Category Archives: experimental music

Goodbye 2023

Jeff Beck

We lost another batch of big name musicians in 2023 including Jeff Beck, Burt Bacharach, Robbie Robertson, Gordon Lightfoot, Carla Bley, Charles Gayle, David Crosby, Ahmad Jamal, Tony McPhee, Shane MacGowan, Sinéad O’Connor, Tony Oxley, Kaija Saariaho and Tina Turner.

I was especially saddened to learn of the passing of a couple of people who used to send me their music to air on my radio programme over the course of my 25 years on the radio. Both Gloria Coates and Steve Roden have made their way onto the list this year.

Ed Ames (American actor and singer for Ames Brothers)
Katherine Anderson (American singer for The Marvelettes)
Stanley Appel (British television producer for Top of the Pops)
Kirk Arrington (American drummer for Metal Church)
Clarence Avant (American music executive and film producer, founder of Sussex Records)
Burt Bacharach (American Hall of Fame composer, six-time Grammy winner)
Robbie Bachman (Canadian hard rock drummer for Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
Tim Bachman (Canadian guitarist for Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
Ian Bairnson (Scottish musician for The Alan Parsons Project)
Philip Balsam (Canadian songwriter for Fraggle Rock)
Clarence Barlow (British composer)
Bruce Barthol (American bassist for Country Joe and the Fish)
Russell Batiste Jr (American drummer for The Meters)
Jeff Beck (British guitarist for The Yardbirds, The Jeff Beck Group)
Harry Belafonte (American Hall of Fame musician)
Tony Bennett (American singer)
Karl Berger (German jazz pianist, composer, and educator)
Jane Birkin (English-French singer and actress)
Jeff Blackburn (American songwriter and guitarist for Blackburn & Snow, Moby Grape)
Carla Bley (American jazz composer and musician for Jazz Composer’s Orchestra)
Peter Brötzmann (German jazz saxophonist)
Pete Brown (English poet, lyricist and singer)
Angelo Bruschini (English guitarist for Massive Attack)
Dennis Budimir (American jazz and rock guitarist for The Wrecking Crew)
Jimmy Buffett (American singer-songwriter)
Colin Burgess (Australian rock drummer The Masters Apprentices, AC/DC)
Bobby Caldwell (American singer and songwriter)
Ronnie Caryl (English guitarist for Flaming Youth, Phil Collins)
Paul Cattermole (English singer for S Club 7)
Monte Cazazza (American artist and composer)
Gloria Coates (American composer)
Tony Coe (English jazz musician)
Michael Cooper (Jamaican musician for Inner Circle)
David Crosby (American songwriter and singer for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
John Cutler (American record producer and audio engineer for Grateful Dead)
Dean Daughtry (American keyboard player for Atlanta Rhythm Section)
Richard Davis (American jazz bassist)
Charlie Dominici (American singer for Dream Theater)
Bobby Eli (American guitarist for MFSB)
Simon Emmerson (English record producer, DJ, and musician for Afro Celt Sound System)
José Evangelista (Spanish composer)
Johnny Fean (Irish guitarist for Horslips)
John Fitzpatrick (Irish violinist for Nightnoise and Jeff Johnson)
Jeffrey Foskett (American singer and songwriter for Beach Boys)
Pete Garner (British bassist for The Stone Roses)
Charles Gayle (American jazz saxophonist and pianist)
Renée Geyer (Australian singer)
John Giblin (Scottish bass player for Kate Bush)
Astrud Gilberto (Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer)
Brian Godding (Welsh jazz rock guitarist for Blossom Toes, Centipede)
Myles Goodwyn (Canadian singer for April Wine)
Jim Gordon (American convicted murderer and musician for Eric Clapton, Derek and the Dominos)
John Gosling (English keyboardist for The Kinks)
Bruce Guthro (Canadian singer-songwriter and musician for Runrig)
Dickie Harrell (American Hall of Fame drummer for Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps)
Wee Willie Harris (English rock and roll singer)
Steve Harwell (American singer for Smash Mouth)
Fuzzy Haskins (American singer for Parliament-Funkadelic)
Redd Holt (American jazz drummer)
Brad Houser (American musician for Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)
Ron Howden (English drummer for Nektar)
Ralph Humphrey (American rock drummer for The Mothers of Invention)
Rudolph Isley (American songwriter and singer for The Isley Brothers)
Chuck Jackson (American R&B singer)
Ahmad Jamal (American jazz pianist)
Stu James aka Slater (British music executive and singer for The Mojos)
Bob Johnson (British guitarist, singer and songwriter for Steeleye Span)
Scott Johnson (American composer)
Howie Kane (American pop singer for Jay and the Americans)
Seán Keane (Irish fiddler for The Chieftains)
Scott Kempner (American guitarist for The Dictators)
Terry Kirkman (American songwriter and musician for The Association)
Jean Knight (American singer)
David LaFlamme (American singer and violinist for It’s a Beautiful Day)
Denny Laine (English musician for Wings and singer for Moody Blues)
Bill Lee (American jazz musician and film composer)
Rita Lee (Brazilian singer for Os Mutantes)
Mylon LeFevre (American Christian rock singer)
Linda Lewis (English singer-songwriter)
Gordon Lightfoot (Canadian Hall of Fame singer-songwriter)
David Lindley (American musician)
Lord Creator (Trinidadian-born Jamaican singer-songwriter)
Robin Lumley (British jazz keyboardist for Brand X)
Ralph Lundsten (Swedish composer)
Laura Lynch (American musician for Dixie Chicks)
Shane MacGowan (Irish singer for The Pogues)
Steve Mackey (English record producer and bassist for Pulp)
Bernie Marsden (English rock guitarist for Whitesnake)
Manny Martínez (American drummer for The Misfits)
Brian McBride (American musician for Stars of the Lid)
Les McCann (American jazz musician)
Tony McPhee (English guitarist for The Groundhogs)
Randy Meisner (American musician for Eagles)
Mendelson Joe ( Canadian singer-songwriter)
Butch Miles (American jazz drummer)
Essra Mohawk (American singer-songwriter)
Francis Monkman (English musician for Curved Air)
Napoleon XIV (American singer)
Peter Nero (American pianist and conductor for Philly Pops)
Chas Newby (British early bassist for The Beatles)
Sinéad O’Connor (Irish singer)
Blackie Onassis (American rock drummer for Urge Overkill)
Tony Oxley (English free improvising drummer, co-founder of Incus Records)
Jon Povey (British musician for Pretty Things)
Lisa Marie Presley (American singer-songwriter)
Alberto Radius (Italian guitarist and singer-songwriter for Formula 3)
Alan Rankine (Scottish musician for The Associates)
Lee Rauch (American drummer for Megadeth)
Lance Reddick (American actor and musician)
Otis Redding III (American singer for The Reddings)
Sheldon Reynolds (American guitarist for Earth, Wind & Fire)
Robbie Robertson (Canadian musician for The Band and film composer)
Sixto Rodriguez (American singer-songwriter)
Steve Roden (American contemporary artist and musician for Forms of Paper)
Bernt Rosengren (Swedish jazz tenor saxophonist)
Gary Rossington (American Hall of Fame guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Andy Rourke (English bassist for The Smiths)
Kaija Saariaho (Finnish composer)
Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japanese musician for Yellow Magic Orchestra)
Renata Scotto (Italian operatic soprano for La Scala)
Don Sebesky (American composer, arranger, and conductor)
Bob Segarini (American-Canadian radio presenter and musician for The Wackers)
Jah Shaka (Jamaican dub and reggae sound system operator)
Sweet Charles Sherrell (American bassist for James Brown)
Wayne Shorter (American jazz saxophonist)
Ray Shulman (English musician for Gentle Giant)
Mick Slattery (British guitarist for Hawkwind)
Huey “Piano” Smith (American R&B pianist and songwriter)
Tom Smothers (American comedian, musician for Smothers Brothers)
Floyd Sneed (Canadian drummer for Three Dog Night)
Jack Sonni (American musician for Dire Straits)
Seymour Stein (American Hall of Fame music executive, founder of Sire Records)
Lester Sterling (Jamaican saxophonist for The Skatalites)
April Stevens (American singer)
Mark Stewart (English musician for The Pop Group)
Chris Strachwitz (American record company founder and executive for Arhoolie Records)
Barrett Strong (American singer and songwriter)
Yukihiro Takahashi (Japanese drummer and singer for Yellow Magic Orchestra)
Ted “Kingsize” Taylor (British singer and guitarist for Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes)
Teresa Taylor (American drummer for Butthole Surfers)
Charlie Thomas (American Hall of Fame singer for The Drifters)
George Tickner (American rock guitarist for Journey)
Top Topham (English guitarist for The Yardbirds)
Ismaïla Touré (Senegalese musician for Touré Kunda)
Vivian Trimble (American musician for Luscious Jackson)
Trugoy the Dove (David Jude Jolicoeur) (American rapper for De La Soul)
Tina Turner (American-born Swiss Hall of Fame singer)
Dwight Twilley (American singer-songwriter)
Nancy Van de Vate (American composer)
Conny Van Dyke (American singer and actress)
Tom Verlaine (American musician for Television)
John Waddington (English guitarist for The Pop Group)
Geordie Walker (English guitarist for Killing Joke)
Lillian Walker (American singer for The Exciters)
Algy Ward (English heavy metal bassist for The Damned)
André Watts (American pianist and academic)
Cynthia Weil (American Hall of Fame songwriter)
Lasse Wellander (Swedish guitarist for ABBA)
George Winston (American pianist)
Fred White (American Hall of Fame drummer for Earth, Wind & Fire)
Roger Whittaker (British singer-songwriter)
Mars Williams (American saxophonist for The Waitresses, The Psychedelic Furs)
Gary Wright (American singer-songwriter and musician for Spooky Tooth)
Gary Young (American drummer for Pavement)

