Synth History

The one and only pioneering musician, composer and producer @therealjohncale , is next up in the 3Qs series! Over his six-decade career he has worked in a range of genres, from rock, drone, and classical to avant-garde and electronic music. He co-founded The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed in 1964, and was integral to the sound of the band’s first two studio albums, The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967, and White Light/White Heat, 1968. After leaving, he embarked on a prolific solo career, releasing Vintage Violence, the experimental Church of Anthrax (a collaboration with composer Terry Riley), the critically acclaimed Paris 1919, Fear, and many others, including MiXology (Volume 1), which he just released this past year via Domino. As a record producer and arranger, he’s worked on a number of highly influential studio albums including the Stooges’ self-titled 1969 debut, a number of Nico’s albums, the Modern Lovers, Patti Smith, and more. And as a collaborator, he appeared on Nick Drake’s second studio album, Bryter Layter, collaborated with Brian Eno on Wrong Way Up, 1990- the list really does go on and his body of work makes him a living legend to say the least. It’s an honor to have him part of this year’s zine! Read the whole thing online or in SH5. Photos by Ed Thrasher, courtesy of Domino Records. Interview by @danz_cm .

Next up in the Favorite Records Series is the incredible Elijah Wood! Not only is Elijah extremely talented (one of my favorite actors of all time) and extremely kind in person, we were all happy to find out that he has one of the coolest music tastes! He’s also one half of Wooden Wisdom, a DJ project he started with musician Zach Cowie. As part of SH5. Photo: @ambarbecutie for SH. Lighting: @max_flick Conducted by: @danz_cm Special thanks: @spectrevision @cosmicvinyl Excerpt: [William Onyeabor - Anything You Sow The synthesizer is a defining element of Onyeabor’s albums, unique amongst the output from Nigeria at the time but this album, with the exception of Good Name a couple years prior, is his only that is made entirely with drum machines and synths. The dance/pop opener When The Going Is Smooth & Good just rips and the album cover is an all-timer. Prince - 1999 His first entire album utilizing what became a defining element of his 80s sound, the Linn LM-1 drum machine. Come for “1999” and “Little Red Corvette” and stay for “Lady Can Driver”, “Automatic” and “D.S.M.R.” It’s an astonishing work that is damn near perfect. Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup I’m almost certain it was Waterloo Records in Austin in 1997 that I was asking about the Ui/Sterelab split EP and the clerk asked if I had heard Emperor Tomato Ketchup and handed it to me. It was one of those quintessential record store moments that you never forget and I’ve been devoted to them ever since. Yazoo - Upstairs At Eric’s I love this magic combination of Vince Clark and Allison Moyet. Such a delicious synth pop album and the first record that Vince made after leaving Depeche Mode before starting Erasure. Forever a favorite. Sister Irene O’Connor - Fire of God’s Love An incredibly special record of devotional songs utilizing analog synths recorded solely by Sister Irene with additional contributions by Sister Marimil Lobregat. It sits in a liminal space that is totally unique, curious and beautiful.] Read all of Elijah’s picks online now or in print this November!

New interview up with Croz Boyce, the side project of @aaaveytttare & @geobriensystem of @anmlcollective Excerpts above and below. [Synth History What have been some mainstay pieces of gear throughout your career? Brian Weitz: Roland SH-2 synthesizer. I got one for free from a summer camp in the mid-90’s. They had no idea what it was. We’ve been using it since high school and used it on every AC album through Centipede Hz. It’s done double duty both as a synth and an fx processor. It’s been in the basement for a while though because I got too familiar with it and on the road I need to recall presents more than I used to. Dave Portner: For me it’s the Roland Juno 60. It remains my favorite synth to play. I’ve had the same one since 1998.] Read the whole thing on the site! Photos by Charlie Boss. IV @danz_cm .

