Retro Thing

The Great Bleep Forward

BBC Radio 6 is rebroadcasting The Great Bleep Forward, a four part series from 2004 that looks at the birth of electronic music.

The Beeb blurb says, "The story of modern music is one of subversion and experimentation, of heroes and villains. But what if we've got it all wrong? What if the real subversives didn't wear leather and denim but smart suits and white lab coats? What if the true experimentation wasn't with LSD but with DX7's and S900s? What if the real heroes of music aren't John, and Paul, Mick and Keith, but Ralf, Florian, Robert and Wendy!

The Great Bleep Forward is a series four programmes, presented by Andrew Collins exploring the history of electronic music. Hear the first baby's cry of the moog synthesiser, embrace the difficult childhood of prog rock, grapple with the 'experimental' teenage years of the New Romantics and discover the middle aged maturity and nostalgia of the present day. You'll also get a sense of the sound of the future.

The series features interviews with many of the key players in the development of electronic music including Robert Moog, Kraftwerk's Ralph Hutter, Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood, Factory's Tony Wilson, Thomas Dolby, The Human League, Primal Scream, A Guy Called Gerald, Zoot Woman and Grandaddy."

The scope seems a bit broader than the recent BBC 4 Synth Britannia documentary, which focused on a handful of pivotal years in the early 1980s. [thanks, Stuart!]

Listen to The Great Bleep Forward online (until Oct 26, 2009)

One Of Our Submarines... Has Been Remastered

Thomas Dolby's classic album The Golden Age Of Wireless was remastered at Abbey Road Studios last October, with the good Professor himself present. The shimmering result was released this summer as a Collector's Edition CD + DVD set that includes Live Wireless, a fantastic long-form video shot in front of a live audience in 1983. Check out One Of Our Submarines on YouTube for a brief taste.

There were a number of different versions of TGAOW sold around the world and this release orders the songs as they were originally intended. The CD also includes several unreleased demos and alternate versions, along with entertaining liner notes written by Thomas Dolby himself.

Alas, for reasons that no doubt involves a sob story about the dire financial situation of the modern music industry, the set is only available in the USA as a somewhat pricey import.

Synth Britannia: The Emergence of British Synth Pop

The potentially brilliant BBC4 documentary Synth Britannia airs on Friday, October 16th, 2009:

"In the late Seventies small pockets of electronic artists such as The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle were inspired by Kraftwerk and J G Ballard to dream of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain.

Gary Numan's 1979 appearance on Top Of The Pops heralded the invention of synthpop, which would provide the soundtrack as Britain entered a new, ruthless era in the Eighties.

Depeche Mode, four lads from Basildon, came to embody the new sound, while post-punk bands such as Ultravox, Soft Cell, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and Yazoo took the synth from the pages of the NME and onto the front cover of Smash Hits.

By 1983 the Pet Shop Boys and New Order were pointing to where the future of electronic music lay -- in dance."

Featured artists include Phil Oakey, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, Bernard Sumner, Gary Numan and Neil Tennant. 

Synth Britannia [via the Yahoo! Fairlight Group]

Kraftwerk's Autobahn on Electro-Harmonix Effects Pedals

Bill Ruppert writes, "I have developed a video series for the effect pedal company Electro-Harmonix called Effectology. Every two weeks I present a new video on how to produce "impossible" sounds using just a regular guitar and EHX effect pedals.

This week I recreate the synthesizer classic 'Autobahn' by Kraftwerk. All sounds were created using just a regular guitar and effect pedals! No keyboards, samplers or midi pickups were used."

Autobahn was a surprise 1974 hit by German synthesizer pioneers Kraftwerk which soared up the charts in Europe and America, thanks in part to some brilliant work by German producer Conny Plank (Eurythmics, Ultravox). The pulsing piece propelled Kraftwerk to the forefront of European electronica and helped define the future of pop music.

"How to" info with settings can be found on the E-H forums.

11 Reasons To Buy Music On Compact Disc

1. Purchasing a CD makes you seem clinically insane eccentric, especially when your new album is four times the size of your iPod nano.

2. CDs are rarely copy protected so you can load them onto whatever devices you have without risking arrest or enormous civil penalties.

3. You get cover art and a shiny new paper insert to lick. Or maybe that's just me.

4. CDs are a great way to back up your music collection without resorting to external hard drives or, um, DVD-Rs.

5. CDs are encoded in uncompressed PCM audio, an ideal source for mp3 / ogg vorbis / AAC copies.

6. You can sell the damn things whenever you feel like it.

7. Removing the shrink wrap will help satiate your irrational consumer urges without going broke.

8. Flipping through racks of discs is more fun than the telephone book precision of an online music store. You never know what mis-filed gems you'll stumble across.

