D.A.F. interview with Neuweltmusic
Nice interview with synth pioneers DAF:
D.A.F. interview with Neuwelt Music, featuring live footage from the show. Shot and cut by Duncan Catterall (http://www.clockworkamoeba.com) and interviewed by Jon the Goth and produced by Dani Kammler (http://www.neuweltmusic.com).
More from D.A.F. at: http://www.deutschamerikanischefreundschaft.de/
Oramics featuring Daphne Oram
A brief glimpse of Daphne Oram’s pioneering and unique ‘Oramics’ synthesiser, designed in 1957 after she left the legendary BBC Radiophonic Workshop to pursue the project.
The machine, recently acquired by Goldsmiths College, is now in the hands of The Science Museum in London and is currently being restored. It hasn’t been performed since the 1970s.
For more information on Daphne Oram and her machine check out daphneoram.org
Howard Jones remasters his back catalogue
Howard Jones recently reissued “Human’s Lib” (1984) and “Dream into Action” (1985) as remastered editions, both available separately and as a box holding a bonus live disc with early performances. Coming up now are the two remix albums “The 12″ Album” (1984) and “Action Replay” (1986). Both were remastered by Howard Jones and Robbie Bronneman.
The set is again available separately or in a box set. This box also includes a bonus disc with several rare mixes and versions that have never been released on CD before. You will find for instance the 1983 7″ version of “Conditioning”. The box will be available for pre-order via Jones’ Dtox webstore on February 21 and will be released on March 21.
The 20th Anniversary Concert: This DVD is a recording of Howard’s spectacular 20th anniversary concert at the Shepherds Bush Empire on September 20th 2003. The DVD was Howard’s concept and he has been involved with the project in every step of the production. The DVD is packaged in a beautiful deluxe 2 disc digi pack.
It features 29 songs, including guest appearances from Midge Ure, Nena and Jed Hoile.
The running time of the concert is 164 mins and we have also included 103 minutes of extras, packed full of behind the scenes footage as well as a 51 minute interview with Howard, interviews with the band and crew and interviews with members of the audience themselves. The DVD is directed by Sadia at Chimera Arts and mixed in 5.1 and stereo by Stephen W Tayler.
Stereoklang in an exclusive talk with synth pioneer John Foxx
Anyone with the slightest interest in electronic music has come across the works of John Foxx. John more or less on his own reshaped the electronic landscape with albums like Metamatic and The Garden. Starting off in the 1970’s forming the band Tiger Lily, that later morphed into the legendary act Ultravox. However, John left the band in 1979 to pursue a solo career and over the years, since then, John has been extremely productive – to say the least. John did withdraw from the music scene for a while to pursue other areas, but reappeared in the 90’s via Nation12 and then later on actively started to pursue his music career often in collaboration with others like Louis Gordon, Harold Budd and most recently with Benge (ben Edwards). Currently we are all set for a real treat with the new album called Interplay, featuring John Foxx & the Maths. Without further a due, and introductions, we dive deep into the mind of Mr. John Foxx
The Metamatic album has lots of pop format songs with raw and distorted synths, a sound that still feels fresh. But no-one picked up on that combination until much later, e.g EBM and Futurepop movement in the 90s and even more so by the Skweee movement of the 00s. Not even yourself continued in that direction with those raw synth sounds until your more recent work. – Why didn’t you pursue that direction? Was it going against the time too much?
There were many other things to pursue. For instance, reclaiming some of my own ground from ‘Systems of Romance’ on ‘The Garden’ album. I also wanted to make ‘Cathedral Oceans’ and other kinds of quiet music.
Then there was the preoccupation with Psychedelia, and its link to German electronic music. This wasn’t at all recognized in England at the time. At one point, I was also afraid that perhaps Metamatic was too raw and minimal and cold. This seems odd, because it seems quite warm now – but it certainly didn’t compared to other records being made at the time. A few years later, when I had the perspective to be able to appraise things from a safe distance, I realized there might be something special about Metamatic after all.
You’ve once said that new instruments like the electric guitar, synthesizers and drum machines changes the shape of the music. That you write to accommodate to the machines – Do you perceive that the DAW/laptop studio made the same impact?