Kaija Saariaho

Goodbye 2022

Klaus Schulze

Once again, many big names have left us. From Christine McVie to Angelo Badalamenti. As a fan of electronic music coming out of Germany since the 1970s, the deaths of both Klaus Schulze and Manuel Göttsching hit particularly hard. Also the deaths of Indian musicians Shivkumar Sharma and Lata Mangaeshkar.

The following list is just a small representation of some of the people that we have lost over the past year.

Jerry Allison (drummer for The Crickets)
Bruce Anderson (American guitarist for MX-80)
Jon Appleton (American composer and educator)
Angelo Badalamenti (American film and television composer for Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet)
Chris Bailey (Kenyan-born Australian musician and songwriter for The Saints)
John Beckwith (Canadian composer, writer and pianist)
Thom Bell (Jamaican-born American songwriter, arranger and record producer)
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (English composert)
Jet Black (English drummer for The Stranglers)
Gary Brooker (English singer-songwriter and pianist for Procol Harum)
Boris Brott (Canadian conductor)
Mira Calix (South African-born British visual artist and musician)
Irene Cara (American singer and actress)
Aaron Carter (American singer)
Steve Broughton (British rock musician for Edgar Broughton Band)
Manny Charlton (Scottish rock guitarist for Nazareth)
Coolio (American rapper)
Julee Cruise (American singer, musician and actress)
George Crumb (American composer)
Betty Davis (American funk and soul singer)
Jerry Doucette (Canadian musician)
Norman Dolph (American songwriter and record producer)
Lamont Dozier (American Hall of Fame songwriter, record producer and singer)
Martin Duffy (English keyboardist for Primal Scream)
Judith Durham (Australian singer for The Seekers)
Shirley Eikhard (Canadian singer-songwriter)
Ralph Emery (American disc jockey and television host)
Anton Fier (American composer, producer, and drummer for The Feelies, The Golden Palominos)
Andy Fletcher (English Hall of Fame keyboardist for Depeche Mode)
Ricky Gardiner (Scottish composer and guitarist Beggars Opera)
Mickey Gilley (American country singer)
Robert Gordon (American rockabilly singer)
Manuel Göttsching (German musician for Ash Ra Tempel)
Guitar Shorty (American blues musician)
Terry Hall (English singer for The Specials)
Ronnie Hawkins (American-Canadian rock and roll singer-songwriter)
Taylor Hawkins (American musician for Foo Fighters)
Paavo Heininen (Finnish composer and pianist)
Judy Henske (American folk singer)
Jeff Howell (American rock bassist for Foghat)
Toshi Ichiyanagi (Japanese composer and pianist)
Susan Jacks (Canadian singer-songwriter for The Poppy Family)
Philip Jeck (English composer)
James Johnson (American blues guitarist for Slim Harpo)
Jimmy Johnson (American blues guitarist and singer)
Wilko Johnson (English guitarist for Dr. Feelgood)
Syl Johnson (American blues singer)
Naomi Judd (American country singer for The Judds)
Danny Kalb (American blues guitarist for The Blues Project)
William Kraft (American composer and conductor)
Mark Lanegan (American singer-songwriter and musician for Screaming Trees)
Michael Lang (American concert producer, co-creator of Woodstock)
Keith Levene (English guitarist for Public Image Ltd., The Clash)
Gord Lewis (Canadian guitarist for Teenage Head)
Jerry Lee Lewis (American Hall of Fame singer and pianist)
Ramsey Lewis (American jazz pianist, composer)
Radu Lupu (Romanian pianist)
Loretta Lynn (country singer-songwriter)
Lata Mangeshkar (Indian playback singer and composer)
Ingram Marshall (American composer)
Dan McCafferty (Scottish songwriter and singer for Nazareth)
C. W. McCall (American country singer)
Ian McDonald (English musician for King Crimson)
Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack)
Meat Loaf (American singer)
Charnett Moffett (American jazz bassist)
Grachan Moncur III (American jazz trombonist)
Massimo Morante (Italian guitarist for Goblin)
James Mtume (American percussionist for Mtume)
Rachel Nagy (American singer for The Detroit Cobras)
Sandy Nelson (American drummer)
Olivia Newton-John (British-Australian singer)
Nichelle Nichols (American actress on Star Trek and singer)
Mo Ostin (American record executive for Warner Bros. Records)
Mimi Parker (American singer and drummer for Low)
Ric Parnell (English drummer for Spinal Tap)
Kelly Joe Phelps (American blues musician)
Paul Plimley (Canadian free jazz pianist and vibraphonist)
Ned Rorem (American composer)
Badal Roy (American tabla player, percussionist and recording artist)
Bobby Rydell (American singer and actor)
Paul Ryder (English bassist for Happy Mondays)
Pharoah Sanders (American jazz saxophonist)
Klaus Schulze (German electronic musician and composer for Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel)
Jim Schwall (American blues musician for Siegel–Schwall Band)
Alexander Scriabin (Russian musicologist and composer)
Jim Seals (American songwriter and musician for Seals and Crofts)
Burke Shelley (Welsh bassist and vocalist for Budgie)
Paul Siebel (American singer-songwriter)
Shivkumar Sharma (Indian composer and santoor player for Shiv–Hari)
Mark Shreeve (British electronic songwriter and composer)
Kim Simmonds (British rock guitarist for Savoy Brown)
Lucy Simon (American composer and folk singer for The Simon Sisters)
Ronnie Spector (American Hall of Fame singer for The Ronette
Fredy Studer (Swiss drummer)
Creed Taylor (American jazz trumpeter and record producer, founder of Impulse! Records and CTI Records)
R. Dean Taylor (Canadian singer-songwriter)
Nicky Tesco (British singer for The Members)
Barbara Thompson (English jazz saxophonist for Colosseum)
Nik Turner (English musician for Hawkwind)
Ian Tyson (Canadian singer for Ian & Sylvia)
Vangelis (Greek film composer and musician for Aphrodite’s Child)
Fred Van Hove (Belgian jazz musician)
Natty Wailer (Jamaican musician)
Norma Waterson (English musician for The Watersons)
Alan White (drummer for Yes)
Roland White (American bluegrass music artist)
Don Wilson (American guitarist for The Ventures)
Drummie Zeb (English reggae record producer and musician for Aswad)

Christine McVie

Goodbye 2021 (another year to forget)

Jon Hassell

2021 was yet another year when Covid-19 dominated the news. I’m sure that we’re all glad to see the end of it. Let’s all hope for a better 2022.

