Happy New Year From MATRIXSYNTH! - A Look Back at 2015

Happy New Year everyone!  I want to thank you all for a great 2015 and I wish you all the best in 2016!

The following is my yearly round up for the year.  Feel free to dig into this post as much you like, or skip it and leave a comment at the bottom of the post. I'd be curious to hear what stood out for you in 2015. Do you like the direction the synthesizer world is headed in, or would you rather see more or less of any type of product?

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RIP Tod Dockstader

Left: "Tod Dockstader works in the studio in the early 1960s. Photo: Courtesy Tom Steenland/Starkland"

Sad news in via Atomic Shadow and Cray of Vicmod Records.

Tod Dockstader was one of the pioneers of electronic music working mainly with tape. You can find his Wikipedia page here. Wired has a great interview/write-up posted back in June of 2012.

"Born in 1932, Dockstader was part of the first wave of electronic musicians, who, before the advent of synthesizers in the early 1960s, worked with whatever hardware they could find: reel-to-reel tape machines, sine wave generators and a wild array of homemade circuits and military surplus gear. In the process, they created a universe of electronic music that still sounds unique and prescient today.

The wire recorder Dockstader used to create electronic music was a piece of used military equipment. 'A lot of this [electronic music] happened because, after the war, a lot of the stuff was available,' Dockstader said. 'Normally a person, a civilian … wouldn’t be able to get that tube, this device or that device. That fascinated me.'"

Explore some sound in his memory this weekend.

Below are a few videos in via Cray.  The first is a short on Tod Dockstader recently on Kickstarter, followed by two pieces of his work.  You can find more posts featuring Tod Dockstader here.


Unlocking Dockstader (short) from Justin H Brierley on Vimeo.

The Unlocking Dockstader Kickstarter campaign was posted back in October of 2014.

Tod Dockstader & David Lee Myers - Assembly

Uploaded on Oct 5, 2007

"kaeru"

Tod Dockstader - Water Music, Part 3

Uploaded on Dec 10, 2010 -questasian-

"Taken from the release "Drone, Two Parts Of Apocalypse, Water Music" by Tod Dockstader (1966)

All copyright held by Owl Records. I have only uploaded this because there is not enough of this artist on Youtube for people to enjoy. :)"

Unlocking Dockstader by Justin H Brierley

Seeking funding on Kickstarter here.

This one in via Atomic Starter

"Electronic composer, filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, Alzheimer's patient. This film will explore the life and work of Tod Dockstader.

Tod's story: a brief introduction

Tod Dockstader is a multi-talented creator whose work remains largely unrecognized. He is perhaps most well known as a composer of electronic music and as a cartoon sound effects artist. While working at Terrytoons in the early 1960s he provided sounds for Tom & Jerry and other cartoons directed by Gene Deitch. Around the same time he also worked as a sound engineer for a studio in NYC that mostly did commercial work. He used these resources during his off hours to create several albums startling electronic music that influenced artists like Frank Zappa, Pete Townshend, and Aphex Twin. Some of this music was even used by Fellini as part of the Satyricon soundtrack.

Tod's creativity ranges far beyond music and sound effects. He was an avid writer (poetry, short stories, plays, music reviews, etc..) and evidence suggests that he very much desired a writing career long before he started making music. He was also a filmmaker whose company Westport Communications Group produced educational films that were distributed by McGraw Hill as part of their American Heritage series. Tod did most of the creative work on these films: writing, producing, and directing. One of the goals of my film is to show Tod for the true Renaissance man that he is.

Backstory

Like many great documentaries this project has changed and evolved over time. My original idea was simply to do a phone interview with Dockstader for my radio show. Then I learned about Tod's dementia and I set out to film interviews while he could still remember some of his past. At that time, Tod's daughter Tina entrusted me to his old computer which is filled with unreleased music that he was working on during the early stages of his dementia. I tried playing him his own music to see if he could remember anything about how he created it. He couldn't, however I noticed that he very much enjoyed the listening and would sometimes tell other stories about his life. As time went on his physical health deteriorated, including his hearing, and the positive effects of listening to music also lessened.

Now

And then I got an iPad. I started bringing that along and showing Tod different music making apps. The result is amazing. He's particularly fond of the official John Cage Prepared Piano app and the amazing multi-touch synthesizer TC-11, which was generously donated by its developer, Bit Shape Software. Seeing Tod not only light up with delight, but also engaging his creativity has given me a new idea and direction for this film.

Future

The first major change is that I will be enlisting the help of a certified Music Therapist. I want to see if by engaging his creativity I can help him access memories that have been lost to him. Up until now I have been able to visit Tod an average of once or twice per month. I will be increasing those visits to near daily, occasionally accompanied by a professional Music Therapist. These session will form the foundation upon which I tell Tod's amazing life story."

Hollow Sun Promotes Bob Moog Foundation with Atomic Shadow

via Hollow Sun Records

"Atomic Shadow shares the same birth date (May 23rd) as the late, great Dr Robert Moog. inventor of the Moog synthesiser.

In recognition of this coincidence, for a limited time, we've decided to make The Shadow's first two albums, 'Project Berna' and 'Creatures From Beyond', available for just £3 each with all proceeds to be donated to the Bob Moog Foundation.

The Bob Moog Foundation ignites the innovator in us all through exposure to interactive educational experiences that draw from Dr. Bob Moog's legacy of groundbreaking work at the intersection of music, science, and imagination.