Oh yes, every technological introduction changes the music – there are musicians who would not exist in other environments – The form of many new musicians’ work is enabled by intelligent use of new technologies – Autechre for instance, require a portable digital ecology in order to exist in their present form. Theirs is an intelligent, visceral response to new digital environments.
XXX require flexible digital recording technology to review and refine their music. It is clearly not based on any purely acoustic hierarchy of sound.
Just as Frank Sinatra changed both singing and recording by using a microphone and an amplifier – enabling him to sing quietly in front of a big band, so DAWs and laptops have created methods of working and kinds of music that were not possible before.
John Foxx And The Maths – Shatterproof (Medicine Edit)
Friends of Foxx will like this 
a 3′ 30 edit of the opening track from the forthcoming album, Interplay – out on March 21
You can pre-order the album now and receive one track, Evergreen, as a download – http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/art…
John Foxx performs with Gary Numan and Motor at the Troxy London on 2 April.
www.johnfoxxandthemaths.com
Exploring the first generation of electronic music
Ian Halliwell has made a fantastic series of radio programs called The Tone Generation exploring the early days of electronic music roughly 1950-1970. He uses his personal collection of records and cds, looking at different themes and composers in the era of analogue tape and early synthesizer technology.
There are now 20 programs available at blip.tv, where the initial 10 part series was first transmitted between April and June 2008 on Resonance FM. There are programs covering major composers from influential countries but also other themes like the EMS and RCA synthesizers, female electronic composers, jazz, dance and the Expos.
Highly recommended!
Adolphson & Falk finally back with their synths
After 31 years it is finally time, Sweden’s synth pioneers Adolphson & Falk makes its first electronic concert! In recent years, Adolphson & Falk appeared in many different ways, but always with a focus on acoustic instruments, while they’ve stayed faithful to their roots and continue to play their older material. In October 2010 released the box “101 010” which collects their first four albums, remastered and with bonus tracks.
They have two showcase in this context in which they invited Greg Fitzpatrick, the man who gave Adolphson & Falk’s electronic soundscape.
The experiment was a success, and Tomas Adolphson & Anders Falk has decided to do a whole concert with this configuration on stage. Location: Saturday 19 February 2011, House of Music, Gothenburg
Klaus Schulze – Big in Japan: Live in Tokyo 2010
It’s a small teaser from DVD “Big in Japan: Live in Tokyo 2010”. European release will be out on 26th of November.
After having recorded one studioalbum, 2 Live-DVDs and albums with Lisa Gerrard, Klaus Schulze decided to go back ‘pure Schulze’ again. He and his crew flew to Tokyo to play his very first solo concert since 2003. The concerts in Tokyo in March 2010 were played on Klaus’ legendary equipment re-built by the Japanese crew exactly the same way as you can see it at his European concerts.
The concert itself was also the first time that Schulze rebuilt and remodeled his classic “Crystal Lake” (originally 1977 on “Mirage”), renamed here as “The Crystal Returns”. Yo can also see/hear Schulze play electric guitar on the track “Sequencers are beautiful”.
Documentary on Raymond Scott
Stan Warnow, son of Scott Raymond, has made a documentary on his father.
Raymond Scott is probably best known for music featured in Looney Tunes cartoons and as a pioneer in commercial electronic music, developing his own electronic music instruments.
Get it here
Swedish synthpop pioneers are back with box
Swedish synthpop pioneers Adolphson & Falk will celebrate their new box by performing live with their old tech wizard Greg Fitzpatrick on the day of the release, 101010 (October 10, 2010). The band will visit the classic synthpop and new wave venue Kolingsborg in Stockholm. This adds to a busy concert period in Stockholm.
As previously reported, the new box contains the four 80:s albums remastered from the original tapes by Dag Lundquist. It also contains 20 bonus tracks: the new song “Gjord för mig”, remixes, radio recordings – and an 80 page book with biography and lyrics.
After an acoustic period, Adoplphson & Falk have decided to return to their electronic roots.
DATAMASKIN