The following list is just a small representation of some of the people that we have lost over the past year.

Louis Andriessen (Dutch composer for La Commedia)
Astro (British singer and musician for UB40)
Chris Barber (English jazz bandleader and trombonist)
Andy Barker (British musician for 808 State)
Byron Berline (American fiddler)
Jay Black (American singer for Jay and the Americans)
Tim Bogert (American rock bassist for Bogert & Appice)
Juini Booth (American jazz double-bassist for Sun Ra Arkestra)
Leslie Bricusse (British composer)
Gil Bridges (American musician for Rare Earth)
Ron Bushy (American drummer for Iron Butterfly)
Sylvano Bussotti (Italian composer, poet, and artistic director for Puccini Festival)
Alan Cartwright (English rock bassist for Procol Harum)
Malcolm Cecil (British musician for Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, Blues Incorporated and record producer for Stevie Wonder)
Joel Chadabe (American electronic music pioneer)
Emmett Chapman (American jazz musician, inventor of the Chapman Stick)
Michael Chapman (English singer-songwriter and guitarist)
Richard Cole (English music manager for Led Zeppelin)
Charles Connor (American drummer for Little Richard)
Billy Conway (American drummer for Morphine)
Gary Corbett (American rock keyboardist for KISS, Cinderella)
Chick Corea (American jazz keyboardist)
Paul Cotton (American musician for Poco)
DMX (American rapper)
John Drake (American singer for The Amboy Dukes)
Graeme Edge (English drummer for The Moody Blues)
Les Emmerson (Canadian singer for Five Man Electrical Band)
Sergio Esquivel (Mexican singer-songwriter)
Don Everly (American Hall of Fame singer for The Everly Brothers)
Bobby Few (American jazz pianist)
Pat Fish (English musician for The Jazz Butcher)
George Frayne IV (American country singer and keyboardist for Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen)
Denny Freeman (American blues guitarist and keyboardist)
Curtis Fuller (American jazz trombonist)
Djivan Gasparyan (Armenian musician and composer)
James Mac Gaw (French guitarist for Magma)
John Goodsall (American-British rock guitarist for Atomic Rooster, Brand X)
Milford Graves (American jazz drummer for New York Art Quartet)
Burton Greene (American jazz pianist)
Nanci Griffith (American singer-songwriter)
Tom T. Hall (American singer-songwriter)
Jon Hassell (American trumpeter and composer)
Roger Hawkins (American drummer and recording studio owner for Muscle Shoals Sound Studio)
Dusty Hill (American songwriter and musician for ZZ Top)
John Hinch (British drummer for Judas Priest)
John Dee Holeman (American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer and songwriter)
Paul Humphrey (Canadian musician for Blue Peter)
Paul Jackson (American jazz bassist for The Headhunters)
Stonewall Jackson (American country singer)
Bob James (American rock singer-songwriter for Montrose)
Joey Jordison (American musician for Slipknot)
Richard H. Kirk (English electronic musician for Cabaret Voltaire)
Bob Koester (American music executive, founder of Delmark Records)
Alexi Laiho (Finnish death metal singer-songwriter and guitarist for Children of Bodom)
Rick Laird (Irish jazz fusion bassist for Mahavishnu Orchestra)
Alan Lancaster (English rock bassist for Status Quo)
Anita Lane (Australian singer-songwriter for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
Bob Lanois (Canadian record producer and recording engineer)
David Lasley (American singer-songwriter)
John Lawton (English hard rock singer for Uriah Heep)
James Levine (American conductor and pianist for Metropolitan Opera)
Janice Long (English disc jockey for BBC Radio 1)
Alvin Lucier (American composer)
Kenny Malone (American drummer)
Junior Mance (American jazz pianist and educator)
Carlos Marín (Spanish singer for Il Divo)
Jon Mark (English singer-songwriter and guitarist)
Pat Martino (American jazz guitarist and composer)
Nobesuthu Mbadu (South African mbaqanga singer for Mahotella Queens)
Count M’Butu (American percussionist for The Derek Trucks Band)
Biz Markie (American rapper and actor)
Gerry Marsden (English musician for Gerry and the Pacemakers)
Barry Mason (English songwriter)
Marilyn McLeod (American singer-songwriter)
Les McKeown (Scottish singer for Bay City Rollers)
Mensi (English punk rock singer for Angelic Upstarts)
John Miles (British singer-songwriter and musician)
Mike Mitchell (American musician for The Kingsmen)
Paddy Moloney (Irish musician for The Chieftains)
Everett Morton (Kittitian-born British drummer for The Beat / The English Beat)
Juan Nelson (American bassist for Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals)
Michael Nesmith (American musician for The Monkees)
Melvin Parker (American drummer for James Brown)
Anthony Payne (English composer)
Lee “Scratch” Perry (Jamaican reggae songwriter and musician for The Upsetters)
Ralph Peterson Jr (American jazz drummer for The Jazz Messengers)
Christopher Plummer (Canadian actor for The Sound of Music)
Dee Pop (American drummer for Bush Tetras, The Gun Club)
Lloyd Price (American R&B singer)
Peter Rehberg (Austrian-British electronic musician for KTL)
Mike Renzi (American composer and music director for Sesame Street)
Jimmie Rodgers (American pop singer)
Frederic Rzewski (American composer and pianist for The People United Will Never Be Defeated!)
Phil Schaap (American disc jockey and jazz historian)
Al Schmitt (American recording engineer)
Robbie Shakespeare (Jamaican bassist for Sly and Robbie)
Sonny Simmons (American jazz saxophonist)
Joe Simon (American soul and R&B singer)
Johnny Solinger (American singer-songwriter for Skid Row)
Stephen Sondheim (American composer and lyricist for West Side Story)
Phil Spector (American record producer)
Michael Stanley (American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter)
Pervis Staples (American Hall of Fame gospel singer for The Staple Singers)
Robby Steinhardt (American singer and violinist for Kansas)
Jim Steinman (American musician, composer and lyricist)
Dean Stockwell (American actor and recording artist)
Sylvain Sylvain (American guitarist for New York Dolls)
Gene Taylor (American pianist for Canned Heat, The Fabulous Thunderbirds)
B. J. Thomas (American singer)
Mikis Theodorakis (Greek composer)
Rosalie Trombley (Canadian music director for CKLW)
U-Roy (Jamaican reggae singer)
Hilton Valentine (English Hall of Fame guitarist for The Animals)
Leo van de Ketterij (Dutch guitarist for Shocking Blue)
Yoshi Wada (Japanese sound installation artist and musician)
Bunny Wailer (Jamaican reggae singer for Bob Marley and the Wailers)
Rusty Warren (American singer for Knockers Up!)
Charlie Watts (English drummer for The Rolling Stones)
George Wein (American festival promoter and jazz pianist for Newport Jazz Festival)
Chuck E. Weiss (American songwriter and vocalist)
Mary Wilson (American singer for The Supremes)
Rusty Young (American musician for Poco)
Wanda Young (American singer for The Marvelettes)

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Wendy Carlos: A Biography by Amanda Sewell

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In 1968, Wendy Carlos was thrust into the limelight with her synthesizer interpretations of the music of J.S. Bach. The LP Switched-On Bach caught the attention of both classical and non-classical music listeners alike.

As a child, Carlos began playing piano and eventually composing her own works. At the same time, she also developed a keen interest in electronics. By the time she was in high school in the early 1950s, she had built her own home computer.

Her interest in both music and electronics led to her studying composition at Columbia University with two pioneers in electronic music – Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening. It was during this time that she learned the trade of working in a recording studio and eventually met up with Robert Moog.

Her relationship with Moog was a fruitful one in which she provided much feedback to the electronics engineer regarding the design and construction of devices which would eventually be incorporated into Moog’s modular synthesizers.

