Electronic Music

Electronic Music
Some Semantic Oppositions For A Start
Music – Sound
Author – Operator
Instrument – Medium
Structure – Texture
Structure – Process (Repetition, Loops)
Song – Track
Musician – Producer, DJ
Composition – Arrangement
Subject
– Cyborg, Man-Machine
Name – Moniker
Hierarchy – Network, Rhizome
electronic music turns it all around
General, Definition
to define electronic music is hard:
either you define it by sound sources
(electronic music = electronically produced sound)
then only a little body of works is pure electronic music
Links
http://www.phinnweb.com/history/
http://img.uoregon.edu/emi/emi.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_music
http://fm4.orf.at/grenzfurthner/204433
electronic instruments such as Organs & Synths
electronic equipment and media such as:
radios
tape(recorder)
turntables and records
samplers
computers (& audio software)
or you define it by sound processing
(electronic music = electronically processed/treated sound)
then nearly everything which is recorded is electronic music
electronic (post-) production
an impressionistic definition
(el. music = music which sounds electric/electronic)
is no real way out
finally the question arises: is electronic music really music or is it
rather non-music (see: oppositions) –
then electronic music simply is sound
Stylistic History of Electronic Music
http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html
Stylistic Clusters:
Musique concrète
Studioworks of the 50s
Modular Synthesizer Music of the 60s
Krautrock (70s)
Industrial (70s)
Synth Pop (80s)
Techno, Tech(no)house, House (late 80s–today)
Minimal Techno (early 90s–today)
IDM (early 90s–today)
Drum‘n‘Bass (mid-90s–today)
Glitch (mid-90s–today)
History
50er
Foundation of Studios in Cologne (Studio für Elektronische Musik), Paris (IRCAM), ...
Opposition between
musique concrète – found sounds (Schaeffer, Henry) – and
electronic music – synthesized sounds (Stockhausen, Boulez)
John Cage
60er
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Bebe & Louis Baron
Opposition between
Studioworks, electronic composition (Eimert, Babbitt, Boulez) and
Live works, improvisation (ONCE-Group, Sonic-Arts-Union, AMM, MEV)
ONCE-Group,
later Sonic-Arts-Union:
Gordon Mumma,
Robert Ashley,
Richard Teitelbaum,
David Behrman,
Alvin Lucier,
Philip Corner
AMM:
Keith Rowe,
Lou Gare,
Eddie Prevost,
then Cornelius Cardew,
later John Tilbury
Musica Elettronica Viva:
Frederic Rzewski,
Alvin Curran,
Richard Teitelbaum
Modular Synthesizers: Robert Moog, Donald Buchla, ARP et. al.
http://www.intuitivemusic.com/techno-guide-time-line.html
Serialismus
siehe: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serialismus
Hörbeispiele:
Olivier Messiaen: Mode de valeurs et d‘intensités, Klavieretüde von 1949
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gruppen für drei Orchester von 1957
Begriff „musique sérielle“von René Leibowitz (1947)
Versuch, alle formalen Aspekte eines musikalischen Werkes strengen Regeln zu unterwerfen.
Problem: Welches sind die formalen Aspekte (Parameter) musikalischer Werke? Wie viele solcher
Parameter gibt es? Sind diese Parameter wirklich irreduzibel, das heisst voneinander unabhängig?
Von der Literatur genannt werden physikalische und psychoakustische Aspekte des Tones
(Klanges) wie:
a) Tonhöhe (substanzielle Beschreibung) bzw.
Intervalle (differentielle, relationale Beschreibung)
b) Zeitwerte (Dauer eines Ton- bzw. Klangereignisses)
c) Lautstärke und
d) Klangfarbe/Timbre (bestimmt durch das Spektrum aus Grundton und Obertönen,
eventuell mit Rauschanteilen sowie
mit zeitlichen quantitative Veränderungen der Ton-Anteile)
e) Artikulation, Charakter im instrumentalen Spiel eines Klangereignisses
(Anschlag, Strich, Zungenschlag, Charakter des Luftstroms)
Darüber hinaus kommen übergeordnete Struktureigenschaften kompositorischer Werke als
Parameter in Betracht:
f) Harmonik
g) Gruppencharakteristik, Tonhöhenambitus etc.
