favorite piece on the album is one where she simulates a gamelan orchestra, it's very rich both timbre and percussion wise. I found this album on tape for 2.00 at Discount records a couple of years ago, probably the best 2.00 purchuse I have ever made, I like it much better than "Switched on Bach," which I have on vinyl.
Found it! Kathy Geisler has a series of electronic classical
recordings on her Well-Tempered Productions label:
http://usashopping.com/paol/wtpThumb1.html
"21st Century Bach": selections from cantatas
"Christmas Tapestry": masses of Josquin and Ockeghem
"Six Concertos": for Oboe and virtual orchestra; Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel
"Virtual Vivaldi": The Four Seasons, of course
"21st Century Messiah": the seasonal classic
"21st Century Mandolin": not by Geisler, but I just have to hear an album
with a 20 minute track called "Silicon Valley Breakdown."
Mmm, can I find any of this stuff immediately, or do I have to go
direct order from the label?
Re #3: Well, I thought the point of synth was to make sounds _different_ from acoustic/electric ones. To do so otherwise may save money and time, but it's also a lack of skill, originality, and craftsmanship. What a lax use of synth. The medium has such potential for creativity that I cry when I hear it used so poorly. I mentioned two American synth pioneers. Oddly enough, they are African-American: Stevie Wonder, and Herbie Hancock. Wonder secured the medium a place in pop music, and Hancock used synth in funk and fusion. I'm not sure how active these musicians are now in the popular music scene. Perhaps their time in the limelight has passed (although Hancock continues to be a very well-respected and well-known jazz artist), but they left an impact on African-American pop music. The various genres of rap, R&B, and soul are very dependent on synth. Bono of U2 once marveled at the wealth of technology hip-hop has at its fingertips (at about the time Zooropa was released). Now that I think about it, I think it's white America that has the most problem with synth. Walter Carlos is American, of course, and the other two synth pioneers are British. But Carlos, Bowie, and Clarke are involved in or about the alternative lifestyles culture, and I wonder if this isn't part of the reason for the American backlash. I wasn't aware Wendy _was_ Walter Carlos. David Bowie is gay, and Vince Clarke has been involved in bands with gay appeal (some bands having gay members, although he is reported to be straight). The early 80's seem to be the decade of the gay video, if not a gender-bending era in general. Now, I'm sure straight guys use some synth, too, but the gays seem to use it the most, and they use it the best! The argument could be made that this segment of music is more Brit/European than it is gay, but it just appears to be so such of the gay culture to me. So I suggest that perhaps some American bands avoid synth to avoid sounding gay. *shrug* I'm sure it will be subject to debate.
Re #3: Well, I thought the point was to make sounds _different_ from acoustic/electric ones (I challenge the notion that amplified and distorted sounds are "natural"). Ideally, musicians will learn to use traditional instruments when they are called for, and synth to create new sounds. To do so otherwise may save time and money, but it's just a lax use. The medium has such potential for creativity (and musicians have demonstrated it does) that I cry when I hear it used poorly. Now that I think about it, not all of America is completely opposed to synth. The various genres of R&B and rap are fairly dependent on it. Bono of U2 marveled once that hip-hop has and uses a wealth of technology at its fingertips. (He said this at about the time Zooropa was released.) I mentioned two African-American synth pioneers, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock. I'm not sure what Wonder is doing now. Hancock is more involved with contemporary jazz (as he is a well-known and respected jazz musician); fusion seems to have gone out of vogue several years ago. The other synth pioneers I mentioned are involved in or about the alternative lifestyles culture (and I wasn't aware Wendy _was_ Walter Carlos). Synth seems to be a part of the gay culture, especially. The culture and gender-bending in general seemed ever-present in the videos of the early 80's. I wonder if the backlash against synth isn't also a backlash against the audiences the music was directed toward. Perhaps some American bands avoid synth to avoid sounding gay (and red-blooded male musicians seem to be guitar trashers). I'm sure this will all be subject to debate.
Whoops! I wasn't sure if my previous response got in.
Huh, I hadn't really thought about that take on it before. . . my favorite kind of el;ectronic music is the kind which comes out of music concrete, like ussachevsky. There's alot of bad BAD stuff that's been made in that style, but what's good in it is beautiful. . . I'm also way into Negativeland. Anyone here into them? I just started listening to them, I've got "Escape from Noise". . .it's amazing, it's really funny and creepy. . .