Carlos’ meticulous sound construction process would eventually lead to her experimenting with producing a piece of music by Bach. The concept of an entire album of synthesized Bach works was presented to Columbia Records by her long-time collaborator Rachel Elkind and it was agreed to issue the set on their Masterworks classical label.

After its release in October of 1968, the set was so popular that it held the number one spot on Billboard’s Classical Music chart for three years. By the mid-70s, its sales surpassed a million copies in the US alone.

In 1969, she released a second LP entitled The Well-Tempered Synthesizer which included works by Bach and other classical composers.

1972 saw the release of an expansive double LP set entitled Sonic Seasonings. Here, she devoted each side to a different season and used a combination of real-world nature recordings combined with synthetic sounds to produce evocative soundscapes. This was well before Brian Eno introduced his concept of “ambient music” on such recordings as Discreet Music and Music for Airports.

It was around this time that Carlos was invited to record music for Stanley Kubrick’s upcoming film A Clockwork Orange. In the end, only a small portion of her recordings made its way into the film and original soundtrack album. But, she eventually released her own works on a separate LP.

In the 1980s Carlos began working with digital synthesizers and created her album Digital Moonscapes. The versatility of the digital domain also made her want to experiment with alternate keyboard tunings such as microtonal scales with as many as 35 notes per octave. This resulted in the LP Beauty in the Beast. As the ’80s drew to a close, she collaborated with “Weird Al” Yankovic on a unique take on the work Peter and the Wolf.

The 1990s saw Carlos enter a partnership with the label East Side Digital where she would eventually re-issue remastered versions of her older albums (and previously unissued material) as well as her final album to date entitled Tales from Heaven and Hell.

Of course, one cannot cover the life and work of Wendy Carlos without acknowledging the path of her personal life. The most obvious aspect of which was her gender transition which took place over several years. Author Amanda Sewell does not side-step this part of Carlos’s life and treats the subject with care and respect. This includes the effect which is had on both her personal and professional life.

The biography of Wendy Carlos is an engrossing read about a musical pioneer whose work helped to bring attention to the world of electronic music and provide a vision of music’s future.

Isolation Viewing: Krautrock

Whether or not you are still feeling the isolation blues, it’s always nice to have something to watch. Especially in the way of interesting musical clips.

I sometimes scour youtube in search of enticing tidbits in the way of music. I quite often discover some quite interesting stuff.

Back in the ’70s, progressive music from Germany started to make inroads outside of the country and the British music press soon latched onto it giving it the name Krautrock. Some of the names which soon became familiar were Can, Amon Duul II, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Tangerine Dream and Neu! to name but a few.

Here are a few clips which I’ve collected for your viewing pleasure.

Kraftwerk on the German TV programme Beat Club ca. 1971. What is interesting here is that it is Florian Schneider accompanied by Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger who would later go on to be known as the duo Neu!

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Here is another German TV clip for 1971 featuring Ralf and Florian with Wolfgang Flur on his freshly built electronic drum set.

Now, here is Can ca. 1970 on the German programme Rockpalast. Nearly an hour and a half. The Damo Suzuki era.

A wonderful documentary which covers the band’s career. Another hour and a half of Can bliss.

Here is a groovy set by Amon Duul II from Beat Club in 1970.

A compilation of Amon Duul II material spanning 1969 to 1975. Over two hours!

Here is a very unique clip of Tangerine Dream live in Berlin, 1969. This was before they acquired synthesisers and were a psychedelic, freak-out group. Edgar Froese, guitar. Klaus Schulze, drums. “Happy” Dieter, bass (according to the video notes).

The legendary performance of Tangerine Dream at Coventry Cathedral in 1975.

Well, that should keep you busy for a while!

Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany by Uwe Schütte

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The news that Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider had passed away at the beginning of May was one of those announcements that seemed to strike a particularly resonant note for me. I had first heard their music long before their breakthrough album Autobahn courtesy of a radio programme featuring import albums back in the early ’70s. They were one of my personal inspirations to start making electronic music.

It was certainly a much more pleasant experience to learn of a new biography of Kraftwerk was being published by Penguin Books earlier in the year.

Kraftwerk: Music of the Future by Uwe Schütte is a rather succinct volume which covers the careers of co-founders Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter. The pair met at school in the turbulent days of the late ’60s and immediately hit it off. In 1968, they formed a band called Organization who released a sole LP called Tone Float (only in the UK as German record companies had no interest in their work).

Keeping their base in their hometown of Düsseldorf, the pair then went on to create the concept of Kraftwerk (literally translated a Power Station). Their early work did include electronics but also guitar, flute and drums. Much of this work was based around improvisation and electronic sound manipulation.

Their first three releases were prime examples of their work at the time. It’s unfortunate that to this day these albums basically been written out of the band history and not been any part of a re-issue program for their recordings.

For Kraftwerk, it was their fourth album – Autobahn – that denoted the beginning of their recording career. It’s the album (and song) that brought the group to international attention (although, it was virtually ignored in their own country).

They subsequently built up their reputation with their next three releases of the ’70s – Radio-Activity, Trans Europe Express and The Man Machine. It was also at this point that their work started to reverberate into other forms of music. It became an influence in electronic dance music and what would develop into techno.

They brought in the ’80s with Computer World with it’s ubiquitous Pocket Calculator emanating from radios around the world.

After that, the space between album releases would become much greater. It was another five years before the release of Electric Cafe and another seventeen years until the Tour de France Soundtracks (with a stop-gap remix effort called The Mix in 1991).

But, that doesn’t mean that Kraftwerk were inactive during these long apparent silences. As the author points out, Kraftwerk were not really a “band”. They considered themselves to be a multi-media project. They spent a lot of time concentrating of visual elements to their work, as well. Stage presentations, museum exhibitions… you name it, they seemed to have their finger in it.

In the past twenty years, Kraftwerk were very active in the area of live performances. The miniaturisation of their music producing gear helped a great deal in this regard.

Throughout the book, Schütte puts the efforts of Kraftwerk in the context of the music, society and art of the times and also details how it affected the future of music. It is a good overview of their music and art helped to shape many things to come.

Keith Rowe: The Room Extended

Keith Rowe: The Room Extended by Brian Olewnick (powerHouse Books)

The first time that I saw a reference to the British improvising ensemble AMM was probably in Op magazine in the late ’70s or early ’80s. I’m sure that their name popped up again in issues of Option and The Wire, too. But, it really wasn’t until into the 1990s that I was able to access CDs and finally discover their music for myself.

At that time, I had already been involved with creating improvised electroacoustic soundscapes and their sounds appealed to me in much the same way as Cage, Stockhausen or Feldman. It also helped to reinforce my own sonic ideas and provided added inspiration.

In this extremely well researched book, Brian Olewnick traces the path of one of the original members of the group and succeeds in connecting many dots within their historical picture.

After covering Keith Rowe’s earliest years growing up and subsequently becoming a member of Mike Westbrook’s ensemble, the real meat of the story begins to unfold.

Rowe eventually connected with percussionist Eddie Prevost and the ideas for a new form of group improvisation started to develop. Into the picture, Lou Gare (a saxophonist Rowe had worked with in Westbrook’s group) joined the duo. Bassist Lawrence Sheaff was also recruited, as well. And in 1965 a group with no name began to create unique sounds. Around this time, composer and pianist Cornelius Cardew also began to get involved, too.

For Rowe’s part, he envisioned the guitar as a tool with which he could produce raw sound. He was not interested in notes or riffs. He put the guitar on a table and proceeded to shove objects between the strings in an effort to create a new sonic vocabulary for the instrument.

It wasn’t until 1966 that the moniker AMM was stamped upon the ensemble. At this point, the group was invited to make their debut recording for the Elektra record label. Subsequent recordings from the 1960s (like the The Crypt, 1968) would not wind up  seeing release until the end of the 1980s with the formation of the Matchless record label.

While the members of the group continued to work together, some of them got involved with other musical projects including the Scratch Orchestra. Over the years, the lineup of the group was somewhat fluid with Sheaff leaving and others such as Christopher Hobbs joining.
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As time passed, there were many states of flux and upheaval. Rowe and Cardew became well entrenched in their political ventures and friction was caused amongst others. This lead to an eventual split of the group and various iterations of the group starting to appear.

