Raymond Scott - C or D?

And I'd like to mention that Soul Coughing sampled Scott TWICE in their oh-too-short recording career.

I definitely concur on Scott's electronic output. Manhattan Research Inc. is a wonderful release for a few reasons, including hearing his original instruments, but also as a neat time capsule of the age. I'm not so thrilled with Soothing Sounds for Baby, which tend to be repetitive and occasionally annoying, but you can still certainly hear the beginnings of ambient and electronic music there.

I fail to see how he isn't a household name, but even if just for his electronic music: incredible classic. Plus, who among us knew that Jim Henson was so far ahead of the curve?

wow... wow.

i'm listening to the first disc of the manhattan research, inc. for the first time and i really feel like doing a back-flip or something.

Seriously. In my book, anyone who duds Raymond Scott really needs to have their ears recalled by the manufacturer and replaced with a working pair.

at the flatbush frolic this local jam band covered "powerhouse"

That sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. RS music needs to be tight, and that's not what jam-bands typically excel at. Sloppy has its rewards, but not for this material, I think.

_Microphone Music_ is a worthy companion to _Reckless Nights_. Fantastic stuff that taps into the inner child of anyone who watched Looney Tunes as a kid. Or still does as an adult.

don byron's 'bug music' is a fantastic record.

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/76/69/25/62/0076692562822_500X500.jpg

this is really like a holy grail for me. tracks like "Portofino #1" are what I always wanted Zuckerzeit to sound like.. i am a sucker for anything that reminds me of 8-bit MIDI games, though. i can sit through funerals unperturbed, but if I hear the final credits music for Mega-Man II i melt like a cake in macarthur park.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8ysPLV_AwpY/SMqRrXMgyeI/AAAAAAAAAfE/LB4OOxQ2bME/s1600-h/Raymond+Scott-DF-100.jpg

bah

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8ysPLV_AwpY/SMqRrXMgyeI/AAAAAAAAAfE/LB4OOxQ2bME/s1600-h/Raymond+Scott-DF-100.jpg

Even worse is Don Byron, who produces records of such staggering inconsequentiality that even Primus would object.
― dave q, Sunday, October 7, 2001 7:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

rongest thing ever

Since this was re-activated, this might as good a place as any to note that the ringtone on my iPhone is Raymond Scott's "Melonball Bounce". He was even ahead of the curve on ringtones!

i cant post on nb but no hurting that is not a truth bomb

Seriously. In my book, anyone who duds Raymond Scott really needs to have their ears recalled by the manufacturer and replaced with a working pair.

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 12:03 (1 year ago)

i'm listening to the first disc of the manhattan research, inc. for the first time and i really feel like doing a back-flip or something.

― poortheatre, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 12:03 (1 year ago)

that

Beginning in the 1950s, Raymond Scott designed and built the first of many very different versions of THE RAYMOND SCOTT ELECTRONIUM, a keyboard-less, automatic composition and performance machine. This invention engaged the attention of Berry Gordy, who hired Scott as Motown's Director of Electronic Research and Development.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d55/awarnow/electron.jpg

WHERE IS IT NOW-?
The version of THE ELECTRONIUM pictured above is now owned by MARK MOTHERSBAUGH, a Raymond Scott Archive Board Member, who plans to restore it. The Electronium's new home is Mr. Mothersbaugh's Mutato Muzika Studios, which serves as headquarters for Devo, and his many other music, film, and television projects.

http://www.writersblock.net/000/lib/studo2.gif

Also,

1959

The Electronium, As it remains in non working order in the Basement of Mark Motherbaugh's Mutato Music Offices in Hollywood, CA courtesy of http://absurdity.biz 's circuit bending documentary

"Cindy Electronium" is one of those "holy shit" tracks that seems like it was/should've been highly influential--but most likely, nobody ever really heard it, right? You could argue the second part especially is almost a template for electronic-pop music that was ahead of its time seventeen years later, but I doubt say Kraftwerk had ever heard of the man. Anyone know differently?