The Negativland stuff I've heard has been a pretty mixed bag but "Escape From Noise" is pretty decent if it's the album I'm thinking of. I know I've been pushing the Magnetic Fields in other items but another thing I like about them is that they use electronic devices to make electronic-sounding sounds, giving their pretty different-sounding instrumentation. They're chosen for what they are, not as substitutes for traditional "analog" sounds..
Yes, Negativland!!!! A big 10-8 place is really fantastic, it's more music cocrete than their early stuff, which is sampled. There must be 24 tracks of analog tape on some the pieces, dense amazing stuff. Also hard to find these days. I would be willing to trade a dub of this tape for anything by Xenakis, or a decent tape of Bartok string quartets, or early Sonic Youth. Contact me via e-mail if yer interested..
I would also be interested-- anything to hear some quality stuff. E #~HGH~~?~?~?~?~?~. JZfD6?%H|?~?~?~?~?~?
#2 MIDI is not necessarily a standard for all electronic instruments; just digital ones. One runs into problems when you have an analog/digital setup. The analog tracks must be recorded live, or the analog sounds must be digitally sampled. I've heard varying opinions on which is best-- analog or digital. Digital can be MIDI manipulated-- you can use a computer to go back to hone and polish the music. Digital synth also doesn't have that humming sound, and you don't have to worry about VU meters. On the other hand, analog sounds have a quality to them that is somehow lacking in digital ones; and I suspect it is because digital processes clean up certain noises more. Acoustically, we sometimes do want there to be variation, or "hair" on the wavelength. So, Re: #12, sometimes it's best to use analog sounds where they are best suited, and digital ones where they fit best. The question is, to sample or not to sample? Real analog synths are becoming rare fast, although it may still be possible to put together your own analog with homemade connections that is cheaper and better-sounding than many digitals (read analog "system", not one unit itself). re #13: I had forgotten briefly that analog tape used to be the standard for electronic music. The forefathers of techno had to deal with this literal cut-n-splice method of editing. For that matter, I'm sure they were dealing with reel-to-reel tape. You could create reverb by manually manipulating the speed of the tape while it was recording (transcribing). One example is "flanging," which involves gradually slowing the tape reel a bit and then allowing it to return to normal speed. It kinda makes the music sound like it's coming through a tunnel, or if done a few times in short succession (say, three times) underwater. They have electronic devices to do that, and create room acoustics, now. They're called reverb machines (logically) and I had the interesting experience to work with one some time ago in school.
Um... I think you are a bit confused about certain things. "Analog" vs. "digital" refers to the sound-generating part of the instrument. Both analog and digital synthesizers can be controlled via MIDI, and have been since the early eighties. The really old analog synthesizers can be retrofitted or interfaced with MIDI. "Flanging" produces a swooshing sound, whereas "reverb" is the sound of a large room. The method described above for flanging has nothing to do with reverberation, the old way of doing reverb was to set up a microphone and speaker in an echo chamber or to send the sound through a set of springs or metal plates.
There are a couple different distinctions that #15 is lumping together. There's MIDI-controlled versus performed live. There's Analog sound production versus Digital sound production. And there's Analog or Digital recording.
Hehehehe...I love Negativland. I'd be hard-pressed to put them in the electronic music item, though. Experimental music, though. _Escape From Noise_ is a masterpiece. Ditto _Helter Stupid_. After that, it gets unimpressive. _A Big 10-8 Place_ was the first time they started to sound somehwat coherent. _Points_ was pretty disjointed. Was someone interested in a recording of _A Big 10-8 Place_? I've got it. Comeplete with grass clippings from Contra Costa county...