Well, this one is a true honor! The one and only producer, director, writer, composer, rapper, and de facto leader of Wu-Tang Clan (@wutangclan ): living legend RZA (@rza ) was kind enough to answer three questions! We sat down at Vidiots (@vidiots ) in Los Angeles between a screening of his 2012 film, The Man With The Iron Fists in 35mm and The Mystery of Chess Boxing, 1979. The screening was put on by 36 Cinema, RZA’s new distribution company, which is set to release his new film, One Spoon of Chocolate (@onespoonofchocolate ) on May 1st. Directed by RZA and presented by Quentin Tarantino, I highly recommend going to catch it in theaters if you can. Excerpts above & below: [Synth History: What is one of your favorite memories, either recent or from the past, from either recording in the studio or working on a film? First thing that comes to your mind. RZA: Well, you know, too many things come to my mind at once! But one of my favorite memories is always being at Firehouse Studio, recording the first album with the Wu-Tang Clan, with all my brothers coming in and you just never knew what was going to happen. It was so unpredictable, so raw, such a unique moment of being. Kind of struggling, kind of ambitious, wishing. All these different things happening all at once. Making that first album will always be special. I feel like my new film is a new 36 Chambers in the way of bringing talent together, taking the rawness of the tools I had to play with and really carving out a story that I’m very proud of, from the process of shooting the film to getting into post-production. Then with the music, I was able to collaborate with Tyler Bates and learn something different about composing. He actually bows this guitar [GuitarViol] and he’s got all these fucking pedals. That along with a crazy synth collection gives you some very unique sounds. There’s definitely two crazy cues in the film where you’re like, “What the fuck is that?” It’s like that Bernard Herrmann type shit.] Whole thing is online. Intrvw: @danz_cm Vidiots photos: @carolinemarikofilms Studio photo: By MikaV, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Join us for Gaspar Noé’s ENTER THE VOID at VIDIOTS. 🍿Wed, April 15th at 7:30 PM Vidiots 4884 N Eagle Rock BLVD Nobody does a mind-f*&k like Gaspar Noé, and Enter the Void may be his most hallucinatory work in an ouvre of envelope-pushing and eye-popping spectacles. This psychedelic tour of life after death is the 14th installment of Vidiots’ & Synth History’s Iconic Scores screening series, which highlights pioneering scores and soundtracks in electronic music! PLUS: Before the show, we’ll be giving away a brand new Ltd. Edition 12” of Throbbing Gristle’s D.o.A. and a copy of Cosey Fanni Tutti’s hardcover book, Re-Sisters: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti. About the soundtrack: Enter the Void blends musique concrète, experimental, and electroacoustic styles. Noé would collaborate again with Thomas Bangalter (of legendary electronic duo Daft Punk), who also scored Irréversible. Bangalter was originally approached to create an original score for the film, however due to his involvement scoring Tron: Legacy, he’d take on the role of sound effects director instead, providing a library of ambient sounds and experimental samples which Noé then compiled. The film includes a recording from electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire (BBC Radiophonic Workshop) of Bach’s “Air on the G String”, ANS by Coil which utilizes the rare, photoelectric ANS synthesizer (if you came to our screening of Solaris you might remember that composer Eduard Artemyev also used this!), Throbbing Gristle’s “Hamburger Lady,” LFO’s “Freak”, nearly every part of electroacoustic musician Jean-Claude Éloy’s compositions Shânti and Gaku-no-Michi, Toshiya Tsunoda’s “Music for Baby”, Alvin Lucier’s “Music for Gamelan Instruments, Microphones, Amplifiers and Loudspeakers”, works by Denis Smalley, Lullatone, Zbigniew Karkowski, and Thomas Bangalter‘s own track “Désaccords,” originally composed for Irréversible. 🔗 in bio.

Next up in the Favorite Records series is @devonross_ For this series, artists list 10-15 of their favorite albums of all time, rules being at least one must contain synths or drum machines of some kind. The point is to explore artist’s record collections whilst showing how electronic sounds coexist within a multitude of genres. What’s your favorite of Devon’s picks!? Lots of bangers up there. These include Eno’s Here Come The Warm Jets, released in 1974 [Brian Eno is credited with vocals, keyboards, synthesizer, snake guitar, electric larynx, treatments, instrumentation, production and mixing] and Pink Floyd’s eighth studio album, Dark Side of The Moon released in 1973 [in which the EMS Synthi AKS and EMS VCS 3 synthesizers are used]. Photos by @ambarbecutie Lighting Assist: @max_flick Styling: @kikistashcollection E-I-C: @danz_cm Read what she wrote about all her picks up on the site! #favalbums #favrecords #albums #vinyl

Any Undertale fans here? Was thinking about this game today and how good the soundtrack is, composed by Toby Fox who also designed the game. I can’t remember but I think @gamer_dump recommended this to me pre-pandemic!? If you haven’t played it yet, you play as a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical barrier. You meet various monsters during the journey back to the surface, some of which may engage in combat. You can opt to be a pacifist (which is how I played after I learned it’s possible!) to appease monsters in order to spare them instead of killing them. Your choices affect the game, with the dialogue, characters, and story changing based on outcomes. Highly recommend playing and I just discovered that the whole soundtrack is on Bandcamp. Refs: Undertale screengrabs.

FLASH WARNING Join us for Gaspar Noé’s ENTER THE VOID at VIDIOTS! 🍿Wed, April 15th at 7:30 PM Vidiots 4884 N Eagle Rock BLVD Nobody does a mind-f*&k like Gaspar Noé, and Enter the Void may be his most hallucinatory work in an ouvre of envelope-pushing and eye-popping spectacles. This psychedelic tour of life after death is the 14th installment of Vidiots’ & Synth History’s Iconic Scores screening series, which highlights pioneering scores and soundtracks in electronic music! PLUS: Before the show, we’ll be giving away a brand new Ltd. Edition 12” of Throbbing Gristle’s D.o.A. and a copy of Cosey Fanni Tutti’s hardcover book, Re-Sisters: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti. About the soundtrack: Enter the Void blends musique concrète, experimental, and electroacoustic styles. Noé would collaborate again with Thomas Bangalter (of legendary electronic duo Daft Punk), who also scored Irréversible. Bangalter was originally approached to create an original score for the film, however due to his involvement scoring Tron: Legacy, he’d take on the role of sound effects director instead, providing a library of ambient sounds and experimental samples which Noé then compiled. The film includes a recording from electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire (BBC Radiophonic Workshop) of Bach’s “Air on the G String”, ANS by Coil which utilizes the rare, photoelectric ANS synthesizer (if you came to our screening of Solaris you might remember that composer Eduard Artemyev also used this!), Throbbing Gristle’s “Hamburger Lady,” LFO’s “Freak”, nearly every part of electroacoustic musician Jean-Claude Éloy’s compositions Shânti and Gaku-no-Michi, Toshiya Tsunoda’s “Music for Baby”, Alvin Lucier’s “Music for Gamelan Instruments, Microphones, Amplifiers and Loudspeakers”, works by Denis Smalley, Lullatone, Zbigniew Karkowski, and Thomas Bangalter‘s own track “Désaccords,” originally composed for Irréversible. 🔗 in bio.