f) Tondichte, Rhythmus
Elektronische Musik in der akademischen Musik der 40er und 50er Jahre
Ende der 40er Jahre war der Serialismus eine der wirkungsmächtigsten musikalischen
Kompositionslehren. Die Serielle Musik war insofern eine Geburtshelferin der Elektronischen Musik
als die Exaktheit der Aufführungspraxis zu wünschen übrig liess. Menschliche Interpreten waren für
diese am mathematischen Ideal entworfene Musik zu ungenau, vielleicht aus Gründen der
Unangemessenheit des menschlichen Gehörs, das nur über eine begrenzte Merkleistung (< 8 sec.)
verfügt und so das Wahrnehmen von seriellen Gestalten nahezu verunmöglicht. Aus diesem Grund
wird serielle Musik meist als ein ungeordnetes Chaos empfunden. Die Gestalt erwartende
Hörerschaft wird systematisch frustriert. Der Interpreten solcher Musik extrem gefordert.
Da lag es für die Komponisten nahe, Musikinstrumente zu entwickeln, die ihre musikalischen Ideen
und Entwürfe automatisch und vor allem fehlerfrei (rein) umsetzen würden. Der serielle hatte
gegenüber dem „klassischen“ Musiker eine doppelte Not: Nicht nur fehlte es an den Interpreten,
auch gab es keine verbindliche Notationsweise, um diese neuartigen Klangwerke zu fixieren. Das
erste Problem wurde durch elektronische Instrumente zu lösen versucht, das zweite durch zwei
sehr disparate Wege: Einerseits arbeiteten Komponisten an neuartigen Aufschreibmethoden,
Notationen für Ihre Werke, andererseits konnten sie sich mit der Tonbandaufzeichnung begnügen,
die ihre Werkidee präzis wiedergab. Allerdings ist es aufgrund einer Aufzeichnung in der Regel
nicht möglich, den Entstehungsprozess der Musik nach zu vollziehen. Neuere Software wie Max
oder Reaktor, ermöglicht es einem Komponisten, eine mediale Konstellation in einem so genannten
Patch zu speichern. Ein Patch ist damit etwas zwischen einem selbst gebauten Instrument und
einer Notation für die musikalische Idee.
Eine ganz andere, dem Serialismus entgegen gesetzte Richtung, beschritt die Elektronische Musik
als musique concrète. Durch das Tonbandgerät erhielt ein Musiker ein starkes und flexibles Mittel
zur Komposition bisher ungehörter Klangwelten. Ein auf Band aufgezeichneter Ton oder Klang
konnte durch Geschwindigkeitsvariation vor allem in der Dimension seiner Tonhöhe verändert
werden. Es verändert sich aber mit der Geschwindigkeit auch die Artikulation.
Elektronische Musik in der akademischen Musik der 40er und 50er Jahre
Pierre Henry nennt die Musik, die nach modernen Produktionsbedingungen (im Studio) entsteht
und zu Hause oder im Konzertsaal durch Lautsprecher wiedergegeben wird, akusmatisch
(acousmatique). Anders als früher (vor der Erfindung moderner Klangaufzeichnungs- und
Wiedergabegeräte), wo vorgetragene Musik an eine Konzertsituation gebunden war, in der ein oder
mehrere Musiker ihre Instrumente spielten, entsteht die akusmatische Musik für die Zuhörer quasi
hinter einem Vorgang. Was die Zuhörer hören ist das Klangobjekt. Der Klangkörper (Instrument,
klangerzeugende Apparatur) ist deshalb wie hinter einem Vorhang versteckt, weil es mittelbar
perzeptiv nicht zugänglich ist. Auf den Klangkörper kann man vom Klangobjekt her „nur“
schliessen. Diese Schlüsse fallen leichter, je mehr man sich auf die Produktionsprozesse
elektronischer Musik versteht. Was elektronische Musik deshalb erzeugt ist etwas, das ohne
perzeptiv zugänglichen Entstehungszusammenhang wie ein Phantasiegebilde präsentiert wird. Es
ist kein Instrument gegeben, kein Spieler, kein Sänger. Man weiss nicht,. was man sich zu dieser
Musik vorstellen soll. Sie ist referenzlos und damit in diesem Sinn absolut. Das Akusma ist wie ein
Phantasma. Und dies ist gewissermassen auch für den Komponisten konkreter oder elektronischer
Musik der Fall. Sein Referenzpunkt ist auch ein akusmatischer. Sie oder er hört was sie/er tut
einzig über den Lautsprecher. Elektronische Musiker arbeiten in einer Zeichensituation.