The story of AMM is one that has been going on for over fifty years. In this book, Olewnick manages to search every available dark and dusty corner to present a thorough and cohesive picture of the events which lead to the various stages of that lengthy career.

Of course, Keith Rowe is the main focus of this tome although it could just as easily been labeled as a history of AMM. But, the concentration on Rowe’s later solo and collaborative works does in fact make it more of his story.

In the long run, this is a long and winding tale which involves artistic ideas, disagreements, outright battles and eventual reunions. It is a fascinating story which was long overdue in its telling.

The inclusion of a well-detailed discography at the end of the book is icing on the cake. Collectors of their music (like yours truly) will likely wind up cursing the investment in future purchases as their wallets get progressively lighter. But, it’s the price that one pays to get exposed to such wonderfully creative sounds.

In the meantime, anybody who has an interest in AMM or creative sounds in general would be well advised to read this essential volume.

 

 

All Gates Open by Rob Young & Irmin Schmidt

Rob Young & Irmin Schmidt – All Gates Open (Faber & Faber, 2018)

When the FM airwaves started to emit the sounds of “underground radio” in the late 1960s, a whole new world of music began to open. WABX was the first such station to enter this area in Detroit in 1968. A short while later, CJOM hit the airwaves on my side of the border in Windsor, Ontario.

One of the most interesting things to appear were programmes which features “import” records. Suddenly, people were able to hear music which was not even available on domestic labels. These LPs often never got released in North America.

It was on one episode of these broadcasts that I first experienced the music of Can. It was 1970 and Monster Movie had just been issued in Germany (and the UK). The disc jockey talked about the band and even before he started playing the record, you knew that you were in for something special. I vividly recall his playing Father Cannot Yell and Outside My Door followed by the side-long epic Yoo Doo Right. From that moment, I knew that I would be a fan of this band.

Unfortunately, import records were few and far between at my local shops and it would be a while before I had my own copy of this record. My first purchase was their album Ege Bamyasi which was closely followed by Future Days. At that point, import LPs were starting to become easier to obtain and I was able to get copies of Monster Movie, Soundtracks and Tago Mago.

I kept following their work through articles in magazines like Melody Maker and  was able to keep up with their LP releases from that point.

Over the years, there have been a couple of books published about the band. The Can Book by Pacal Bussy and Andy Hall was an essential purchase for any self -respecting Can fan. There was also another book which was available as part of the Can Box (book, VHS video and 2 CD set of live recordings). Those, however, were mainly a mild warm-for this new volume.

All Gates Open is actually two books in one. The first two thirds feature Rob Young’s details of the individual members’ lives and their subsequent collaboration in one of Germany’s most revered and respected bands.

The final portion of the book belongs to found member Irmin Schmidt. This section is decidedly different to Rob Young’s writings.

From Young, we get a flavour of the times in Europe when the various members of the band were growing up. The four core members of the group all came from quite diverse backgrounds. Irmin Schmidt was making his name as an orchestra conductor. Holger Czukay was fascinated with all things electric including radios. Jaki Leibeziet was a jazz drummer who had worked his way into free jazz with Manfred Schoof. Michael Karoli was some ten years younger than the others with a more rock vision in his guitar playing.

The only things that any of the members really had in common was that both Schmidt and Czukay had both studied with the legendary German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.
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It’s this diversity of talent and vision which was soon to give Can its unique approach to producing inventive and original sounds.

Vocalists also made an appearance in the group. This started with Malcolm Mooney and continued with a Japanese busker in the form of Damo Suzuki.

Throughout his portion of the book, Young paints a vivid picture of the environment in which Can existed. His presents details about their recording process, live performances and track by track analysis of their albums. This is the kind of material that any hardcore fan of the band will relish as they make their way through the pages of the book.

Irmin Schmidt’s portion of the book is a totally different affair. He edits together conversations with a host of interesting people from music, art and film.

Featured in the conversations are Mark E. Smith (The Fall), Geoff Barrow (Portishead), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Hans-Joachim Irmler (Faust), Peter Saville, Wim Wenders, Duncan Fallowell, Nick Kent, John Maokovich and many others.

These vignettes open up the conversation to many aspects of music and all types of artistic communication. It’s a fascinating glimpse into creativity.

Schmidt also relates many entries from his diary which also give a look into his creative life.

Overall, this is probably the book that all fans of Can have been waiting for over the years. It’s a detailed look at the band from the inside and the outside. A compelling read for those who have listened to the intriguing and original sounds of one of the most compelling bands to ever put sound onto recording tape.

 

 

Psychedelia and Other Colours by Rob Chapman

Rob Chapman – Psychedelia and Other Colours (Faber)

From the appearance of the cover, one might think that this is going to be a fab book with all kinds of wonderfully groovy colourful photos of bands performing with a backdrop of psychedelic lights projected behind them. Well, you know the old expression about a book and its cover. In fact, there is not one single photo contained in the over 600 pages of this tome.

What you do get in this book is a hefty amount of information relating to the progress of the drug culture and its impact on the music scene in the latter half of the 1960s. It’s a book that fits in right between two other recent volumes – 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded by Jon Savage and Never a Dull Moment: 1971 – The Year That Rock Exploded by David Hepworth.

No mention of things exploding in the sub-title of this book but, the text inside certainly does relate a lot of heads exploding as psychedelic drugs (more specifically LSD) began to make inroads into the counterculture movement of the sixties.

Jon Savage’s book goes into great detail about the social and cultural times leading up to the year 1966. There’s a bit of a sense of deja vu when reading Chapman’s book but, that is what I was expecting. So, not much of a disappointment there.

After a general introduction, Chapman divides his time towards firstly concentrating on the scene in the USA and then on the UK. This shows both the parallels and differences in the way in which psychedelia took shape in the midst of both (counter)cultural situations.

While you’ll see familiar names from this era appear – such as Timothy Leary – there are also many more people discussed who may not have been as vibrant on the radar (at the time or since).
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Throughout the book, Chapman does an enviable job of connecting the dots which relate to musical events in both the live performance realm and the release of specific recordings. Of course, a fair amount of time is spent on such artists as The Beatles and their turning (on) into the direction of pot and LSD and Pink Floyd’s areas of cerebral and sonic explorations.

But, as you’d expect in such and exhaustive cultural and musical survey, it’s the efforts of the countless minor figures that accounts for a great deal of the story. Some of the here today, gone tomorrow artists mentioned include The Drivin’ Stupid, Fe-Fi-Four Plus Two, The Factory, Jason Crest, Tintern Abbey etc… Of course, there are a lot of the more familiar bands like, Love, Moby Grape, The Incredible String Band, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and other usual suspects.

To conclude the volume, the final section – Afterglow (Which Dreamed It?) – attempts to tie up some loose ends and reflects on the aftereffects.

For anyone with a keen interest in this era and specifically psychedelic music, this book stands as a well-researched and extremely detailed survey. It sent me scrambling to my music collection to find out if I had recordings of many of the songs mentioned on my various psych LP and CD collections. That’s usually the sign of a good book for me.

 

Hawkwind: Sonic Assassins by Ian Abrahams

I recently posted the following brief review of this book on Goodreads:

Quite a well researched book that would be enjoyed by any hardcore Hawkwind fan. I’m sort of glad that I waited to buy this one as the 2017 updated version brings the story up to date.

There are a couple of things that would have made the book a bit better. There are a number of black and white photos scattered throughout the book. They seem to be out of place. It may have been better to include them in their own section in the middle of the book. It’s also strange that Stacia who was an integral part of the band’s performance visuals is not pictured at all!

Although album releases are detailed during the normal course of the story, it would have been nice to have a thoroughly annotated discography at the end of the book. Sure, people can look up that stuff online. But, why not have it right there in your hands while you are reading the book?
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After posting the review, author Ian Abrahams dropped me a message with a useful link:

Thanks for the review, really appreciate it! For an annotated discography, have a look at the blog that’s associated with the book: http://sonicassassins-book.blogspot.c… as I’ll be continuing to post bits and pieces there that didn’t make it into the book itself.

 

John Cage tribute – photos and video

I am most pleased to report that the event Ocean of Silence: A Tribute to John Cage was an unequivocal success. A good size crowd attended the event at the theatre in Museum London and even more viewed the event from around the globe via a live stream of the proceedings.

The live stream footage has now been archived and is available to view via the link below.

Just click.

 

Audience member Howie Kittelson took some photos of the show and kindly granted his permission to post them here.

The full stage setup with Timothy Glasgow’s modular synthesizer in central focus.

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My prepared guitar setup.

Richard Moule’s prepared violin setup.

Thanks again to Anita and Melanie at Museum London. A big thanks to Tim, Alex, Angie and Richard for participating. Many thanks to Alex’s audio support team and Chuck at Museum London for their excellent work.

 

A Tribute to John Cage concert

Sometime during the late summer of 2016, I was spending a lazy Sunday afternoon listening to music. On this specific occasion, one of the CDs that I was playing was called Fifty-Eight by the American composer John Cage. As I scanned the liner notes of the disc, it suddenly occurred to me that 2017 would mark the 25th anniversary of Cage’s death in August of 1992. This made me reflect upon how the words and music of John Cage made their way into my life.

Back in the early 1970s, I found myself gaining an interest in avant-garde music of the contemporary classical variety. I was still living in Windsor at the time and would spend a great deal of time at the downtown main branch of the public library. It was there that I delved into books about this genre of music and could also borrow LPs from the library collection.

After reading a number of books, the one name that seemed to crop up more than any other was that of John Cage. His way of composing involved processes which likely sounded pretty crazy to many listeners of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

Cage would experiment with putting bits and bobs between the strings of a piano in an effort to completely change the sound which it produced. This became known as “prepared piano.” He also composed percussion works for ensembles which included such items as automobile brake drums.

He used the I Ching as well as maps of constellations in order to explore new and different ways to create compositions. He also found much of interest in using chance operations and indeterminacy. These parameters could create a new sounding work each time that a composition was performed. Some works could also be performed by superimposing one composition on top of another for an even greater end result.

By 1980, I had purchased my first synthesizer and used it to create abstract sounds and compositions which no doubt owed some debt to John Cage among many other contemporary composers.

So, in 2016, I had the idea to create an event which would celebrate John Cage in a novel manner. Instead of simply arranging to have people perform his works, I wanted to present an example of how, some 25 years after his passing, his ideas and sounds continue to be an influence on composers and performers into the 21st century.

With this idea in mind, I approached Museum London to see if they would be interested in helping to present this performance to the public. I was very pleased to hear of their enthusiastic support for the idea. And now, almost 25 years to the day (he actually passed away August 12, 1992), we plan to celebrate the ongoing influence of Cage’s work.

The evening will feature three performances of new works. Timothy Glasgow will create sounds using a modular synthesizer setup. This assemblage of electronic modules is especially interesting in that the results of turning a small dial or flipping a switch can reveal unintentional and surprising sounds. This is an excellent example of Cage’s approach to randomness and indeterminacy.
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Alex Schmoll and Angie Quick will present another take on Cage. For their contribution, Alex will create a backdrop of synthetic sounds while Angie reads extracts from Cage’s numerous writings. The snippets of the writings will be arranged in a random manner in order to create a unique presentation.

The evening will conclude with a performance by the Transmorphous Sound Ensemble which consists of myself along with Richard Moule. For our contribution entitled 1+1 4 JC, I will utilize a prepared table-top guitar setup while Richard will use a prepared violin. This will be accompanied by a new video work which I have created specifically for this event.

In keeping with the idea of a 25th anniversary, each performance is set to clock in at 25 minutes.

Event details:

Ocean of Silence: A Tribute to John Cage

Transmorphous Sound Ensemble

Alex Schmoll & Angie Quick

Timothy Glasgow

Thursday, August 24, 7:00 PM

$10 advance / $15 door

(advance tickets available @ museumlondon.ca)

Museum London, 421 Ridout St., London, Ontario, Canada (519-661-0333)

 

Cosey’s Tale

Cosey Fanni Tutti – art sex music (Faber)

Many people may know Cosey from her work with Throbbing Gristle or Chris & Cosey. But, the story that led up to that point (and beyond) is certainly a tale worth exploring.

In her new autobiography, Cosey details her formative years growing up in Hull on the east coast of England. Hers was a working class background which found her wanting to branch out and explore the arts and music. Her home life was eventually shattered when her strict father kicked her out. While she would still carry on a (fairly covert) relationship with her mother as well as her sister, she found herself dealing with the world on her own.

Eventually, she would connect with a man who was known as Genesis P-Orridge. The partnership became both personal and artistic as they created a body of performance works under the moniker of COUM.

COUM was a loose group of artists from various backgrounds who came and went leaving Cosey and Gen as the main constants of the organization. Through various performances or “actions,” COUM’s profile began to rise… not always from a “positive” response.

They pushed the boundaries of society’s accepted norms and managed to stir up a lot of outrage in the process.

Cosey also had her own ideas for actions and projects related to getting involved in the sex industry. This was done via nude modelling, stripping and films. I was her way of creating a portfolio which could then be used in her future actions and art.

Along the way, one of the others who would become involved was Chris Carter who was keen to add his knowledge of electronics to the group and bring their works into a more “musical” direction. Chris would also serve as the person with whom Cosey would eventually pair up with and leave the possessive/abusive clutches of Gen.

When Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson entered the picture, the bones of Throbbing Gristle would soon come to fruition. Cosey, Chris, Gen and Sleazy decided that the direction to go was a full-on sonic assault on the senses.

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Their time together as a quartet may have been relatively short but, they became known as the pioneers of Industrial music.

Upon the breakup of TG, Chris and Cosey began their own musical work together. They recorded many LPs and performed worldwide. (A personal side-note: I brought Chris and Cosey to Canada in 1985 to perform a half dozen shows across the country.)

As Chris and Cosey made music, Gen formed Psychic TV and Sleazy the band Coil. But, the TG legend continued to build over the years and offers to re-form began to happen. The harrowing details of these gigs are related in brutal detail with Gen becoming an eternal antagonist in the situation.

In recent years, the reputation of Chris and Cosey’s duo work lead to a vinyl re-issue campaign which saw their work appreciated by a new generation of music fans. At the time, they had adopted the Carter Tutti name and would do performances billed as Carter Tutti Play Chris and Cosey.

In addition to the music and art, Cosey relates a number of scary health related incidents involving herself, Chris and their son Nick.

The stories in this book are related with a direct honesty which often can make the reader run through an amusement park ride of emotions. Not the least anger and frustration at some of the details of events.

It’s an inspiring read, to say the least.

Chris Meloche with Cosey Fanni Tutti, Sandringham House, England, 1986. Photo: Chris Carter.

Goodbye 2016 (we will not miss you)

I have been dreading having to write a wrap-up piece about the year 2016. The last post that I made was in November when Leonard Cohen died. Since then, it seems to have been difficult to write anything. It has never been my intention to have my blog look like an obituary column but, it quite often feels like that.

In recent years, I have been reminding people that the musicians whose music we have enjoyed since the ’60s and ’70s are now mainly in their 60s and 70s. That means that the inevitable signs of mortality will surely take hold. This has certainly been the case in 2016.

The year seemed to start off on a high note with a brilliant new release (Blackstar) by David Bowie. However, this event seemed to quickly get overshadowed when Bowie died a couple of days after its release.

The death of Bowie seemed to resonate hard and deep within both the music industry and among his long-time fans. As someone who had been a fan for 45 years, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. This seemed to be a shared experience as many people that I talked to or exchanged messages with appeared to be doing their best to hold back a wellspring of tears. Many tried but did not succeed. The last time that I can honestly recall such a reaction was when John Lennon was brutally gunned down.

But, that was just the start of a year that appeared to be voracious in its appetite to take away so many musicians and music related personalities away from us. It didn’t matter which genre of music was your favourite, the losses touched all aspects of music from rock, pop, R&B, jazz, classical and avant-garde.

Bowie, Cohen and Prince were among the biggest or most influential names for most of the year and then word of the death of George Michael slipped in on Christmas day.

I’ve owned records by many of the people who have passed this year. I’ve seen some of them in concert. I’ve even had the pleasure to meet a couple of them. The sad fact is that as time marches on, more of these people will make the headlines as they continue to leave us. So, let’s enjoy their music while they are still here and continue to honour their memory after they are gone.

Music can make us happy. Music can make us sad. Music can make us think. Music can make us feel how great it is to be alive. It doesn’t matter what kind of music you like, it just matters that it means something to you. Be grateful for that. It is rare.

Here is a very brief list of some of the musicians and music-related people we lost in 2016:

Signe Anderson (Jefferson Airplane)

Gato Barbieri

Paul Bley

Pierre Boulez

David Bowie

Leonard Cohen

Tony Conrad

Keith Emerson

Glenn Frey (Eagles)

Dale Griffin (Mott the Hoople)
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Merle Haggard

Sharon Jones

Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane)

Greg Lake

Neville Marriner

George Martin

George Michael

Scotty Moore

Alphonse Mouzon

Pauline Oliveros

Rick Parfitt (Status Quo)

Prince

Leon Russell

Dave Swarbrick (Fairport Convention)

Rudy Van Gelder

Alan Vega (Suicide)

Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire)

For a much more detailed (and depressing) list of the people that we lost this year, please visit Musicians Who Died in 2016.

Silent Records Lives Again

Silent Records was the brainchild of label founder Kim Cascone. Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, Silent issued many recordings of interesting music spanning several genres including ambient, industrial and beat-oriented sounds.

In 1996, Kim invited me to issue something on his label after becoming familiar with my work on the FAX label from Germany. So, twenty years ago(!) my album Distant Rituals was released on Silent Records.

It was around this time that Kim left the label and sold it to an employee. Unfortunately, this change of hands did not work out well and the label folded in 1997. So, for nearly 20 years many great recordings have remained out of print.

Fast forward to 2016 and Kim has decided to re-boot Silent Records. In recent months, he has managed to track down most of the core artists who are still living and active. That includes me.

In the coming months, many of the long out of print recordings will start to make a reappearance via various media platforms. In addition to this, he has also managed to create a brand new compilation release entitled From Here to Tranquility 6. This latest installment in the series includes recent recordings by many of those core artists from years gone by. My work entitled Onlooker will be featured on the set. It will be available for download or as a limited edition CD release.
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There will also be a second volume of this set which features artists which have some relationship with the label (but, not as a core artist). This release will be made available as a download-only item.

In addition to re-issuing Distant Rituals, Kim has inquired about the re-release of some of my other long out of print material. Stay tuned as there will be more information coming in the future.

At the present time, Silent Records now has its own devoted streaming channel via SomaFM. Please visit the site to hear some wonderful ambient sounds from the past. This is just the beginning to the channel. Musical content will soon be expanding.

It’s all very exciting news and I wish Kim Cascone the best for his venture in the future!

The Silent Channel on SomaFM

Exposure for Canadian contemporary music (or lack thereof)

During my 25 years on the radio, I always took great pleasure in featuring the music of countless Canadian composers and musicians. These included works from the world of contemporary classical, electroacoustic and out jazz music. While it was great to share this material with the audience of a community radio station, it was not quite the audience that this music could have been receiving from a national broadcaster.

Over the years, the CBC (Canada’s national broadcasting service) has gone through many changes and these have often resulted in these types of music getting even more marginalized.

Canadian composer Paul Steenhuisen recently put together a letter to send to the Canadian League of Composer which addressed the situation of contemporary music and its status on the CBC. Paul has graciously given me permission to re-post his letter here.

Please read this letter in order to gain a greater understanding of the challenges that people like me (an electroacoustic composer) face when trying to get our music exposed to more people.


From Paul Steenhuisen to the Canadian League of Composers:
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Following up on my recent FB post, I’ve written a letter to the Canadian League of Composers. I include the letter here in order that others can read it, and perhaps add their comments. The letter was addressed to CLC President Brian Harman and the Head of the Advocacy Committee, Ian Crutchley. Others cited in my original FB post were Christien Ledroit, David Pay, and David Jaeger. Hopefully good things will happen.

“As a former longtime Canadian League of Composers Council Member, past ISCM Canadian Section President, composer, and contemporary music and public broadcasting advocate, I am requesting that the CLC, in its role as representative of Canadian composers, direct resources toward renewing its working relationship with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for the benefit of the status of the artist in Canada.

The past decade has seen the removal of the CBC’s composer commissioning program, the demise of the CBC Vancouver Radio Orchestra, the cancellation of Two New Hours (the primary broadcast venue), the abandonment of recording of Canadian contemporary music, the end of the Young Composers Competition, and removal of other Classical Music radio programming. The accumulation of these actions amounts to the decimation of all resources previously, historically, and successfully devoted to Canadian contemporary music by the CBC, and the severance of the relationship between our flourishing field and the public broadcaster. While in some areas the CBC has diversified its programming, with the absence of Canadian composers and Classical music programming, it has moved toward significantly more commercial programming, at the expense of its responsibilities to the 1991 Broadcast Act. The Broadcast Act states that the CBC is mandated to provide programming that is “distinctively Canadian,” “actively contribute(s) to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,” to “make maximum use of Canadian creative and other resources in the creation and presentation of programming,” to “safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of Canada,” and serve as “a public service essential to the maintenance and enhancement of national identity and cultural sovereignty.” Over the course of just over a decade, the CBC has perpetrated significant, quantifiable cultural and economic damage to the fields of Contemporary and Classical music in Canada.

In addition to developing and maintaining regular dialogue with the CBC to regenerate their investment in Canadian contemporary music through recordings, broadcasts, and commissions, etc., it would be prudent to determine the formal process for how new programs are proposed and developed, create a list of producers amenable to new programming initiatives, determine ways in which composers work could be included in current programming, and compile a set of resources that would assist CLC constituents in establishing meaningful communication with the CBC regarding our shared musical interests. More specifically, I am also requesting that the CLC, in combination with the organizers of the ISCM World New Music Days (Vancouver 2017), work towards securing national broadcast commitments by the CBC. The ISCM World New Music Days is an important international festival that will showcase top-level music, performers, and composers, and is an ideal opportunity for the CBC to be reminded of the quality, interest, and value of artists and individuals contributing to this wide-ranging field of creative music. While various other new media is available for making concerts available, nothing can currently match the awareness and exposure that can be obtained through the radio and television resources of Canada’s longstanding public broadcaster.

Please note that in discussion with the CBC, some individuals are inclined to distort and manipulate important terminology required for the presentation and understanding of accurate broadcast statistics. While demonizing art music as elitist, they have simultaneously sought to co-opt the term composer to apply to singer-songwriters and anyone who makes music. They have also attempted to transform the terms contemporary music and new music to mean anything recent, and inclusive of anything, such as commercial, pop, rock, hip-hop, electronica, and other forms of musical expression. By doing so, they will argue that they play more contemporary music by Canadian composers than they ever have, while knowing that this is untrue based on historically accepted definitions of the terms. Meanwhile, the CBC’s inclusion of composers associated with the Canadian Music Centre, including electroacoustic music, is near zero. The CBC is mandated to be an alternative to commercial interests, driven by cultural responsibilities rather than commercial ones.

With a new government that has stated its commitment to restoring the CBC, and new funds being promised to the public broadcaster, it is critical for the Canadian League of Composers to devote significant and ongoing resources to forging a meaningful role for Canadian art music at the CBC. There is a wealth of wonderful music being made and performed by artists of the highest level in Canada, and the field has expanded and changed – it is a cultural loss to Canadians that the CBC is currently not part of it. My hope is that with the advocacy of the CLC (perhaps in combination with the Canadian New Music Network), the current circumstance will change and our collective, active role in Canadian culture will once again be reflected by our public broadcaster.”

Tony Conrad 1940 – 2016

On March 22nd, The Guardian ran an article about musician and filmmaker Tony Conrad which encapsulated his long career and was a lead-up to the April 1st Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. Scarcely a week later, it was reported that Conrad would not be able to make the appearance due to health concerns. On April 9th he succumbed to prostate cancer.

Back in the early 1970s when I first started getting interested in avant-garde and minimalist music, the name Tony Conrad crept into the text of many books that I read. I knew that he was associated with La Monte Young and his Theatre of Eternal Music (AKA The Dream Syndicate) but, was not able to source any recordings. At that point in time, the only photo that I’d seen of him was simply a shadow of a figure playing a violin projected on a curtain.

I knew that he recorded and LP with the German group Faust but, even though I could find the Faust albums, that certain record always seemed to elude me. It wasn’t until the days of CD re-issues that I finally managed to obtain a copy.

I was also aware of Tony Conrad’s film/video work which I was finally able to view courtesy of youtube. His main area of focus for many years was film.

Fast forward to 2010 and I find myself (as half of the duo Transmorphous Sound Ensemble with Richard Moule) booked to play at the LOLA Festival on the same bill as Tony Conrad.

For his performance, Conrad used his Long String Instrument to create a wonderful cloud of sound. After his performance, Richard and I were lucky enough to get to hang out with Tony and chat. It was a quite surreal moment for me as we listened to this iconic musical figure who had once only existed to me as a photograph of a shadow.

Over there are two types of bought here cialis generic usa remedy pills viz. prescription cialis cost Also there is the PDE5 enzyme that does not let it function. He does this through cheapest cialis prices Ed Young Television. A rupture cialis 10 mg of the bursa or a tear of one of the muscles often eventually accompanies stage III if you ignore it. To discover more about Tony Conrad’s work, I recommend doing a search on youtube. There are several clips there including some very interesting interviews.

There is also a book which Tony himself recommends entitled Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts After Cage by Branden W. Joseph.

Here are a few photos which I took of Tony performing at the 2010 LOLA Festival here in London, Ontario.

Recent Arrivals – Discus

If there is one thing that you can anticipate from the releases on the Discus label, it’s to expect the unexpected. This is a case in point.

frostlake is Sheffield-based singer, musician Jan Todd. On this debut release (White Moon, Black Moon), she creates layers of her voice and multiple instruments alongside contributions from other fine folks from the area including Martin Archer, Charlie Collins, Terry Todd and others.

The first thing that strikes you is the reverb-drenched near-whisper vocals. These are combined with layers of dreamy instrumentation that evokes a folky, psychedelic, progressive soundscape. It almost feels like one of those unearthed rarities of what is now termed “acid folk” recorded in the late ’60s or early ’70s.

However, the sound is brought up to date with one foot in the past and another with a hold on the present and future. The music is dreamy yet never slipping into a maudlin melancholy. There is always something going on to keep the listener engaged as the background sounds blend seamlessly with the often haunting layered vocals in the foreground. Definitely an album inviting repeated late-night listens.

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Martin Archer’s latest release – Echoic Enchantment – is a collaboration with poet Bo Meson. Martin goes into some detail about the project’s genesis in the liner notes of the CD.

Inspired by a performance by Bo’s poetry group, Martin was inspired to create a work written around the text. The musical portion of the disc-length range from sparse basslines to haunting string sections evoking an atmosphere not unlike Ligeti or Pendereski. These sections are juxtaposed with others based on “directed improvisation” which have been edited and collaged featuring percussion, piano etc… which incorporate text which weaves its way into the soundscape.

The work flows and glides in several directions often creating a haunting and evocative atmosphere. A lengthy sonic journey that provides multi-layered scenery for the ears.

Discus website

 

Recent Arrivals – Drip Audio and Ambiances Magnetique

It’s always nice to receive some wonderful sounds from right here in Canada. These recent arrivals come from opposite sides of the country.

Joyful Talk is Jay Crocker. A Nova Scotian who found himself embedded in the heart of the Calgary experimental scene. His latest offering – MUUIXX  – consists of a series of self-recorded works which feature a number of his own homemade instruments. With these instruments, he creates soundscapes which range from repeating percussion lines, loops of electronic sounds and some obscured voices to haunt the mix.

Despite the percussive feel, the sounds don’t make their way into a realm of dance-ability. The rhythms are often broken or fractured evoking a picture sometimes reminding one of Autechre or Aphex Twin.

There are many twists and turns over the duration of the material and it’s always a pleasant surprise to hear where things proceed.

Guitarist Tony Wilson’s latest release features him in the context of an ensemble which is well suited to his wide range of performing. Many of the works present an atmosphere of hazy, laid-back sounds. His guitar mixes well with the violin of Jesse Zubot and trumpet of J.P. Carter. Cellist Peggy Lee, bassist Russell Sholberg and drummer Skye Brooks flesh out the picture to create a highly polished sound.
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The hazy works are complimented buy other tracks which evoke the quirkiness of a Zappa-esque feel.  Even some King Crimson Lark’s Tongue in Aspic inspiration makes its way into the mix at times. A very diverse and successful recording.

With Musiques de Chambres 1992 – 2012, Jean Derome presents works different to the usual jazz-based releases that we’ve heard over the years. In this context, he presents several works in a more classical style but featuring instrumentation more associated with jazz.

Four of the compositions feature ensembles of four to eight players. Of those, one features eight flutes and another four saxophones. One work features Lori Freedman on solo bass clarinet and another is a duo with Derome on bass flute and alto saxophone along with Lori Freedman on clarinet and bass clarinet.

All of the works feature top-notch arrangements featuring stellar musicianship. While these pieces may not be what you would generally associate with Jean Derome, they should be considered an essential listen if you are a fan of his past work.

Drip Audio website

Ambiences Magnetique website

Gong vs Charly Records – A Warning

If there’s one thing that I can’t abide, it’s record companies screwing around artists. Apparently, Charly Records are re-issuing the classic Radio Gnome trilogy without the consent of the surviving members.

Guitarist Steve Hillage recently made a post on Facebook outlining the details and I would like to pass them along as a warning to prospective purchasers. Please support the artists and heed Steve’s advice.

From Steve Hillage:

OFFICIAL GONG BAND MEMBERS STATEMENT

We, the surviving members of Gong, do not support BYG/Charly Records upcoming reissue of the Radio Gnome trilogy.

None of the surviving members of the lineups that created those recordings were ever signed to BYG or Charly Records.

The truth is that immediately before the making of Flying Teapot in January 1973, the band learned that Daevid Allen’s once record company – BYG Records (also known as Promodisc) – had gone bust, it’s Paris office stripped bare, no phones working. The band was abandoned at the Manor Studios at the start of recording the album. Virgin – at the time just a chain of record stores and The Manor studios – was about to launch their record label.

Faced with an unpaid recording bill, they decided to cut their losses and release Flying Teapot as the second release on the new Virgin Records label. That’s the true story.

The booklet advertised as accompanying the Charly/BYG Release is full of untruths, lies and falsehoods claiming to represent Charly and BYG Records as some sort of poor victim of Virgin’s wickedness. The truth is that none of the musicians on those recordings has ever received a penny of royalty payments for the Charly/BYG releases, or even a statement. This is understandable because we NEVER signed to BYG or Charly Records as Gong.

Meanwhile, forty years later, we still receive statements from Virgin and, for those of us who cleared our advances, royalty payments, even though Virgin has since been sold to EMI and now is owned by Universal Records.

We know and can confirm as 100% corroborated fact that the Original Masters of these albums reside in the Virgin Records Archive, and that Charly has never at any time been given access to them, so Charly’s claim to have used the Original Masters is false.

Charly has been brazenly abusing our rights as artists for decades. None of us are rich or powerful enough to sue them. All we can do is to let you, our lovely Gong fans, know that we do not support this release. We will be supporting a new boxed set to be released by Universal in a few months with our full collaboration.

DO NOT BUY THIS RELEASE

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