9.  You'll still be able to play a CD in ten years... assuming you can find an optical drive, of course.

10. You can display your CD collection pretentiously in the corner of the room. Allowing your GF to thumb through your iPod isn't quite as exciting. Well, unless it's still in your pocket...

 11. You can play a CD in a friend's car without needing an FM transmitter, flash key or three miles of tangled input cable.

Of course, none of this helps when the only place to buy CDs within 20 miles of my house is Walmart, where the buyers seem to have an icky obsession with Miley Cyrus.

The Story Behind Paul's Shoeless Abbey Road Stroll

It's been a full 40 years since the photo session for The Beatles' Abbey Road. No doubt you're familiar with the iconic image of the Fab Four striding across the zebra crossing near the studio [hint: it's not this photo]. Fans breathlessly debated the meaning of Paul's shoeless feet. Was he dead? Making a statement about the future of the band?

The first couple of passes across the street tell the real tale of Paul's missing footwear.

On August 8th, 1969, photographer Iain Macmillan climbed a ladder and snapped six frames of the band trudging back and forth across the street in single-file. The entire session took only ten minutes. His fifth image became the iconic cover art for the album, sparking a thousand questions.

So why the bare feet? Simple. Macca was wearing sandals for the first couple of passes (see the first photo in the series, above). No doubt they made it uncomfortable to stay in stride with his more appropriately shod bandmates and were unceremoniously ditched.

By the way, the remastered version of Abbey Road will be released on September 9th, 2009.

"Billie Jean" Done Casio Style

Matt Ryd sent us a link to a video of his latest project, a great Casio-heavy cover of Michael Jackson's hit "Billie Jean". There's no end in sight to the MJ tributes, but so far this is the only one I've heard that sounds like a fan could have created it in his bedroom in the 80's.

instruments in this video:

All plastic guitar, the Casio DG-10
Rolf Harris rocks the Stylophone
Toy instrument that made hits: the Omnichord

Farewell To Michael Jackson: Patent Holder & More

  

It's with a heavy heart that I heard about the death of Michael Jackson. When the historic Thriller album dropped, I was in Junior High School (or “Middle School” as people seem to insist on saying these days), and very far removed from pop culture. Nevertheless I had a sneaky admiration for the pre crotch-clutching Jackson, and in later years I grew to admire much of his work. The journalistic world is scrambling to pay tribute to the fallen enigma that is the king of pop. We'll leave the inevitable rumor mongering to others, but I felt like sharing a couple of MJ secrets that the rest of the world may miss.

I thought that pretty much everyone had seen the YouTube video of the prison in the Phillipines that uses dance as their daily exercise, but many friends I asked hadn't. The choreographed moves from the history making Thriller music video are performed here by a staggering 1500 prisoners. This isn't some talent night quality performance either, these guys are really good. Thriller's impact on worldwide culture is so great, that's it's helping reform prisoners. I knew that it took discipline to get good at these signature MJ moves, but who knew how much better you'd get under lock and key?

Michael dominated many forms of media, but who knew that he also holds a patent? One of the iconic moves from his "Smooth Criminal" music video is when all the dancers lean forward at an impossible angle. In the video this was acheived with wires. Jackson's innovation was the development of special shoes along with a support system hidden under the stage enabilng the move in a live show. Very clever. It makes me wonder what secrets he might have had that he didn't want to share with the U.S. Patent Office?

Finally, we could talk about the 80's pop culture products that rained down on a Thriller buying public. There were a couple different styles of 12” doll, clothes, buttons, a single sequined kid-sized glove... but one of his more infamous products is from the 90's. The Sega Genesis is host to “Moonwalker”, a video game that puts the player in the long-form music video of Smooth Criminal.

It took me years to find this game at the thrift store, and after playing it I found it was a pretty typical 90's platformer. The Genesis soundchip is put to the test with a constant loop of Jackson's music, possibly the coolest part of the game. There is also an easter egg where Michael will turn into a flying robot (oh, and Bubbles the chimp shows up too). The way I sum it up is that it's a game where you play Michael Jackson going through a lonely dark house, searching for hidden children. Once uncovered, you touch the child, he yelps “Michael!”, and then runs away off-screen. Less said...