"Electronic music" -- good choice on the title. I think I would've had to bring a bag if it got mis-appropriated as "new age". That out of the way, here are a few of the electronic musicians worth checking out... Jean-Michel Jarre: French synthesis pioneer from the 70s. Still going. Son of Maurice Jarre, noted film music composer. Recordings to check into: _Oxygene_ (1976) still stands the test of time; _Zoolook_ (1984) features a distinct change in style -- shorter songs, rock leanings -- features the notable talents of Adrian Belew and Laurie Anderson, as well; _Rendez-vous_ (1986) features "Last Rendez-vous", subtitled "Ron's Piece" (late astronaut Ron McNair was supposed to play a sax solo from this song on the ill-fated shuttle flight); _En Attendant Cousteau_ (1990) a pun on the celebrated French play _Waiting for Godot_ by Samuel "nothing to be done" Beckett; _Chronologie_ (1993) musical musings about time. Jarre is known for his spectacular performances: traffic backed up on the highway for miles near Houston in the 80s for a show where he projected lasers against downtown buildings, landed in a spacecraft, played laser harp; most recently performed huge show on the midieval French island Mt. St. Michel. Currently holding status as the "grandfather" of ambient music. The most unique feature of Jarre's work is how richly-textural his electronic sounds are, and how thoughtfully composed his pieces are.
Tangerine Dream: German electronic rock outfit from the late 60s. These guys have had a few personnel changes over the years, and have put out a ton of albums. Wise to know, if you want to check them out. With this in mind, you can break them into about three different periods: experimental electronic music in the late 60s-mid 70s (due mainly to Edgar Froese), more structured sound from the mid-70s to the mid-80s (due mainly to Johannes Scmoelling), and the more Impressionist sound from the late 80s-early 90s (due mainly to Christopher Franke). Recommended picks: _Cyclone_ (1978) a bit of a transitional experimental/structured album, _Tangram_ (1980) probably one of their most popular albums, _Le Parc_ (1985) leans more towards rock with short songs and includes the theme from "Streethawk" TV adventure show, _Grand Canyon_ (1988 or 89) serves as the soundtrack to the Mirimar video of the same name. I'm more partial to the middle period, myself. Sometimes, it's a little hard to take these guys too seriously. They've probably scored a zillion cheesy soundtracks and they allowed an album based on the works of William Blake to feature pronounciation of the famous Thames River as the /thaymes/, instead of the proper /temms/. But amidst the wash of albums, there are a few specks of gold.
Oops, make that "Schmoelling". Sorry, Johan...
Mike Oldfield: launched Virgin Records into major status with _Tubular Bells_ (1973). A tiny excerpt serves as the unlikely theme for the movie _The Exorcist_ (which doesn't appear until the credits, in case you're interested in risking it). Oldfield is mainly a guitar player, but a good arranger and synthesizer programmer. His best material has really tread in progressive rock. Picks: _Platinum_ (1979), _QE2_ (1980), _Five Miles Out_ (1982), _Crises_ (1983) featuring Jon Anderson on vocals on one song, _Discovery_ (1984), soundtrack to _The Killing Fields_ (1984). These are pretty much progressive rock picks.
No OMMADAWN in your recommended list? Ah well. I need to get a fresh CD of that one for myself: it was an adolescent favorite, and my LP is pretty grunchy. Then there was his 2-LP set, the name of which is now escaping me, which has one side of Maddy Prior singing Oldfield's arrangement of the poem "Hiawatha." With Maddy's very very English accent... we used to fall over laughing at that one. Hmmm, I'll bet Twila has never heard that one, either.
Re #23 What does OMMADAWN mean, Ken?
Beats me. The chorus on side 1 of the LP goes "Ommadawn Eggroll," or something like that.
Ken- I'll have to go back and listen to the older ones, again. I did enjoy _Ommadawn_ and _Hergest Ridge_, but I favor the early 80s stuff. I have a solo album of Maggie's, by the way, too.
Who's Maddy Prior, by the way? I'm only familiar with Maggie Reilly's vocal work with Mike Oldfield.
Maddy Prior is the lead singer for a folk-rock band called Steeleye Span. Lovely soaring voice. Just beautiful.
Ah, I was wondering if Mark had confused Maddy Prior and Maggie Reilly after my response #23... for more on Maddy Prior, see music cf. items 40 and 48. Me, I always get Maggie Reilly mixed up with Maggie Boyle; Maggie B. did some stuff with John Renbourn (SHIP OF FOOLS) and then moved on to a duo gig with guitarist Steve Tilston; but as we have moved to talking about acoustic guitarists, we are drifting far away from the topic of electronic music.
True, but an enjoyable drift, nonetheless...