Edgard Varèse
1883
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1928
1930
1934
1936
1955
1958
1961
1965
Birth on Dezember 22
Amériques
Offrandes
Hyperprism
Octandres
Intégrales
Améeriques (rework)
Ionisation (not electronic)
Ecuatorial (Theremin)
Density 21.5
Déserts
Poème éléctronique (with Le Corbusier at the World Fair – Philips Pavillon)
Nocturnal
Nuits (unfinished)
Death on November 6
Biography: http://csunix1.lvc.edu/~snyder/em/varese.html
Early Electronic Works
1939
John Cage: Imaginary Landscape No. 1, for 2 variable speed turntables, frequency records, muted
piano & cymbal
1948
Pierre Schaeffer: étude aux chemins de fer (Tonbandaufnahmen von Zügen, frühste musique concrète)
1952
Herbert Eimert/Robert Beyer: Klangstudie II
1952
Cage: Williams Mix
1952
Otto Luening: Low Speed
1955
Hugh Le Caine: Dripsody
1955
Oskar Sala: Concertando rubato
1956
Louis and Bebe Barron: Forbidden Planet
1957/8 Edgar Varèse: Poem électronique (für die 400 Lautsprecher Installation an der Weltausstellung in
Brüssel: Philips Pavillion)
1959
Richard Maxfield: Sine Music
1959
Raymond Scott: Cindy Electronium
1959-60 Karlheinz Stockhausen: Kontakte
1960
Vladimir Ussachevsky: Wireless Fantasy
1961
Tod Dockstader: Apocalypse
1964
Joji Yuasa: Projection Esemplastic for White Noise
1965
Milton Babbitt: Philomel
1965
Pauline Oliveros: Bye Bye Butterfly
1967
MEV (Musica Electronica Viva): Spacecraft
1968
Morton Subotnick: Silver Apples of the Moon
1968
David Tudor: Rainforest
1968
Terry Riley: Poppy Nogood
1969
Luc Ferrari: Music Promenade
1969
Jean-Claude Risset: Mutations
1969
Holger Czuckay: Boat Woman Song
1970
Iannis Xenakis: Hibiki-Hana-Ma (800 speakers)
Early Electronic Works
1921
1930
1936
1938
1948
1953
1957
1958
1958
1958
1958/9
1958/9
1960
1962
1965
1965
1965
1966
1966
1967/8
1971
1973
Luigi et Antonio Russolo: Corale
Walter Ruttmann: Wochende
Percy Grainger: Free Music #1 (for four theremins)
Johanna M. Beyer: Music of the Spheres
Pierre Schaeffer: Cinq études de bruits - étude violette
Vladimir Ussachevsky & Otto Luening: Incantation For Tape
Henri Pousseur: Scambi
Gordon Mumma: The Dresden Interleaf 13 February 1945
Hugh Le Caine: The Sackbut Blues/A Noisome Pestilence
Iannnis Xenakis: Concert PH
Nam June Paik: Hommage à John Cage
Luc Ferrari: Visage V
Daphne Oram: Four Aspects
Morton Subotnick: Mandolin
Angus Maclise, Tony Conrad et John Cale: Trance #2
Sun Ra and the Arkestra: Imagination
John Cage: Rozart Mix
Konrad Boehmer: Aspekt
Pauline Oliveros: A little Noise in the System (Moog System)
Hugh Davies: Quintet
Erkki Kurenniemi: Säkhösoittimen ääniä
Michel Chion: Requiem: Dies Irae
>Early Elektronic Works – Tapemusic, musique concrète
1924
1948
1948
1949
1950
Georges Antheil: ballet méchanique
Pierre Schaeffer: étude aux chemins de fer
Pierre Schaeffer: étude pathétique
Pierre Schaeffer: suite pour 14 instruments
Pierre Schaeffer et Pierre Henry:
symphonie pour un homme seul
subsequent pieces: Variations Sur une Flute Mexicaine &
Orphee 51
1951
Gründung Groupe de Musique Concrète, später die
Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM)
1952
Vladimir Ussachevsky/Otto Luening: Sonic Contours
1956
Ussachevsky/Luening: Poem of Cycles and Bells, Piece
for Tape Recorder
1958
Ussachevsky/Luening: étude aux sons animes
1959
Ussachevsky/Luening: études aux objets
1961
Tod Dockstader: Apocalypse
1963/4 Luc Ferrari: Hétérozygote
1964
Tod Dockstader: Quatermass
1960
Luc Ferrari: Présque rien, No. 1 (photography piece)
1982
Luc Ferrari: Journal intime
Musique concrète
1949/50
1953 1954
1955 1956
1957 1958
1974
1978
1959 1960
1961 1962
1963 1964
1965
1966 1967
1968
1969 1970
Iannis Xenakis: Concret PH, 1958
Iannis Xenakis: Concret PH (1958)
composed for the 1958 World's Fair and played within the sweeping eaves of the Philips Pavilion),
as at the Philips Pavilion, was to have been played within a structure of Xenakis' design.