Links:

Read the actual patent describing the Smooth Criminal shoes
Video review of Genesis Moonwalker game

Thomas Dolby Releases New CD + DVD

2009 is shaping up to be a big year for Thomas Dolby. He's working on a brand new album in his lifeboat studio, and EMI is slated to release a 'best of' CD + DVD set entitled The Singular Thomas Dolby this spring.

Thomas reminisces, "EMI is not all a-buzz the way it was when I first walked in there around 1980. The atmosphere was quite mellow, to say the least. Still, it was an interesting sensation, being back in the offices of a major label, staring at tiny transparencies on a light box through a loom. Outtakes from old photo sessions where the picture commonly used was the only one I remembered; and entire sessions I’d forgotten about completely. And there were some nice surprises too: rolls of stills taken during video shoots. Paparazzi snaps of me palling around with my then label-mates Queen, Duran Duran, and Spandau Ballet. One aspect of getting older is, while I’m still picky about the way I look from different angles and with different expressions… the old shots all look pretty damn good!

Synth Medley Of 80's Hits Played By 90's Youths

Looks like someone raided their dad's record collection. This video features "Envelope Generator"; three gents who bob and weave between several keyboards while playing a game of 80's synth musical chairs. It's good to see the youth of today finally come to the same understanding that I have - that the 80's are the last decade when music really mattered. Yes, I'm smirking as I type that.

If you're a connoisseur of keyboards, you'll enjoy the occasional shots of their rig. I'm ecstatic simply at their rocking not one but two vocoders. Also cool is that the medley is not a mega-sequenced nightmare, but mostly a real live performance. Seriously, I admire the alacrity of these guys and I've always said that nothing says lovin' like a vaguely related medley of songs spanning a decade.

Some petty types may point at a few small flubs in the performance, but instead I'd like to embrace the exuberance of youth - both theirs and what I remember of mine (it also reminds me how much I regret selling off my Yamaha SHS-10 that I bought back in high school). Congratulations on a job well done, boys! Thanks to YouTube we don't need to wait until the school talent show at the end of the year for these guys to have a place to show off their chops.

Don't forget that once the video starts playing, an HQ button appears in the lower right so you can enjoy better visual and audio quality.

[via Matrixsynth]

related:
Yazoo: 80's Synthpop Is Back With Five Disc Box Set

Devo Back With A New Album - Flower Pot Hat Sales Expected To Soar

When people think of Devo, they probably think of their iconic red ziggurat hats (the band has never been shy of merchandising). I like to think of their striking music videos, and their pioneering use of synthesizers. Their last album was 1990's "smoothnoodlemaps" (which I just played on my radio show a few weeks back), though they have released a few singles since then (their cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like A Hole" is just stunning).

A number of the band's members went on to found Mutato Muzika, famous for their soundtrack and commercial work. Recent years have seen Devo creep out on tour - this summer lucky readers can hear them perform their classic "Are We Not Men?" album in its entirety. The real news is something no one ever expected to hear - finally Devo has a new album coming out this autumn! Most other info about the album is under wraps except that they are in post production right now (many producers knocked on their door including Snoop Dog and Fatboy Slim!) for a fall 2009 release. I'm excited. If last year's single "Watch Us Work It" (produced as part of a campaign for Dell) is any indication, there's some good devolution to come, spuds.

related:
Mike Walters - circuitbender to the stars, including Devo
Atari Video Music as used in Devo music video
Kasio Kristmas album & video - mutated holiday classics

Songsmith Rewrites the Classics

Anyone who's got some musical background probably sees the current music oriented video games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero as having little musical value. I'm crippled in those games by having a smattering of musical know-how, but what bothers me most is that the games are intended more as a stage-antics trainer rather than as a creative tool.

I don't usually look to Microsoft for music software, but their new tool Songsmith makes it easy for anyone to front a band and create original music. It's not a game, in fact it's a lot easier than most games. Songsmith lets you sing into your PC's microphone, and the program immediately produces (sorta cheesy, but impressive) backing instrumentation based on your recorded vocal. You can choose from a number of styles, and it's a great tool for sketching out your own original music, or simply noodling around.

Ah, and what great things come from such noodling... someone out there (I'll call him "the internet") had the idea to isolate the vocals from famous recordings, and then input those into Songsmith. The results are both surprising and hilarious. Why wait for The Eagles to reunite so they can cash in on their new dance mix of "Hotel California"? Finally hear "We Will Rock You" as it was always intended, as a sauntering salsa. C'mon Survivor, what's it going to take to get you to release your new optimistic ballad of "Eye of the Tiger"?