I've been away much too long! I have truly been enlightened. Mark-- nice work, as usual. but good gravy, doesn't your well of music resources (as far as recordings) ever run out? Thanks DV for your corrections..it makes perfect sense. I'd been confused because the machine I used was called a digital reverb machine. It duplicated several different reverbs (including the use of tubes and metal strings) and flanging techniques. I'm getting careless-- but I haven't spent as much time in a studio as some of my musical colleagues. (In case you didn't know, I have a bit of an inferiority complex in regards to music-- they didn't regard me as 'talented' as the others in school.)
Not DV-- I mean, Scott. (Damn it, my scroll doesn't reach that far.. so no, Mark, it wasn't an enjoyable drift for me!) One thing I must know for certain: Is Thomas Dolby in any way connected with Dolby Laboratories, Inc.? That would be far-out-- a British 80's pop star had a hand in noise reduction technologies? Speaking of Thomas Dolby, I know this is old news, but the following article appeared in the April 21 edition of Newsweek: What was a British pop star from the '80s doing at Sun Microsystems's recent JavaOne conference? Thomas Dolby, the musician in question, was there to debut Beatnik, an audio-software product for the Web. The Beatnik plug-iin works by loading a small "software synthesizer" onto your hard drive, which gets instructions for reproducing sounds whever you encounter a Beatnik-compatible file on a Web page. Download the plug-in at www.headspace.com. I wonder how it works. Anyone heard about this technology yet?
Thomas Dolby was sued by Dolby labs at one point, but came out OK (no heavily overlapping product). He got the nickname "Dolby" by being into electronics, and later made it his stage name.
I might add that Dolby's skills are far beyond "Blinded Me With Science". He moved to America in the late 80s, got a backing band, and put out two brilliant albums: _Aliens Ate My Buick_ and _Astronauts and Heretics_. His bassist, Terry Jackson, was also the bassist for Reba McIntyre's country band. Dolby's strengths are as a synthesizer wizard, of course, but he's also a pretty good arranger and composer, as well. Either of the two aforementioned albums clearly demonstrate that...
Jon- as long as I'm still breathing, I'll be curious...
re #34: And then there's the forgotten Dolby album, "The Flat Earth". Much better than "Aliens Ate My Buick", I think, but then I never much cared for that one (except for the Robin Leach intro to "The Keys To Her Ferrari" He also did a soundtrack to a computer animated film called "The Gate to the Mind's Eye", which I picked up in a cut-out bin the other day and haven't had time to evaluate.
Dunno. I've heard _The Flat Earth_, and it didn't grab me like his stuff with a backing band did. But, then again, I heard it a long time ago, too. I need to revisit those old Dolby albums, some time.
Hmmm...live performances of electronic music I've heard: Tangerine Dream, Mike Oldfield...that's it, so far... I really want to see Jean-Michel Jarre one day... Perhaps a trip to France?
Save your bucks. He comes to the states every few decades. I heard about a show he did in San Antonio. Played music while colored lights did up various parts of the city. Sorta like cristo with a soundtrack?
Unless he struck Texas twice I think that concert was in Houston.
I know he did one concert in Houston, back around '84 or '85... Haven't heard of any here, since.
re #36: Jan Hammer did the soundtrack to the sequel to "The Gate to the Mind's Eye," titled "Beyond the Mind's Eye." It's nice work. I didn't know Dolby had done the first, so I'll have to find it somehow.
I think Dolby did the newest one, not the first one. Although I am not exactly sure how many "Mind's Eye" videos there are, other than two (possibly three?)...
"Beyond the Mind's Eye" is indeed the second in the "Mind's Eye" series. I have it, so I know Jan Hammer did the music for it :P Also, I am fairly positive "The Gate to the Mind's Eye" was the first video. As for a third sequel, I am unsure if it exists.
Thomas Dolby did the soundtrack for "The Gate to the Mind's Eye", (c) 1994.
Ok, the one Dolby did is the latest-- "Beyond" was done 1992. "The Mind's Eye" was the first. I finally checked the credits and did a little deducing. :P
Good job, Sherlock!
thanks :P
They were playing an ambient album of Pink Floyd tunes on WDET the other night. I only heard the first part, but it sounded pretty interesting. Apparently the album's a little hard to locate, too. That reminds me of another similar album of Kraftwerk tunes, something like _Trans-Slovakian Express_...Eastern European electronic bands covering Kraftwerk material...