La Légende d‘ Eer (Diatope), 1978
Iannis Xenakis: La Légende d‘ Eer (Diatope),
piece electroacoustique pour bande 8 piste (1977–78)
Entstanden ist die Légende d‘eer im Kölner Studio des WDR. Produziert
worden ist es für die Eröffnung des Centre Pompidou in Paris 1978. Zur
Musik hinzu kam ein Beleuchtungskonzept für 1680 Blitzlichter und vier
Laser, dessen Lichtstrahlen durch 400 Spiegel reflektiert wird.
Verwendet hat Xenakis das von ihm konzipierte UPIC (ein Interface
zum generieren elektronischer Sounds indem man Schwingungsformen
und Hüllkurven aufzeichnet).
Den thematischen Stoff bildet der Mythos von Eer am Ende von Platons
Staat (614). Eer fiel in einer Schlacht. Und als man die Gefallenen nach
zehn Tagen bestatten wollte, sah sein Körper noch wohlerhalten und
unverwest aus. Man brachte ihn nach Hause und wartete noch zwei
Tage, bevor man beschloss, ihn wie die andern Gefallenen zu
verbrennen. Auf dem Scheiterhaufen erwachte er aus seinem
bewusstlosen Zustand und berichtete, was er im Reich der Toten
gesehen hatte.
Musik und Raum: The listener is invited to immerse himself in the 'corps
sonore'.
„Musik ist keine Sprache. jedes Musikstück ist eine Art Felsblock in
einer komplexen Form mit Schrammen und Mustern die darauf oder
darein geritzt sind und die Menschen auf tausend verschiedene Weisen
entziffern können, ohne dass einer dieser Weisen die beste oder
wahrste wäre. Aufgrund dieser Vielfalt von Deutungen fordert die Musik
wie ein Kristallkatalysator alle möglichen Phantasmagorien zutage.“
(zitiert nach Supper, S. 33)
Some Important Recordings
Electronic Studios
1950
1951
1951
1951
1953
1953
1956
1956
1957
1957
1958
1960
1961
Luciano Berio: Milan Studio for investigation of electronic music
Schaeffer/Henry: Groupe de Musique Concrète,
later Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), Paris
Eimert, Meyer-Eppler et. al.: Studio für elektronische Musik, Köln
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Tape Center ( from 1959 on: Tape Center)
RAI: Studio di Fonologia, Milano
NHK (Japan Radio): Electronic Music Studio, Tokyo
BBC Radiophonic Workshop, London
Philips Research Laboratories: Center for Electronic Music, Eindhoven
Siemens Studio für Elektronische Musik, Munich
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ
Ussachevsky/Luening: Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, Rockefeller Grant,
room-sized RCA Mark II Synthesizer, CPEMC
Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros and Ramon Sender: San Francisco Tape Music
Center
San Francisco Tape Music Center (later Mills College)
Pioneers of Electronic Music: Bebe and Louis Barron
Married in 1947, Present: Taperecorder, first private Soundstudio in New York, Contacts to the
Avantgardescene around John Cage and Morton Feldmann
Works:
1951/2 Heavenly Menagerie (Tape)
1952
Bells of Atlantis (Surrealistic short film with texts and voice of Anais Nin)
•
The Barrons assist John Cage during the production of „Williams Mix“.
