Analog Synthesizer Epics: S/D, POV

In the 70s, there were people like Bowie and Todd Rundgren playing around with synths although it wasnt the focalpoint.

but the 1st 2 edgar froese albums - aqua / epsilon in malaysian pale - both from the same timeframe are as good, if not better, than these.

(and you can try the stuff my friends and i make : http://aslowrip.sevcom.com)

You forgot Kraftwerk, Human League and Jean Micheal Jarre...

http://usuarios.lycos.es/audionautas/Paranoias/santuarios.htm

"New Age" kind of encompasses Kitaro, who is really terrible, but there are also plenty of american Serge synthesiser space music albums which seem to fall under the "New Age" banner, but which are brainmeltingly awesome - Michael Stearns "Planetary unfolding", for example, is just fucking beyond. It's pure space! See also Kevin Braheny albums on "hearts of space" label, This collaborative thing called "Western Spaces" which is like put it on, close your eyes, and you can feel the dry wind blowing across the desert!

POV:

Tim Blake "Blake's New Jerusalem"
Tangerine Dream "Ricochet"
Michael Stearns "Planetary Unfolding"
Vangelis "Heaven & Hell"
Michael Neil "Goodbye to the Greenlands"

I used to really like Vangelis's China, but haven't listened to much else of this genre. Of course I met Larry Fast through his association with the House of Music studios in my hometown of West Orange. I loved his records. Games and Chords I think were the good ones.

also, re the above link, I've been so dissapointed seeing pictures of Brian Eno's studio. You'd expect all kinds of crazy things and awesome design and instead you get 2 dx7's and nothing on the walls.

Jean Michel Jarre : Oxygene , Les Champs Magnetiques

Vangelis : Mask , Soil Festivities

Re. Vangelis: I've heard Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire, a few other soundtracks, and the Jon Anderson stuff. Without insisting mine is the last word, he's def. in the zone of New Age. Maybe lumping him in w/ Kitaro wasn't entirely fair, though -- perhaps Jarre would have been more apt.

Re. disco: Yes, Moroder should count -- lord knows he fetishized technology as much as anyone. But as I sort of hinted at in the Electro-Analog Revivalists bit, dance music seems to be something of a different beast, largely b/c it's not developmental (or in the case of some dance epics, a boxier sort of developmental).

The thing is, as I noted above, it seems that Tangerine Dream at their best were among the (if not the) most advanced and innovative in terms of texture and soundscapes. But as I gather the Bootleg Series confirms (which I'd like to hear), they were essentially edited down improvisations. Nothing wrong with that of course, but I'd have been interested to know what they might've produced had they had a way with melody...

i used to have a siel cruise - a phantastic italian analog beast that came in a coffin.

And now that appears unlikely: http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A2YWL5Z3D2BCVL/ref=cm_cr_auth/102-2759942-8866540

(scroll down to the last review)

Also seek M. Frog's Labat and Underwater Electronic Orchestra (the latter recorded as Jean Yves Labat). He was Todd Rundgren's keyboardist for a spell in the '70s.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002GA8.02._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://www.goblin.org/pics/zombift.gif

http://geometrikrecords.com/bol117/covers/16056.jpg

-- milton parker (milton.parke...), September 5th, 2005.

yeah, and i WANT THEM.

Possible additional category: 5. Modern composition? Though maybe most of those guys were a little too austere to fit into the definition. I mean, Stockhausen's "four sinewave generators and four ring modulators" or whatever aren't exactly "banks upon banks"...

Were someone to point me in the direction of a Klaus Schulze-type character who was actually a trained modern composer, I might melt.

Which reminds me: of the 6,368 albums he recorded, no further Klaus recommendations? Come to think of it, almost everyone of these artists have immense discographies. Hmmm...

also:

Earth rocks out, Heaven and Hell is a prog rock touchstone, Beauborg & Invisible Connections are beautifully abstract & freeform pure sound albums, & See You Later is one really fucking weird record by any measure. I'd stop making any further generalizations about Vangelis until you've heard those six, you rock critic.

Schulze: never, ever liked him growing up in the 80's, but I'm getting soft. Irrlicht is probably the one I'd keep if I had to keep one because it's impressively minimal -- basically one note. Cyborg, Dune, Mirage, X, Timewind... the last two probably my favorite maybe.

Pulling down tons of Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou (what I would give for that middle name) now...

Vangelis isn't on Olias, is he? I still have yet to hear it, but Stump goes CRAZY for it in his book...

Though it's true that many of the sounds on Olias resemble V's China... which came later.