Simply search for "Songsmith" on YouTube to find dozens of these rebooted songs. It's an easy way to waste an entire workday or bring any party to a dead stop. Sure the brooding and spare original version of "Roxanne" by The Police will live on forever, but don't tell me that you don't have room in your heart for this new version that's been Casio-fied with "Latin Beat" set to 10.

Songsmith home page
Search for "Songsmith" on YouTube

Kraftwerk Co-Founder Unplugs From Group

Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider has left the seminal electronic band. The split happened in November of '08 (the official press release is dated January '09), after playing none of the concerts in their 2008 tour. It's typical of the band's mysterious and low-key ways that the news is so slow getting around. I guess that sometimes it just takes 40 years to decide you have artistic differences with the rest of your groundbreaking, genre defining band.

On tour, the 61 year old Schneider's role on stage has been taken by 30-something Stefan Pfaffe, one of the band's video technicians. I suppose that's a statement to how automated the band's music is, which was always one of their goals. Though it seems odd that they wouldn't just plug in Florian's robot instead - unless he took it with him when he cleaned out his desk.

Here, then, is a video tribute to the band done entirely with sausages. It's called Kraftwurst, of course.

related:
Review of 8-Bit Operators - Kraftwerk Tribute CD
Bee Gees keyboard as used by Kraftwerk
Updated Stylophone Electronic Instrument

Synth Pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey In New Music Video

Jean-Jacques Perrey has been making electronic music since at least the mid 50's. He was an early user of the Ondioline, a precursor to the modern synthesizer (few still exist today, though JJP still plays one in his rare live shows). He was one half of the duo that brought us the famous "The In Sounds From Way Out" LP that is considered the first ever mainstream electronic music (& musique concrète) album in 1966.

In recent years he's been collaborating with Dana Countryman, energetic synth maestro and creator of the much-missed "Cool & Strange Music" magazine (I still have my fifth anniversary bumper sticker!). The pair have just released another CD called "Destination:Space", and you should really check out the accompanying music video. Created as a present for Perrey's 80th birthday (and the rest of us), the material was shot in four hours on a green-screen stage, with the rest added by space-age computer graphics. Don't be shy about turning up the sound - the stereo effects in the music are killer!

I don't want to spoil anything by saying too much more, except that the video will put a smile on your face. Can someone please remind music video producers that every once in a while they could try to make a project that's this much fun?

Watch Funky Little Space Girl music video
Get the new Destination:Space CD
Perry's early works in one thrifty CD set

Hard Format: The Art Of Physical Music Media

I am old enough to remember the excitement of bringing home the latest Depeche Mode album on vinyl. Once the disc was spinning, the scent of freshly printed cardboard drew me to the cover art and liner notes. It became a weekly ritual.

In time, I saved/stole/borrowed enough for a cheap CD player and stepped nervously into the digital age. The jewel case opened up a world of typographic possibilities and each new CD came with a booklet crammed full of lyrics, photos and cryptic commentary that almost made up for the ridiculous increase in price.

And then some blithering idiot invented mp3 downloads and spoiled everything.

These days, the act of purchasing music is about as enjoyable as swiping a transit pass. All you get in return for your money is a pathetically dull digital file which magically associates itself with a pixelated image of the virtual cover art. There are no narcissistic liner notes to puzzle over, no drunken snapshots of the band squandering their advance in a seedy Bulgarian strip club, and no lyrics. This last omission is especially galling, since I often have absolutely no frikking clue what half the words are. I blame it all on age and rapidly diminishing mental capacity.

I'm not alone (well, about the media bit, anyway). Hard format is a clever new site that celebrates the beauty of physical media. I'll let Colin and Justin explain:

"It seems like everybody’s talking about the end of physical music media. Who knows whether they’re right or not, but Hard Format is a little place we’ve set up to celebrate our love of brilliant music-related design. That means we’re going to focus on records, CDs, cassettes and their like.

However, Hard Format isn’t intended to become a dusty museum devoted exclusively to past glories, though there’ll certainly be some of that, we also want to highlight the brilliant new design work being produced right now. In fact, we’re not setting ourselves up to supply a canon of classic design - this is a place where we record stuff we like, if you want yet another reproduction of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band there are enough ‘Greatest album covers of all time’ books out there already."

There. I've written all I'm going to. I'm off to rummage through the boxes downstairs in search of an attractive jewel case or two. As for you, I suggest a visit to Hard Format. It's only a short click away...

Hard Format: Reaching for the sublime in music design