1954
For an Electronic Nervous System (Tape)
1954
Miramagic (Film Soundtrack)
1956
Jazz of Lights (Film Soundtrack)
1956
Forbidden Planet, on of the first (sci-fi) movies with electronic soundtrack
Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4486840 (NPR)
First Recordings of Modular Synthesizers – The Buchla
Buchla
Morton Subotnick:
Silver Apples of the Moon (1967)
The Wild Bull (1968)
2001 Space Odyssey (1968)
Sidewinder (1975)
The Buchla Electric music box model 101:
The Buchla Electric Music Box model 200:
Quelle: http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/buchla/index.html
First Recordings of Modular Synthesizers – The Moog
Robert Moog (1934–2005)
Moog's synthesisers were designed in collaboration with the composers
Herbert A. Deutsch, and
Walter (later Wendy) Carlos.
Kompositions/Interpretations:
Walter Carlos:
Switched-on Bach (1968)
Modular Moog Synthesiser 1967
Resource: http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/moog/index.html
Moog-Synthesizer
Tracklisting:
1-01 33: Abominatron (2:53)
1-02 Stereolab: Variation One (4:01)
1-03 Moog Cookbook: Bob's Funk (5:11)
1-04 Jean-Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert:
You Moog Me (3:30)
1-05 Psilonaut: The Sentinel (6:04)
1-06 Meat Beat Manifesto:
Unavailable Memory (4:54)
1-07 Bernie Worrell & Bootsy Collins:
When Bernie Speaks (6:48)
1-08 Electric Skychurch:
Endless Horizon (I Love Bob Mix) (3:13)
1-09 Album Leaf: Micro Melodies (5:28)
1-10 Charlie Clouser: I Am A Spaceman (4:37)
1-11 Plastiq Phantom: Sqeeble (2:35)
1-12 Bostich: Realistic Source (4:00)
1-13 Pete Devriese:
You Have Been Selected (3:52)
1-14 Money Mark: Nanobot Highway (2:40)
1-15 Baiyon: Mixed Waste 4.2 (4:12)
1-16 Tortoise: Beautiful Love (4:42)
1-17 Roger O'Donnell:
Another Year Away (5:29)
2-01
2-02
2-03
2-04
2-05
2-06
2-07
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Lucky Man (4:37)
Gary Numan: Cars (3:57)
Jean-Jacques Perrey: E.V.A. (3:09)
Devo: Mongoloid (3:44)
New Order: Blue Monday (7:29)
They Might Be Giants: Baroque Hoedown (2:44)
Yes: Close To The Edge (18:38)
Moog-Synthesizer plays Classical Music or Pop
1963 1964
1965 1966
1967 1968
1969 1970
1971 1972
http://www.kingsleysound.com/Resources/MP3/moogby_3.mp3
1973 1974
1975
1976 1977
1978
1979 1980
History
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
History– Europe
British Synth Pop
Krautrock
1970
1971 1972
1973 1974
1975 1976
1977 1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983 1984
1985 1986 1987
History – America
1970
1971
1972
1973 1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983 1984
1985
1986 198
History – Industrial
1970 1971 1972
1973
1974
1975 1976
Industrial
1977 1978
1979 1980
1981
1982 1983 1984
1985
1986 1987
Electronic Music from Computers
First experiments of Herbert Brün at University of Ilinois
MAX-Patch of Autechre
History – Planet Techno, the Beginning
1987
1983: Cybotron: Enter,
Reissued as Clear (1990)
1988
1989
1990
1991
History
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
History
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Mille Plateaux-Label I
Gründer: Achim Szepanski
Sublabel von Force Inc.
Ort: Frankfurt
Mille Plateaux-Label II
Mille Plateaux-Label III
Mille Plateaux-Label IV
Mille Plateaux-Label V
Mille Plateaux Label VI
12k Label 1: http://www.12k.com
Gründer: Taylor Deupree
Sublabel: Line, Happy
Ort: Brooklyn, New York
12k Label 2: http://www.12k.com
digit_01
Silver Apples: Silver Apples
Label, Release Date: Kapp 3562, 1968
AMG-Review by Bart Bealmear (AMG-Rating: 4 Stars): The music on Silver Apples was unlike anything anyone
had previously heard. Simeon layered his oscillators to create a collage of sounds that seemed to be recorded in
outer space and then transmitted back to earth for your listening pleasure. The lead oscillator produced a tone
akin to a theremin, contributing not only to the out-of-this-world quality, but its shaky, hyper-quiver added an air of
tension. A hypnotic one- or two-chord rhythm pattern of bass notes held the tunes together, while Simeon played
counter- and counter-counter-rhythms. Danny Taylor proved to be an innovative drummer, producing an array of
interesting beats and fills. He also tuned his drums so he could change chords with Simeon. A song like
"Lovefingers" would build with a drum and bass pattern, before bursting with waves of sound from the oscillators.
Many of the tracks on Silver Apples have a subtle catchiness to them, possessing a pop mentality that isn't
immediate. Simeon's "Simeon" is what pulls you in on first listens, but it is the songs that stay with you when
you're away from the turntable. Compositions were kept short -- all are four minutes or less, with the exception of
the tribal "Dancing Gods" -- further preserving the pop-song ethic.
# Title
Composer
Time
1 Oscillations
Simeon, Stanley
2:49
2 Seagreen Serenades Simeon, Stanley
2:55
3 Lovefingers
Simeon, Stanley
4:11
4 Program
Simeon, Stanley
4:07
5 Velvet Cave
Simeon, Stanley
3:30
6 Whirly-Bird
Simeon, Stanley
2:41
7 Dust
Simeon, Stanley
3:40
8 Dancing Gods
Simeon
5:57
9 Misty Mountain
Lewellen, Simeon
2:46
digit_02
Silver Apples: Contact
Label, Release Date: Kapp 3584, 1969
AMG-Review by Bart Bealmear (AMG-Rating: 4.5 Stars): Aside from Simeon's use of a banjo on a couple of
tracks, the music on Contact does not differ from that of their debut. One aspect improved upon was the lyrics;
many possess the same "cosmic" element found on Silver Apples, but others are full of bitterness, pain, paranoia,
and confusion. In turn, the lead oscillator is used to greater effect, reflecting this newfound intensity. Simeon, who
composed the text for five of Contact's ten songs (he framed one song on Silver Apples, "Dancing Gods"), was
largely responsible for this change. The record opens with "You and I," one of their best numbers, in which
Simeon cuts out the hippie overtones present in the first album's lyrics and gets straight to the point. The text of "I
Have Known Love," written by Simeon's girlfriend Eileen Lewellen, details love's all-encompassing power. "You're
Not Foolin' Me" incorporates outside sound to drive home the written word, using a continuous, ringing telephone
to illustrate the obsessive nature of love. "A Pox on You" and "Gypsy Love" further exploit the feelings one
experiences once love is denied and the raw emotions that surface. "Confusion" features Simeon's banjo playing
prominently. The playful, tossed-off script adds to its throwaway nature, although there is a line or two alluding to
their pop leanings. The album closer, "Fantasies," involves Simeon guiding drummer Danny Taylor through the
song and hints at the intuitive, trusting nature of their collaboration. This often hilarious track comes as a bit of a
surprise, but works along with "Confusion" as a counterbalance to the darker lyrical content on Contact.
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Title
You and I
Water
Ruby
Gypsy Love
You're Not Foolin' Me
I Have Known Love
A Pox on You
Confusion
Fantasies
Composer
Simeon
Simeon
Creasy
Simeon, Stanley
Simeon
Lewellen, Simeon
Simeon
Simeon
DeMott, Simeon
Time
3:24
4:18
2:32
5:36
6:26
3:53
5:11
3:34
5:57
digit_03
The United States of America: The United States of America
Label, Release Date: 1968, Columbia 9614
AMG-Review by Richie Unterberger (AMG-Rating 4.5 Stars): Originally released on Columbia in
1968, The United States of America is one of the legendary pure psychedelic space records.
Some of the harder-rocking tunes have a fun house recklessness that recalls aspects of early
Pink Floyd and the Velvet Underground at their freakiest; the sedate, exquisitely orchestrated
ballads, especially "Cloud Song" and the wonderfully titled "Love Song for the Dead Che," are
among the best relics of dreamy psychedelia. Occasionally things get too excessive and selfconscious, and the attempts at comedy are a bit flat, but otherwise this is a near classic.
# Title
1 The American Metaphysical
Circus
2 Hard Coming Love
3 Cloud Song
4 The Garden of Earthly Delights
5 I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife
for You, Sugar
6 Where Is Yesterday
7 Coming Down
8 Love Song for the Dead Che
9 Stranded in Time
10 The American Way of Love
Composer
Time
Byrd
Byrd, Moskowitz
Byrd, Moskowitz
Byrd, Moskowitz
4:55
4:43
3:18
2:39
Byrd, Moskowitz
Bogas, Marron, Moskowitz
Byrd, Moskowitz
Byrd
Bogas, Marron
Byrd, Forbes, Marron,
Moskowitz, Woodson
3:52
3:07
2:40
3:25
1:50
6:38
digit_04_a
White Noise: An Electric Storm
Label, Release Date: Island 9303, 1969
AMG-Review by Christopher Evans (AMG-Rating: 4 Stars): An Electric Storm is justly renowned among techno
boffins as one of the first albums to fuse pop and electronic music before the advent of the Moog synthesizer. But
you don't have to be versed in the language of sine waves and oscillators to enjoy this mostly delightful and
hugely inventive album. For although the White Noise were almost exclusively composed of virtuoso knob
twiddlers and tape splicers moonlighting from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, luckily they were no slouches
when it came to penning a decent tune. There's also anarchic humor at play on the manic "Here Come the Fleas,"
which contains more edits in its two minutes than the whole of Sgt. Pepper's.Yet it's the retro-futurist textures that
still grab the ear most. These are sounds that will be familiar to anyone who knows the soundtrack of Forbidden
Planet or the early series of Doctor Who, but they had never before been deployed in the service of pop music,
nor have they since. And whereas the Moog would supplant all of these primitive, time-consuming techniques of
sound generation and manipulation within the year, it also destroyed much of electronic music's spirit of adventure
in the process. How could you boldly go where no man had gone before when your sound universe was suddenly
overlaid by tram lines and route maps? So although most of the songs that make up the first half of An Electric
Storm are pretty much your standard-issue polite British psychedelia (the somewhat embarrassing United States
of America-style orgy of "My Game of Loving" aside), the way they're dressed up still sounds innovative decades
later. Sometimes songs dissolve into bleeps, whooshes, and gurgles that hurtle between your speakers, but
compared to the extended guitar and organ solos that were common currency at the time, they are the very
essence of restraint. That said, restraint was put to the sword on the final two tracks, the 12-minute "The
Visitations" and the seven-minute "The Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell." The former is a decidedly spooky
"Leader of the Pack"-style drama with a supernatural twist. The biker, having departed this life, attempts to make
one last attempt to cross over and console his grieving beloved, only to fall agonizingly short. If you can suspend
your disbelief -- and persuade yourself that the biker's departing spirit doesn't sound like a cappuccino machine -it's spine-tingling stuff that you won't dare listen to with the lights off. Which is more than can be said for the
concluding track, a would-be satanic jam session botched together in a hurry to meet Island's suddenly imposed
deadline.
digit_04_b
White Noise: An Electric Storm
Label, Release Date: Island 9303, 1969
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Title
Love Without Sound
My Game of Loving
Here Come the Fleas
Firebird
Your Hidden Dreams
The Visitations
The Black Mass:
An Electric Storm in Hell
Composer
Derbyshire, Vorhaus
Duncan, Vorhaus
McDonald, Vorhaus
Derbyshire, Vorhaus
McDonald, Vorhaus
McDonald, Vorhaus
Time
3:07
4:10
2:15
3:05
4:58
11:14
White Noise
7:22
digit_05_a
Bill Holt's Dreamies: Dreamies
Label, Release Date: Stone Theater 68481, 1973
AMG-Review by Stanton Swihart (AMG-Rating: 4.5 Stars): Inspired by the aural collage of the Beatles'
"Revolution Number 9," as well as the musique concrete of composers such as John Cage and Terry Riley and
Bob Dylan's conscientious rock lyricism, Bill Holt quit his straight job in 1972 to follow his musical muse, hoarding
various electronic gadgets and an acoustic guitar and holing up in his basement. He emerged a year later with
Dreamies, one of the finest pieces of experimental pop from the era. Unlike the Beatles' White Album collage,
though, the pair of sidelong, 26-minute epics -- "Program Ten" and "Program Eleven" (as if progressing directly
from "Revolution Number 9") -- that Holt created were much more than symbolic representations of the chaotic
times. At its heart, the album is a blend of folk and pop/rock, and in many respects, Dreamies fits in with the
singer/songwriter scene that flowered in the early '70s. Instead of relying simply on the juxtapositions of his sound
samples to impart subjective meanings, Holt composed lovely, downhearted melodies (very much recalling John
Lennon) and trippy lyrics as a jumping-off point for each collage and then let acoustic guitar guide them through
the gauntlet of sound. In fact, "Program Ten" is a combination of two identifiable songs, "Sunday Morning Song"
and "The User," the two melodies weaving in and out of the cacophony of noise-crickets, atmospheric sounds, a
John Kennedy speech, NASA chatter, news reports, glass breaking, a thunderstorm, sports broadcasts, and
gunfire while a synthesizer spits out spacey alien sounds or cuts like a kettle whistle, and an ominous bassline
oscillates beneath it all. "Program Eleven" exchanges that white noise for airport sounds, creepy Sgt. Pepperstyle chants that bubble up from beneath the single melody fragment ("Going for a Ride"), game show catch
phrases, and popping corn. Of the two pieces, "Program Ten" is the more socially charged commentary, setting
the innocent recollections of youth -- the sounds of summer and nature -- against the misanthropic confusion of
war and politics to powerful effect. "Program Eleven" is more psychedelically eerie and haunting, aurally dense,
and thick with bad vibes, but wonderful nonetheless. The spoken samples are mostly more buried in the
background and difficult to make out. It adds both intrigue and mystery to the piece, a foreboding end to what
began optimistically. The music, in other words, ingeniously mirrored the sort of evolution of consciousness that
was so much a part of the era. Dreamies went virtually unheard when it was released, perhaps because it was the
antithesis of commercial rock at the time, but, despite its grounding in the ambiance and issues of the '60s, it still
sounds outstanding decades after the fact.