I can't really pick just five favorite analog synthesizer epics. Though I'll throw this in just for the search function; Douglas Leedy - Entropical Paradise

"Laserdance!"

I have a GREAT laserdance single.

jesus, i own a ton of this stuff. and yet, i don't listen to it all that much.

1.  Heaven and Hell, Part One — 21:58
     a. Bacchanale — 4:40
     b. Symphony to the Powers B — 8:18
     c. Movement 3 — 4:03
     d. So Long Ago, So Clear — 5:00
2.  Heaven and Hell, Part Two — 21:16
     a. Intestinal Bat — 3:18
     b. Needles and Bones — 3:22
     c. 12 O'Clock — 8:48
     d. Aries — 2:05
     e. A Way — 3:45

movement 3 was the main theme from Cosmos, the show that introduced a large amount of all of this music to the TV watchin' public. Click on every one of those links.

On the other hand, Eno's there too...

unfortunately, the 7 DVD set that came out a few years back ran into heavy problems with licensing -- couldn't get the rights, and so they had to replace a lot of the better calls, Gavin Bryars, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Gary Numan, a lot of the Eno, all gone. A criminal mutilation -- though they did a seamless job re-editing, it only hurts if you know what you're missing.

The 7 DVD set is definitely still worth watching, it's amazing television, and you have the option of watching with just the dialogue off -- just the music and the insane visuals. good wallpaper.

3. Hair – Aquarius
4. Bryars – The Sinking of the Titanic
5. Eno – M386 – From “Music for Films”
6. Numan – I Nearly Married a Human
7. Supersister – Dreaming Wheel While
8. Scriabin - Poem of Ecstasy
9. Tomita - The Unanswered Question (Ives)
10. Orff - Carmina Burana
11. Tomita - The Sea Named Solaris (Bach)

It's so crazy to think that Bryars used to be Derek Bailey's bassist...

http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1HDXM9N0GVV6912ZEC8DQJWHE9

Crepuscule version is 60:21, I sold back my copy of the Point

Gleeson's review of Sextant for Amazon is great! Everyone should vote 'yes this review was helpful'.

VSM: You are also an avid synth literature collector.

BK: I love the period when you'd see early synth catalogs, probably before '72 or '73, everyone looked like a scientist. Nobody had long hair in those catalogs. They weren't pushing that aspect of it. They had guys in lab coats and glasses working the gear. And then, when Emerson started getting in the Moog catalogs, '74, '75 especially, and then Herbie Hancock, Billy Preston and so forth, they were saying "Let's push these toward musicians because it's cool."

VSM: And they realized how lucrative it was to have Stevie Wonder endorsing your product.

BK: And then it would finally be more imporant for musicians than for scholarly people. But we like the scholarly aspect of all this stuff, and remember the days when evrybody learned about electronic music by going to a little tiny lab room with a four-track Teac and an ARP 2600 and a bunch of acoustic tile on the wall. You know, doing four-track pieces in a room.

Guy goes on to say:

"Hotel California took the better part of two weeks because there were so many arrangement things to do. The "Switched on Bach" section, alone, took about 2 days. That was done the old way. We did that one on the Moog III modular and went crazy and patched in two notes at a time, or one note or five notes to make it work. And that's the only way to get it to sound right. Then again, most people wouldn't notice it, they just think it sounds funny. But people who know the Clockwork Orange soundtrack, for example, would definitely get a laugh out of it, appreciate it."

I've heard this a few times, but think I need to it again. It is Roger Manning, after all...

Incidentally, I gather this is how that phasey sound was made:

Many of Jarre's etheral pad sounds comes from the Dutch organ Eminent 310U, produced from 1970 - 1984. The trademark floating sound found on Oxygene, Equinoxe and other albums is produced by filtering the organ's sound through either a Smallstone phaser or an Electric Mistress guitar pedal, optionally with a Revox B77 analogue tape delay effect...Despite Jarre's extensive use of the organ and it's unique sound, it isn't very known and can be found for a few dollars in second-hand stores.

http://www.hyperionwebs.com/electronicshadows/archives/techtalk/synths_of_jarre.htm

I started a noise thread about the Synapse Magazine archive but it might as well go here as well: http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/intro.cfm

interview with Edward Artemyev - http://www.electroshock.ru/eng/edward/interview/patterson/

three great ANS records:
Electroshock Vol 4 - Synthesizer ANS
Edward Artemyev - Solaris
Coil - ANS (4 disc boxed set, worth the high price)

Secondly, early Jarre is strangely compelling — very...seductive sonically. In particular, "Equinoxe 3", with the baroque organ flourishes, is (as Jon might say) very swimmy-floaty.