I have some comments about other earler responses, but first: Dolby Labs is Ray Dolby, no relation to Thomas Dolby (whose 'real' name escapes me right now)
Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson, I think..
It was sort of interesting to see someone mention that analog songs have a certaion sound to them lacking in digital. I read once that this was a psychological thing -- that the digital version is truer to original, and that what you like about the analog is jus the harmonics from the tape/vynil (sp?) hiss... people associate the "warm fuzzy" sound with "warm, fuzzy" memories. About WOnderwall: I read in some mag (probably Ent. Weekly) that the strings weren't synth -- just sampled. So far, I have seen mostly discussion of rehashed, synth, classical stuff here. What do ya'll think of Prodigy etc.. that have come up with a new sound with their synths?
I've been listening to an 'Electronic Music' CD recently that was put out by a group called Orb. (The CD is called 'Orblivion') The music is basically on crack, and theirfor truly cool sh-t. Just thought I might mention it in case someone else has heard of it.
Haven't heard "Orblivion" but I'm generally not big on the Orb. They're capable of producing stuff I really like but they seem to prefer making stuff that bores me senseless. Every album or two they produce a track I can get into but the rest of the time it's a one-way ticket to slumberland.. I'll have to see if I can borrow "Orblivion" from one of my ambient/techno-junkie friends to see if they've changed their tune while I wasn't paying attention..
Interesting reads-- my moan, as usual, is that I wish I had the disposable income to buy some of this music. I've had a penchant to check out Radiohead, and whoever does "Sonic Empire"-- I've forgotten the name of the group already, but the vid gets frequent air time on AMP, MTV's late night techno show.
Yeah, finding cash to spend on CDs is indeed tough. I tend to lay dormate for a while, then go on a buying spree. (I'm in the middle of one now! Yee HAW!)
I've heard a few interesting things from the Orb.
Mark, I don't suppose you'd consider throwing a sample of some Orb stuff on that tape, eh? :)
WCBN was playing Jean-Michel Jarre on the radio the other day while I was in the car. Ah....the joys of college radio!
Moving a discussion to here from the sf conference: Wendy Carlos has gotten the rights back to the material which appeared on Columbia Records. Carlos has made a deal with the East Side Digital label to put out reissues of the old stuff, and some new recordings. The first two reissues are the Carlos edition of the music for A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, and the early 2-LP quasi-ambient set SONIC SEASONINGS. Both of these albums were childhood favorites, and they have been out of print for about 25 years. Lumen expressed hope that we'd be seeing a reissue of THE WELL TEMPERED SYNTHESIZER, which was Carlos' followup to the commercial smash SWITCHED-ON BACH and which was also a childhood favorite of mine. My understanding is that the WELL TEMPERED album, the Bach albums and probably a few other items are being rolled into a large collection called THE BAROQUE BOX, set for release later in 1999. Web info on these reissues, and on Carlos' most recent recording, can be had at: http://www.noside.com/esd
That seems to be the indication, Ken..the websites I looked at, including Wendy Carlos's personal webpage, merely showed some of the albums set for re-release in 1999, however. The Well-Tempered Synthesizer was among them. I am hoping that the original photo artwork for that LP will be included-- I loved that cover.
I see Sonic Seasonings is on the list of rereleases. The "Summer" movement is Carlos' masterpiece, imho. It's the ideal of any work of representational music, where the composer chooses some real thing, examines the emotional and psychological states produced by that thing, and then creates music which will produce the same states in a receptive listener. The music might not "sound" like the thing it purports to be about: Carlos' "Summer" doesn't sound especially "summery," except for some insect noises and a frog or two. But the effect is staggering. (I think there's an item somewhere here about music that makes you say "Oh my God." I hope I mentioned "Summer.") The other three seasons aren't all that great, although "Winter" has a wonderfully creepy chorus of howling wolves. In particular, the "wolf entrance," I guess you'd call it, gives you goose-bumps.
All the more reason why I should check this all out.
I've seen SONIC SEASONINGS and CLOCKWORK ORANGE in stores. I think all the other reissues are pending. I meant to mention that a few responses back.