digit_05_b
Bill Holt's Dreamies: Dreamies
Label, Release Date: Stone Theater 68481, 1973
# Title
1 Program Ten Songs/Sunday Morning Song/The User
2 Program Eleven Song/Going for a Ride
Composer Time
Bill Holt
26:09
Bill Holt
25:08
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
Cabarte Voltaire: Methodology '74-'78. Attic
Tapes
Cabaret Voltaire: The Covenant, The Sword
and The Arm of The Lord (1985)
Silver Apples: Silver Apples / Contact
(1968/1969)
Daft Punk: Homework (1996)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
V. A.: Techno! The New Dance Sound of
Detroit (1988)
Christian Calon: Ligne de vie - Récits
électriques (1991)
The Orb: The Orb's Adventures Beyond The
Ultraworld (1991)
Nicolette: Now is early (1992)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
V. A.: Artificial Intelligence (1992)
Oval: Wohnton (1993)
X-102: Discovers the Rings of Saturn (1992)
Autechre: Incunabula (1993)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
Laurie Anderson: Bright red (1994)
Prodigy: Music for the jilted generation (1994)
Massive Attack: Protection (1994)
Massive (Attack): Blue Lines (1991)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2
(1994)
Portishead: Dummy (1994)
Kenny Larkin: Azimuth (1994)
Tortoise: Tortoise (1994)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
Farmers Manual: No Backup (1996)
V. A.: Basic Channel (Metal Box) (1995)
Goldie: Timeless (1995)
Tortoise: Millions now living will never die
(1996)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
Everything but the girl: Walking wounded
(1996)
V. A.: In memoriam Gilles Deleuze (1996)
Burger/Ink: Las Vegas (1996)
Gas: Zauberberg (1997)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
Studio 1/V. A.: Studio Eins (1997)
Plaid: Not for threes (1997)
Reprazent: New Forms (1997)
V. A. (Metalheadz): Platinum Breakz (1997)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
V. A.: Auferstanden aus Ruinen (Berlin 1992 Tresor Kompilation) (1992)
Autechre: Anti ep (1994)
mu-ziq: Tango n'vectif (1993)
V. A. (Mille Plateaux): Modulation
Transformation (1994)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
Black Dog: Music fopr Adverts (and Short
Films) (1992)
LTJ Bukem: Logical Progression (1994)
Pet Shop Boys: Very (1993)
Lamb: Lamb (1996)
the electrot.ope collection – discography of must-haves
Nicolette: Let no one live rentfree in your head
(1996)
to be continued ...
Resources, Links
Discographies of David Martinelli (Electronic Technician at the UCLA Department of
Ethnomusicology):
„Classical“: http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/staff/martinelli/electronic_music.htm (Mai-06)
Pop: http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/staff/martinelli/electropop.htm (Mai-06)
Live/Improvised: http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/staff/martinelli/electronicimprov.html (Mai-06)
Ishkur‘s Guide to Electronic Music (Pop): http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html (Mai-06)
Wikipedia-Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_music (Mai-06)
120 Years of Electronic Music: Electronic Musical Instruments 1870 - 1990, Links and Bibliography:
http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/