I briefly considered a joke thread along the lines of "Arnolog Synthenegger Epics" but thought better of it.

Damn, nobody's mentioned Vangelis' Beaubourg yet. Seek this immediately if you're into exploratory analog-synth strangeness. It's his peak solo work.
Also seek M. Frog's Labat and Underwater Electronic Orchestra (the latter recorded as Jean Yves Labat). He was Todd Rundgren's keyboardist for a spell in the '70s.

-- Dave Segal (djvein...), September 5th, 2005.

I agree with you about "Beaubourg" being the best Vangelis record, and I also really like "Underwater Electronic Orchestra", but haven't heard any other of M. Labat's work - I didn't know him as M. Frog, either.

Also, if people are interested, Richard Pinhas has made many wonderful records, and I recommend that people hear at least any one of the first 5 Neuronium albums also.

I also just bought the UK reissues of Body Love and Moondawn by Klaus Schulze on CD. I like him less and less but these albums are both great. Body Love is Volume I and has a bonus track called Lasse Braun. Now if they would just reissue Volume II on CD.....

whoa. thanks!

It's not an "epic," in fact most of the tracks are meant to serve didactic purposes, but I can listen straight through the whole thing with a big smile on my face. (I generally prefer reading technical manuals rather than epic novels, too...)

Revive, nearly two years later, at which point I've gone from willfully ignorant about Jarre and Vangelis to loving them and contemplating how one might revisit this stuff in a modern context (since neither seem capable of doing that themselves).

Right now, I'm finding myself drawn back to Jarre -- listening to Concert in China at the moment, the most enjoyable parts of which are the new stuff: "Arpeggiator," etc. A bit of a mixed bag, but interesting nonetheless.

It really is interesting the extent to which he fell off the planet quality-wise after Zoolook, which showed such promise for him in a digital context (as a point of contrast, Eno took a very, very long time to get good w/ digital gear). As a sound sculptor, Jarre was really without peer for a while there.

The only solo Vangelis I've heard (besides Blade Runner) was something
called The Lizard and I quite liked it. I've always liked early Tangerine Dream, I guess I need to get into "mid-era."
I think that Rh Band should get a mention on this thread. I'm not sure if they use "banks upon banks" of synths, or guitars, or tapes, or what, but I think that the end result of whatever process they are using would place them in the same company as this thread. I listened to their live record on HP Cycle just last night and it is a very palpable analog drone epic.

Tomita pwnz this thread

king of all synthesiser disco epics surely = E=MC2

-- Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, September 5, 2005 1:47 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

lyric:
tea and coffee by Laurie

who was Laurie?

the world needs to know

I think that Rh Band should get a mention on this thread. I'm not sure if they use "banks upon banks" of synths, or guitars, or tapes, or what, but I think that the end result of whatever process they are using would place them in the same company as this thread. I listened to their live record on HP Cycle just last night and it is a very palpable analog drone epic.

definitely. in a similar "there may be no analog synths here" vein, the mouthus/axolotl LP on old english spelling bee.

Tomita pwnz this thread

based on pictures at an exhibition i concur.

i'm digging the escape from new york soundtrack at the moment

Shall we revive yet again?

1. Michael Hoenig "Departure From The Northern Wasteland"
2. Wolfgang Duren "Eyeless Dreams" http://dueren.waldorfian.info/
(download the whole super rare LP)
3. Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom "The Days Of Mars"

I also just bought the UK reissues of Body Love and Moondawn by Klaus Schulze on CD. I like him less and less but these albums are both great. Body Love is Volume I and has a bonus track called Lasse Braun. Now if they would just reissue Volume II on CD.....

I think this thread introduced me to all these records.

The Hoenig is a Berlin School classic -- a brief member of Tangerine Dream and also producer of Harold Budd's Lovely Thunder. The Duren is a pretty good example of the kind academic epics that Gleeson/Fast et al were doing on analog synthesizers but on the PPG wave sequencing digital synth. Days of Mars feels a little like its just a TD knockoff.

I like both the Body Love records quite a bit. I know Milton doesn't care for Schulze's soloing -- I think his noodling becomes more of a texture than anything.

a TD knockoff.

you say that like it's a bad thing!

checking out that michael hoenig now..

Was wondering if there's a Spotify playlist for the music from Cosmos. Would be the perfect forum for one.

That link upthread to a list of all the Cosmos tracks doesn't seem to work anymore either...