*nod*
Some other great electronic artists I forgot to mention-- Orbital. They made a big appearance at a Lollapalloza (sp?) concert some years back. They were quite optimistic then about being there-- they said it had been a while since electronic music had been in the mainstream. Indeed. Some of their music has been in major motion pictures, most notably _The Saint._ I understand Kraftwerk has toured in recent years. Any clue as to what I should start listening to in their discography? All I have is _The Mix_, which are basically dance mixes of their greatest hits.
I was under the impression that Orbital was primarily a "him", not a "them"
Start with "Autobahn" if you're just getting into Kraftwerk.
Okay-- that sounds good since I really love "Autobahn" for its melody and supporting harmony-- so the rest of the album is like that? I liked the tune "Tranceworks Express," but is that considered later material? What I'm trying to say is I could just dive in..
Try looking for "Trans-Europe Express" (C)1977, tho I don't think it's one of their strongest. I realy like the single "Tour De France", which has a lighter, more 'pop' sound.
Sindi Keesan just gave me a handful of "classical" electronic music albums (I have to donate $1 each to Grex in exchange). These include some Cage, Stockhausen, and Subotnick. I'm gradually dumping them to CD (in the easiest way possible; track 1 = side 1 and track 2 = side 2), in case anyone is interested. I'll try to post a list at some point.
I would like to get "Plastic Cow goes Moog" on a CD.
(pokes around) Nope, don't have that. Right now I'm burning a CD of a couple of the Subnotnick records (at only 30 minutes each I can fit two onto a CD). So far I've done 6 of the 16. The Subotnick stuff is lots of bleeps & bloops & reverb, but still neat to listen to (and pretty rockin' in a couple of spots).
After a little web searching I've found Subotnick's home page! http://www.mortonsubotnick.com He still around, still doing stuff. Some of the LPs I got are available on CD or DVD from his site. The neat thing is that he's doing some things on DVD so that the original quadrophonic sound supported! Back in the heydey of serious electronic music research quad was often used. I remember a high school tour of the Umich electronic music studio (way back in 1983) and they recorded in quadrophonic sound. Subotnick is also doing music software for children at http://www.creatingmusic.com I may end up ordering a copy of the "Silver Apples of the Moon / The Wild Bull" CD; those are the two LPs I recorded/burned this morning. Out of the stack so far these are the most interesting.
The latest two Subotnick records are quadrophonic. How the heck did that work with vinyl?
Well, this is the wrong item for this digression, but you did ask... There were two incompatible systems for quadrophonic sound in LPs. I think the Columbia system was called "SQ" and it was described as a "matrix" system which played games with the phase of the signals. The advantage of the matrix system is that it made no special demands on the turntable; the quad decoding was all done in the receiver or by an outboard decoder box. However, there was reported to be some bleeding among the channels. RCA's system was called CD-4. It treated all 4 channels as discrete signals; for the rear channels, there was a "difference" or "carrier" signal which was boosted by 30,000 cycles and pressed into the vinyl as ultrasonic information. The problem with this idea is that vinyl signals pressed between 30K-50K are very, very delicate, and they are destroyed pretty quickly under normal vinyl wear conditions. On the positive side, the desire to preserve that 30K-50K signal led to some substantial advances in phono stylus geometry to minimize record wear. I found a website which tells me I'm not entirely correct here: visit: http://hometown.aol.com/matrixquad/about.htm
A carrier wave of 30KHz on a turntable? Were they on crack, or some similar drug which predated crack? ;) Thanks, Ken.
not cracks.. LPs have *grooves*
X : crack :: vinyl : DVD ?
<suddenly suffers a flashback of the SAT and mock-punches dan> d=
<blames his employer>
Update: Only 2 (out of the 16) left to transfer. Out of the whole batch I'm only recommending the Morton Subotnick, although there's a couple interesting things in the other stuff.
Done!