Peter Baumann formed the core line-up of the pioneering German electronic group Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke in 1971. Photo is of Peter performing with Tangerine Dream at the Coventry Cathedral. Recently asked him about that and about the music scene in the early days, in light of his Romance 76 reissue. Excerpts below! [Synth History: What drew you to electronic music and what was the general music scene like when you were first starting out? Peter Baumann: I started out playing in a conventional band, we played GI clubs in Berlin. The bass player and I began experimenting with all sorts of sounds that we recorded: slamming a door, breaking a glass, rattling knives and forks. Then I met Christoph Franke and was invited to join him and Edgar for a rehearsal session. My only instrument at the time was a Farfisa organ. Just a bit later, we got a simple noise generator that had three buttons: white noise, pink noise, and volume control. A tone generator followed soon after, it had a square wave, sawtooth, and sine wave. Next came some outboard gear: tape delays, wah-wah pedal, and others. What drew me to electronic instruments was the unusual sounds you could make and the ability to use them in unconventional ways. Synth History: One of my favorite YouTube videos is the Tangerine Dream Coventry Cathedral performance, with all the candles inside a bit church. I wish I was there! Can you tell me about it? Peter Baumann: During that time we did a few concerts in cathedrals, Coventry, Reims, and a few in Germany. The whole period was a bit of a Twilight Zone; it all kind of fell into place. I don’t remember whose idea the candles were, but I thought it was pretty cool.] Ref: Coventry Cathedral performance, SH.

Tis I, unremitting admin of Synth History, in portrait above at @vintagesynthmuseum ! Stepping out from behind the curtain to reveal the mechanical sorcery behind my latest live album, MYTHS! - Elka Synthex - Gleeman Pentaphonic - Mellotron - Roland Jupiter-8 - Roland Juno-60 - Sequential Prophet 5 - Strymon Big Sky - Spectral Audio Syntrak - Yamaha CS-80 - Yamaha CS-70M - Yamaha CS-50D Thanks for listening. Thought y’all would enjoy the list. Should you wander through Los Angeles, be sure to check out the museum.

For The Cars performance at Live Aid in 1985, keyboardist Greg Hawkes main setup included a Synclavier II, two Roland Jupiter-8s and a Yamaha DX7. Ric Ocasek also had Yamaha DX7 on stage. “Drive” is off The Cars fifth studio album, Heartbeat City, released in 1984. Written by Ric Ocasek, the track was sung by bassist Benjamin Orr. Greg Hawkes is credited with helping popularize new wave and synth-pop in American popular music as a member of the Cars, his signature sounds include the Prophet-5 “sync” sound heard on “Let’s Go” and “Hello Again” as well as arpeggiated and syncopated synth lines such as on “Shake it Up” and “Heartbeat City”. Imagine bringing two Jupiter-8s and a Synclavier on tour! References: Gearspace, Wiki, Live Aid.

David Bowie - I’m Afraid of Americans, 1997. Above photo of Bowie and Trent Reznor on set during the filming of the music video (via OldSchoolCool / credit Lynn Goldsmith). The maxi-single for “I’m Afraid of Americans” contained six different remixes, mostly created by Nine Inch Nails. Reznor’s V1 mix was the version used as the single mix of the song, music video, and has since appeared on several compilation albums. The V3 mix featured Ice Cube while the V5 mix was created by Photek. Released as a single from Bowie’s album Earthling, in a press release announcing the album Bowie stated: “‘I’m Afraid of Americans’ was written by myself and Eno. It’s not as truly hostile about Americans as say ‘Born in the U.S.A.’: it’s merely sardonic. I was traveling in Java when the first McDonald’s went up: it was like, ‘for fuck’s sake.’ The invasion by any homogenized culture is so depressing, the erection of another Disney World in, say, Umbria, Italy, more so. It strangles the indigenous culture and narrows [the] expression of life.” The song was originally recorded with Brian Eno during the sessions for Bowie’s 1995 album, Outside and was released on the soundtrack of Showgirls in 1995. The song was then remade during the sessions for Earthling. References: I’m Afraid of Americans Liner Notes, u/OlaSchoolCool - Reddit.