ANALOGUE SEX MACHINE

For once I'm not referring to those naughty synth-abusers Add N To (X), though they did have a bit of a thing for fucking machines (as seen in this titillating video, and this titillatingier one...).

No.

Instead we gonna go back.

How far we going back?

Way back.

Back to the Godfather of Soul...

The year is 1969, James Brown hits the R&B top spot with the James Brown Orchestra, sweating it up to a fast-paced funk workout called 'Give it Up Or Turn It Loose'. Hot on his heels is an American jazz pianist (aka The Man From O.R.G.A.N.) messing about with his new Moog synthesizer, and making like some kind of pioneering electro-disco sexpot...

[image source + interview]

It's time to unleash Dick Hyman's analog[ue] sex machine. Don't be afraid boys and girls, just 'Give it Up Or Turn It Loose'

[image source: matrixsynth]

Dick Hyman - Give It Up Or Turn It Loose

[2nd hand vinyl copies of MOOG: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman on discogs.com starting at a bargain £3.50! Get 'em while you can!]

Radio 4 Extra goes Radiophonic

In a rare moment of synchronicity (following my Radiophonic Workshop post yesterday), I was excited to hear an advert for a documentary* on BBC Radio 4 Extra this Saturday morning and evening.

Selected Radiophonic Works (9am - 12noon & 7pm - 10pm, Saturday 14 July 2012**)

Richard Coles tells the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop's extraordinary story.

In 1958 an extraordinary musical laboratory opened at the BBC. It was called the Radiophonic Workshop and provided music and sound for a wealth of BBC programmes, from The Goons to Dr Who.

With contributions from Coldcut, Dick Mills and Mark Ayres, Richard Coles explores the achievements of the unit and presents a carefully chosen selection of programmes showcasing the department's work.

 Very much looking forward to a Radiophonic Saturday morning here at L'Amour Electronique HQ...

* It seems to be a repeat of a programme first aired in 2008.
** Should also be available on the iPlayer for 7 days after - I'll post a link in the comments after the broadcast.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday evening
I'm currently listening back to the 3 hour marathon broadcast. It's made up of various old programmes and archive clips, and presented by Richard Coles (who use to be in Bronski Beat and is now a vicar).

The first part is a great introduction to the Workshop looking at key members and examples of their recordings, in the context of other musique concrète, and how they were created (the tardis sound in the Dr Who theme was a key scraping up a bass piano string!).

The start of middle section is somewhat disturbing: an extended sequence called Within Dreams, in which various voices relate disturbing recurrent nightmares over a minimal Delia Derbyshire electronic soundscape.

Next is a full episode of The Goon Show parodying/paying homage to Quatermass & The Pit.

The final hour looks at the later period when the Workshop brought in a few EMS synthesisers to aid sound and tone generation.  Particular highlights: Inferno Revisited by Peter Howell, an imagined guided tour through Dante's Inferno, which took 6 weeks to complete and "practically exhausted the Workshop's Fairlight".

phew!

eine kleine lift muzak

It was the wee, small hours as I was passing through Gatwick Airport recently. I found myself stood in a lift full of over-tired Brits, inappropriately dressed for an inclement British summer night, as they returned sun-blushed and liver-pickled from their package-holidays in the Costa-del-Sun.

In a distorted, almost apologetic voice, the elevator spake: GOING DOWN

A split-second of weightlessness sent a shiver up my spine and we descended; a faint smile passed across my face as Malcolm Clarke from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop programmed the behemoth "Delaware" which fed whimsical electronic lift-muzak into my ears...

Malcolm Clarke (BBC Radiophonic Workshop) - La Grande Pièce de la Foire de la Rue Delaware

[buy this on Music From The BBC Radiophonic Workshop on vinyl from discogs.com, or on CD re-issue of the 1975 album The Radiophonic Workshop from amazon.co.uk]

...I was very nearly tempted to step back through the shutting doors, press a button and enjoy my Radiophonic lift experience for just a little longer, but I had a bus to catch and a bed waiting for me to rest my own weary head.

I Dream of Wires

Thanks to my friend Andrew for showing me this trailer for a forthcoming documentary on modular synths.

Mmmmmmm, analogue porn...

Here's a brief synopsis of the project:

I DREAM OF WIRES: THE MODULAR SYNTHESIZER DOCUMENTARY will take you on a journey into the obscure, but highly influential world of modular synthesizers. Learn how it revolutionized music from the pioneers that were there, why it quickly became obsolete, and how it has become all the rage again. Our aim is to create a definitive document on the modular synthesizer revival, and we need your help to make it happen. Please watch the promotional trailer and see some of the amazing people we've already interviewed; and that's just the beginning...

They are currently raising funds to complete the film, you can contribute at:
www.indiegogo.com/I-Dream-of-Wires?a=269090&i=addr
("great incentives for even modest contributions"!)

And for progress on production visit the Modular doc facebook page.

The Great Bleep Forward

You know that woman wailing operatically on the theme tune to Star Trek? Well it is not a woman. It is the Ondes Martenot.

Yes, more homework: This time it's 6Music's 4-part history of Electronic Music The Great Bleep Forward (2004)

Episode 1 (30 mins, available until 25 Oct) explores the history of electronic music, from the early pioneers to the birth of punk and the bloated retreat of prog in 1977.

I wish it had paid a lot more attention to the early instrument makers, rather than dismissing them as a bunch of egomaniacs for naming the instruments after themselves (they had no other points of reference, what else could they have called them?)

Episode 2 (30 mins, available until 27 Oct) covers the emergence of bands with synths during and post-punk. Apparently OMD used to just stick their synths under their arms and get on the train to gigs (They obviously never had an Arp Omni - 19.5kg and built like a tank!). We hear from nearly all the late 70's/early 80's synth bands and their daily struggle with temperamental analogue technology. Oh, and the arrival of the DX-7.

Episode 3 (30 mins, available until 28 Oct) introduces sampling, from its roots in musique concrète, via the Mellotron (including the legendary cheesy-listening patches see below), through the Fairlight CMI, industrial sounds, record sampling, and drum machines (scourge of the drummer corps of the Musicians Union). And somehow completely omits any reference to the late 70's New York Hip Hop and Electro scene.

Episode 4 (30 mins, airs at midnight tonight 22-23 Oct, and will be available until 29 Oct) Here's what you can expect, a glimpse of what could be happening now from 2004:

In the final part of the series, Andrew Collins gives us a glimpse of the electronic future as it appeared to him in 2004. As electronic music reaches maturity, new artists are going back to the original synthesizers and mixing them with the most up to date technology to create new fusions. Computers rule the planet and music. You no longer need to be a musician to make music, you can be a programmer. Vintage instruments can be re-created on your laptop. Electronics have become sophisticated in the live environment with bands like radiohead sampling and replaying vocals during a live track. You can buy a software singer and guitarist for under £200 each. Have we finally created Kraftwerk's Man Machine?