I'm really starting to like the Space Art albums. Dunno who else digs them. Schulze is a guy I've started a thread on and have tried multiple times to get into but I think that kind of music really needs maximum attention. I can't listen in the car because the road noise becomes a distraction, and at work I can't give it the proper amount of concentration, so it becomes digital wallpaper. I would have loved to see him live.

Vangelis on the other hand, I'm really starting to love, though I admit I'm only really getting into his 70's records. I haven't heard anyone capture the sort of pristine beauty that he does on L'apocalypse des animaux or, say, "My Face in the Rain". Are his later albums good?

also a big "fuck you" to Schulze for the ending of "Bayrueth Return" from Timewind, one of the most hypnotic pieces he's ever done for sure, but my copy is super quiet, so you have to crank it way up. it ends with this blast of white noise that's louder than anything else on the disc. what a prick.

That link upthread to a list of all the Cosmos tracks doesn't seem to work anymore either...

Vangelis on the other hand, I'm really starting to love, though I admit I'm only really getting into his 70's records. I haven't heard anyone capture the sort of pristine beauty that he does on L'apocalypse des animaux or, say, "My Face in the Rain". Are his later albums good?

I've been more into his late-70s/early-80s stuff in the past, but am trying to give the earlier records a bit more of a fresh listen. Heaven and Hell has some overly gothic moments but also some amazing stuff; "So Far Away So Clear," his first collab with Jon Anderson at the conclusion of Side 1 is particularly good.

I feel as tho L'apocalypse des animaux is a bit overrated. "Le Pettite Fille de la Mer" is the only thing I care for on Side 1 (and it is great) -- the rest sounds like kind of standard soundtrack music of the era w Rhodes and trumpet. Side 2 is more interesting overall as it is more, uh, cosmic, but the last two cuts pretty much outpace everything else by a good distance.

Thanks for that link. I actually own almost every classical piece on there...! Any idea what movement of Black Angels was used on the show? He lists specific movements for most of them but not Black Angels and not Le Sacre du Printemps...

>Any idea what movement of Black Angels was used on the show?

third movement

I can probably guess which parts of Le Sacre and Bartok MSPC.

Cosmos did play it mostly straight with its classical picks, but the way it seamlessly crossfades things like Shostakovich into Vangelis, Froese into Purcell, Gregorian Chant into Heldon was unprecedented and more than a little genius. This show did so much to canonize the 70's electronic / space / new concert music for a national audience, and these days it strikes me that all the electronic music it was introducing is now so taken for granted by later generations that this show can introduce those generations to the earlier classical music.

I've looked for interviews with the team of people who did the music curation, I've found nothing

Oh i did not mean to be patronizing toward the classical picks at all! I'm actually dying to put together a playlist from this.

One thing sticks out which is Heldon. I've never heard any in my life...

So awesome to see Numan's 'I Almost Married A Human' listed-- I adore this track so much and whenever I've played it it always reminds me of Cosmos for some reason-- and now I realize that's cause young me must've actually heard it tracked into Cosmos before I had a fucking clue what Replicas was!

One thing sticks out which is Heldon. I've never heard any in my life...

Thread worth checking out: Heldon/Richard Pinhas: S&D

Cosmos did play it mostly straight with its classical picks, but the way it seamlessly crossfades things like Shostakovich into Vangelis, Froese into Purcell, Gregorian Chant into Heldon was unprecedented and more than a little genius. This show did so much to canonize the 70's electronic / space / new concert music for a national audience, and these days it strikes me that all the electronic music it was introducing is now so taken for granted by later generations that this show can introduce those generations to the earlier classical music.

I've looked for interviews with the team of people who did the music curation, I've found nothing

Btw, this is interesting -- a bunch of music Vangelis did for the 1986 special edition of Cosmos that didn't make the final cut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxl1vwsQJq4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Should also note that the entire Cosmos series (the DVD set I believe) is on Netflix Instant.

iirc the DVD verzh of Cosmos replaces a bunch of the original soundtrack - mine certainly sounds a bit samier and a bit less adventurous than i remember or than the internet tells me it ought to be. still great and not moaning but think potential watchers shd be aware.

http://digitalisrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/assimilating-the-shadow

this (ricardo donoso, 2012) is nice. very spacious and clear.

bit of a downer:

Charles Cohen arrested for attempting sex with a minor
http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=31722

might explain his cancelled London show on Wednesday

local news source
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/10/09/charles-cohen-arrested/

it's his 70th birthday today then

jail cake for you charlie

mediocre