Here are the gory details:
1. Karlheinz Stockhausen
Kontakte for Electronic Sounds, Piano, and Percussion
Refrain for 3 Instrumentalists
(Candide CE 31022)
2. John Cage
Concerto for Perpared Piano & Orchestra (in 3 Parts) (1951)
Lukas Foss
Baroque Variations (1967)
1. On a Handel Larghetto
2. On a Scarlatti Sonata
3. On a Bach Prelude "Phorion"
(Nonesuch H-71202)
3. Morton Subotnick
4 Butterflies (1974)
(Columbia M 32741)
4. Morton Subotnick
A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur (1978)
After the Butterfly (1979)
(Nonesuch H-78001)
5. Morton Subotnick
Silver Apples of the Moon (1967)
(Nonesuch H-71174)
6. Morton Subotnick
The Wild Bull (1968)
(Nonesuch H-71208)
7. Morton Subotnick
Touch (1969)
(Columbia Masterworks MS 7316)
8. Morton Subotnick
Sidewinder (1971)
(Columbia Masterworks M 30683)
9. George Crumb
Ancient Voices of Children (1971)
1. I. El nino busca su voz
2. Dances of the Ancient Earth
3. II. Me he perdido muchas veces por el mar
4. III. ?De Donde vienes, amor, mi nino?
5. IV. Todas las tardes en Granada, todas las tardes se muere un nino
6. Ghost Dance
7. V. Se ha llenado de luces mi corazon de seda
(Nonesuch H-71255)
10. George Crumb
(1978)
Lux Aeterna
Dream Sequence (Images II)
Four Nocturnes
(Columbia/Odyessy Y 35201)
11. George Crumb
(1974)
Voice of the Whale (Vox Balaenae)
Night of the Four Moons
(Columbia M 32739)
12. Charles Dodge
Earth's Magnetic Field
(Nonesuch H-71250)
13. Andrew Rudin
Tragoedia (a composition in four movements for electronic music
synthesizer)
1. Kouros
2. Hybris
3. Peitho
4. Ate
(Nonesuch H-71198)
14. Charles Wuorinen
Time's Encomium (for synthesized & processed synthesized sound)
(Nonesuch H-71225)
15. Electronic Music (1965[?] compilation)
Compilation of pieces recorded at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic
Music Center.
Andres Lewin-Richter
Study N. 1
Ilhan Mimaroglu
Le Tombeau d'Edgar Poe
Tzvi Avni
Vocalise
Walter Carlos
Variations for Flute and Electronic Sound
Dialogues for Piano and Two Loudspeakers
(Turnabout TV 4004, monaural)
16. Electronic Music Vol. IV (1968 compilation)
Winners of First International Electronic Music Competition, Dartmouth
College
Olly W. Wilson (Winner)
Cetus
William Hellermann (4th finalist)
Ariel
Eugeniusz Rudnik (3rd finalist)
Dixi
Pril Smiley (1st finalist)
Eclipse
Bohdan Mazurek (5th finalist)
Bozzetti
Jozef Malovec (2nd finalist)
Orthogenesis
(Turnabout TV 34301)
Probably the most interesting stuff (to me) is the Morton Subotnick, although
the last two albums are good compilations of different styles of electronic
music.
The most annoying albums are the George Crumb, since his style involved
regular orchestras and vocalists *attempting* to do strange new things.
I have no idea about the status of most of these recordings. Some of the
Subotnick recordings are reissued and available from Subotnick's own website,
http://www.mortonsubotnick.com
Wendy (formerly Walter) Carlos also has an active website at
http://www.wendycarlos.com although the one compilation I have isn't
mentioned in her discography.
Anyway, I did all this basically to save the recordings for whoever is
curious. If you really like something I didn't, it's yours if you ask nicely.
That's quite a list.... Sounds like you've got a good bit more aural fortitude than I. I think it's interesting that you hated the Crumb so much, since he's about the only composer on that list who I'd expect to like. (That is, I love what Crumb I've heard, don't like Stockhausen or Subotnick at all, can't see the point of even those Cage pieces that do have rhythms and tunes to them, and haven't heard anything to make me think I'd like anyone else on the list.) The novel effects he gets out of acoustic instruments is part of Crumb's appeal to me; there's a richness to the sound that you don't hear in much electronic music of that era. So really, I'd like to prod you to give the Cage a few more listens, but if you don't want it I'd gladly take it off your hands. I'd even ask nicely.
<rotfl> AURAL FORTITUDE?! I'm SO stealing that.
You think that was a joke? Listening to Stockhausen is like having your eardrums poked with twigs.
re #86 haha, very good as well, I would say listening to Stockhausen is like listening to highly amplified fingernails being scratched on a chalk board.
You have several choices: