“The new sound of music” (produced at BBC in 1979) shines some light on what was it like back then.
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Wow!
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Everybody, thanks. Much appreciated. Plenty to keep me busy.
This was good.
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Driving here from another thread, some mention was made to the figure of Luigi Russolo, so here are some anchors for listening.
The “Intonarumori” created by Russolo is sort of a primordial analog synth, and the instruments leading the staves of his score “Il risveglio di una città” (1913) can be in effect regarded as just oscillators ante-litteram.
On the UbuWeb site:
one can listen to performances with Intonarumori sound generator replicas, played by a modern Intonarumori Orchestra from Japan.There you can also listen to the original works “Corale” and “Serenata”, remastered by the only 75rpm recording left of his performances.
I like to compare the work quoted above, “Il risveglio di una città”, with a 40 years - and two world wars’ - later work, “Ritratto di città” (1954) by Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna, a radiophonic poem (here’s a reference link: https://youtu.be/CGCtmv_E5zE) where both electronic sounds, and concrete music techniques, were mixed and exploited in a mature way to build up a concep-art composition.
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a film called Modulations is great if you can find it. there was a clean version on youtube but not anymore.
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A lecturer of mine put me onto this academic article on the history of electronic music. pioneers.pdf (113.5 KB)
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Thanks for mentioning this, I had a look and it is still on Youtube. I’m only 10 minutes in but its pretty decent so far 
Cheers!
EDIT: Just watched it all. Definitely worth a watch, lots of interesting themes and contributors. One thing struck me though: most of the artists/musicians that were interviewed were perfectly fine, had something to say - and stated their case sincerely. It wasn’t until just after the 1 hour 6 minute mark when a couple of guys are just goofing around. Playing up to the camera bit, sure, but just playing around. This cast the previous hour in a different light for me. Lots of chin-scratching and people taking themselves far too seriously. Which sounds harsh but I wonder if it was intentional. Contextually though, being on camera was a different experience for most people back then. Many people were not used to the idea, or as relaxed about it as we are today, which might have something to do with their presentation. Either way, its a good slice of 90s nostalgia. Man I miss the 90s.
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Alex Ball has some good videos, for example on Roland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcbpRMZIQ8g
and his history of the Prophet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ruh0B5QKBMs
Both his and Reverb’s video on the ARP 2600 (and other ARPs) are very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l31RXiVSI9s,
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This new series of 3 programmes just started on BBC Radio;
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Current weekly podcast series by Martyn Ware (The Human League/Heaven 17), covering electronic music and with guests including Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode/Yazoo/Erasure), Midge Ure (Ultravox), Thomas Dolby, Martin Fry (ABC) etc.
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Thanks for pointing me to this great podcast -a true original that’s Martyn Ware. He talks to some wonderful people.
A recommendation that i didn’t see so far is Dick Raaijmakers (Kid Baltan (kid baltan is a modified backward writing of natlab dick)). He and some others created in the mid 50’s till the mid 60’s electronic music in the Philips NATLAB(kind of dutch abbreviation of physics lab).
Here a small video how they created sounds: Kid Baltan & Tom Dissevelt (1959) -with english subtitles- - YouTube
There exist a box-set of that time period see: Kid Baltan, Tom Dissevelt, Henk Badings, Dick Raaijmakers – Popular Electronics: Early Dutch Electronic Music From Philips Research Laboratories (1956 - 1963) (2004, CD) - Discogs.
My personal favorite is their first track (1957) song of the second moon see: Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan - Song of the Second Moon (1957) - YouTube
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Here is the link to a little book (476 pages ) in German language:
Book:
David Toop - Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds
Sun Ra, Brian Eno, Lee Perry, Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Brian Wilson are interviewed in this extraordinary work of sonic history. It travels from the rainforests of Amazonas to virtual Las Vegas; from David Lynch’s dream house high in the Hollywood Hills to the megalopolis of Tokyo.
Ocean of Sound begins in 1889 at the Paris exposition when Debussy first heard Javanese music performed. An ethereal culture developed in response to the intangibility of 20th century communications.
Author of Rap Attack 3 and Exotica, David Toop has in Ocean of Sound written an exhilarating, path-breaking account of ambient sound.
Well…ask anyone about electronic music and one name will pop up. Even though many will then refer to a 45+ year old album…
One (or two) of the most influental albums in electronic music history should not be forgotten: Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygène (1976) and Equinoxe (1978).
Article + video (don’t be put off by the outer appearance of the presenter)
The Making Of Oxygène
Jean-Michel Jarre’s ground breaking 1976 album
Another of the scarse women found in the history of Electronic Music: Delia Derbyshire
BBC Radio Documentary: Sculptress of Sound The Lost Works of Delia Derbyshire
Broadcaster and Doctor Who fan Matthew Sweet travels to The University of Manchester - home of Delia Derbyshire’s private collection of audio recordings - to learn more about the wider career and working methods of the woman who realised Ron Grainer’s original theme to Doctor Who.
Delia’s collection of tapes had been in the safekeeping of Mark Ayres, archivist for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Matthew meets up at Manchester University with Mark, along with Delia’s former colleagues from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Brian Hodgson and Dick Mills - plus former ‘White Noise’ band member David Vorhaus - to hear extracts from the archive, discuss their memories of Delia and the creative process behind some of her material.
Her realisation of the Doctor Who theme is just one small example of her genius and we’ll demonstrate how the music was originally created as well as hearing individual tracks from Delia’s aborted 70s’ version. We’ll also feature the make up tapes for her celebrated piece ‘Blue Veils and Golden Sands’, and hear Delia being interviewed on a previously ‘lost’ BBC recording from the 1960s.
Matthew’s journey of discovery will take in work with the influential poet Barry Bermange, as well as her 1971 piece marking the centenary of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
This Archive on 4 is brought up to date with an individual track from ‘The Dance’ from the children’s programme ‘Noah’. Recorded in the late 1960s this remarkable tape sounds like a contemporary dance track which wouldn’t be out of place in today’s most ‘happening’ trance clubs.
Specifically on Delia Derbyshire and the original Dr. Who Theme.
How DELIA DERBYSHIRE made the DOCTOR WHO theme I Tomorrow’s World I Music I BBC Archive
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And also:
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