Egad I love those tap dancers in their buckskins and war bonnets.

Can someone explain to me what the deal is with Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night? Is that a bunch of unrelated promo spots that were recorded successively on the same tape or is it supposed to be a single piece?

Guys, "Powerhouse"!

Also, to answer Hurting's question, here's from the Manhattan Research Project liner notes:

The sounds on this track are not fragments of musical compositions – they are "strings" and accents created in Manhattan Research Inc.'s electronic music studio.
Scott explained: "After we put together the tape, we called in an announcer-friend of ours, 'Bucky' Coslow. We said: 'Listen to these electronic effects, we'll play them one at a time and whatever they make you think of – commercial-style – say it real spontaneous-like. We'll record them, then later, we'll have a mix and see what happens.' We did just that, but with one difference: The announce tape was edited but before we got a chance to sync it with the effects tape, it was run purely by accident at random against the effects tape. The effect was startling. Words and phrases that had no business showing up where they did against certain electronical effects took on a wonderfully convincing and attractive quality and seemed to indicate that electronic music for this purpose may turn out to have unusual vitality conviction and atmosphere plus a rather shocking flexibility."

really digging the "Soothing Sounds" albums - I cannot believe this came out about a decade BEFORE Zuckerzeit!

warning: does not actually soothe babies

New documentary film by his son.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/deconstructing-dad/6386

That film is great! Deeply moving by the end of it. The emotionally distant technician father who ends up having expressed all his feelings for his children through his music.

And there's a few sections where they show people at the console of the Electronium; each note of the scale has a hard switch, and when thrown it begins randomly injecting that note into the arpeggio. a step beyond the sequencer, more like an arpeggiator but with rests & much more musical logic. Sounds a great deal like Max Mathews' GROOVE Box developed 10-15 years later.

Basta promised a 2 CD set followup to Manhattan Research based entirely on tapes of Electronium improvisations. That is going to be one important release when we finally get to hear it.

& of course

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/07/raymond-scott-deconstructing-dad/

I'm surprised we haven't had a dedicated thread on Mahattan Research. I reckon they bother most of you but these old ads are great. You hear them parodied so many times. Also, like Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights, the sheer amount of times this thing has been sampled is a point of interest in itself.

oh wow u-ziq quoted a bit of "Space Mystery" didnt he. bet he thought he'd get away with it too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umIGWvEEh-0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekdncbBR8mY

New 2 CD comp of unreleased early 60s stuff out on Friday, kind of a conceptual sequel to Manhattan Research (same label/producers/etc.)

http://www.raymondscott.net/three-willow-park/

Should say, not JUST early 60s -- 1961 through 1971.

There's also this:
http://www.raymondscott.net/artifacts/

(the ultimate time suck)

I heard Scott's incredible "Naked City" today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpszTMMx4H8

And it suddenly occurred to me that while it hasn't been used in any film, as far as I know, its theme is referenced in some movie that is just on the tip of my memory ... some sort of modern take on noir, a la Chinatown, but not Chinatown ... perhaps in the final scene or something ... At first I thought Coens/Carter Burwell, but ... dunno. Help!

Oh shit, I think it's Terence Blanchard's score for "Inside Man"! (of all things). Stuff like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7OxikkJqSs

Funny you bumped this thread, there's some allegedly unreleased material coming out this week:
https://theseconddisc.com/release/hemidemisemiquaver-buried-treasures-of-the-raymond-scott-big-band/

Listening to that for the first time just now (amazing) while trying to think where I might have heard references to it was pretty disorienting - pretty much every phrase sounded familiar in a way I couldnt quite put my finger on, very surreal

What's even wilder is what sounds like a cello is apparently actually an ondes Martenot!

"Naked City" is indeed incredible. Thanks for posting.

1940!!

Today I learned that (composer) John Williams's dad was the drummer in the Raymond Scott Quintette!

fuck I thought this was bumped because he died

...in 1994.