Maverick electronic explorer, Atomic Shadow, is at the forefront of modern abstract electronica using as he does true retro equipment from the 50s and 60s ... test oscillators, reel-to-reel tape machines for feeding in tape loops or tape delays, etc., and a hint of modernity with MoogerFooger pedals. His music invokes influences from the likes of Tod Dockstader, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and others. Atomic Shadow's electronica is moody and dark, sometimes chilling, sometimes challenging, sometimes whimsical, always intriguing.

He was recently runner up in the London Science Museum's 'Oramix' remix competition judged by Brian Eno, DJ Spooky and The Wire.

He also recently won the 'I Dream Of Wires' modular synth award with exemptions and exceptions that although his wall of retro gear isn't exactly a 'modular synth' per se and pre-dates Dr Moog's classic designs, it represents instead the kind of music laboratories of the early pioneers which Bob Moog rationalised into the synthesisers we know today


The Shadow says of his contribution...

'The futuristic sounds of the early pioneers of electronic music captured my imagination as a child and continues to influence my work to this day. Dr. Bob was one of these pioneers. From his early love of the Theremin to his ground breaking modular instruments, through the innovative keyboards that have appeared on countless classic and modern recordings. This legacy must be preserved for our children and I am happy to give the Bob Moog Foundation my support. Through their efforts, the next generation of music and engineering pioneers may be inspired to dream, innovate and create the sounds for an entirely new world of tomorrow...'" Catch the full post and the releases at Hollow Sun Records. And of course, Happy Birthday Bob Moog and Atomic Shadow!


The following is a composite sampler of Atomic Shadow's "Berna Suite".




"Compilation/remix of Atomic Shadow's 'Project Berna' album which, along with his 'Creatures From Beyond', is being sold for a limited time with all proceeds going to the Bob Moog Foundation.

The Shadow shares the same birth date as the late, great Dr Bob so what better way to mark that coincidence.

@AtomicShadow

Please buy these albums (a mere £3.00 (approx $4.5) each) to not only contribute to a great cause but to also have two fantastic albums of abstract electronica in your collection."

http://www.hollowsunrecords.co.uk/bmf/
http://www.facebook.com/BobMoogFoundation

don preston - filters, oscillators & envelopes 1967-75 (album preview)

"Excerpts from the album. Now available at Experimedia.net. LP version. Previously-unreleased electronic music from original The Mothers Of Invention keyboardist, Don Preston. 'We're coming to the beginning of a new era wherein the development of the inner-self is the most important thing. We have to train ourselves so that we can improvise on anything: a bird, a sock, a fuming beaker. This, too, can be music. Anything can be music.' --Don Preston, extracts from Uncle Meat, 1969, The Mothers Of Invention
One could hardly not see in Don Preston a key musician within Frank Zappa's oeuvre. He is not only that, but his presence has marked The Mothers' major records from 1966 to 1974. His touch was already there before the arrival of Ian Underwood, and it continued after Ian left. You all remember 'King Kong' (its magnificence as interpreted by Dom DeWild) from the second Uncle Meat suite. A certain form of jubilation emanates from this track, thanks to Preston's fluid style and lightly astringent tone on the Moog synthesizer -- that instrument never sounded quite like that before or after. This might have to do with his double training, his twin interests, since he had been simultaneously working with Gil Evans and listening intensely to Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Tod Dockstader. Immersed in jazz music, he was imagining secret ties with the nascent electronic music. In the mid-'60s, Preston started developing an electronic instrument, using a home-made synthesizer and a series of oscillators and filters. Out of this instrument came 'Electronic Music' (1967), his first piece. Two years later, he became a close friend of Robert Moog, and their discussions gave birth to a number of applications in relation with the flexibility of the instrument. Nowadays, you can't mention the Mini-Moog without thinking of Preston. Bob Moog himself said about his solo in "Waka/Jawaka": "That's impossible. You can't do that on a Moog." Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes features the other side, the hidden side of Don Preston: the composer of purely electronic music.
Released by: sub rosa
Release/catalogue number: sr334lp
Release date: Apr 12, 2012"

via Boing Boing

Don Preston and Dr. Patrick Gleeson where scheduled to be live at Analogue Haven in 2007. I don't believe I ever saw pics or video of the events. At least I'm not quickly finding any. If anyone knows, feel free to comment or shoot me an email.

Introducing Hollow Sun Records - Esoteric Electronica

For those not familiar with Hollow Sun, they are known for bringing a number of incredibly rare instruments into our sonic palette that we would otherwise not have access to. They brought us the Hammond Novachord, vintage valve/tube oscillators and noise generators from the 40s and 50s, and a number of conventional but rare synthesizers, string machines, and more. See the Hollow Sun website for the full list.

They are now launching Hollow Sun Records which will showcase experimental electronic music.

"Hollow Sun Records brings esoteric electronica from a broad range of experimental sonic artists from across the world on modestly priced, high quality downloadable albums you can buy directly.

Hollow Sun Records offers considered, abstract soundscapes and thoughtful sonic tapestries brought to you by leaders in their field of modern (and some retro), offbeat electronica.

We pride ourselves on the slightly odd and weird and tend towards the unconventional. Many strange noises are to be heard reverberating around the crumbling, musty corridors and labs here at Hollow Sun Towers so it seems only logical to release the work of friends who are exploring new (and sometimes revisiting some old) sonic territories for others to enjoy."


The current line-up includes ATOMIC SHADOW, who's vintage oscillators and noise machines have been featured in some of Hollow Sun's instruments, BOB TAVIS, and MATTHIAS SCHUSTER. Bios follow.

---

"Atomic Shadow is at the forefront of modern abstract electronica using as he does true retro equipment from the 50s and 60s ... test oscillators, reel-to-reel tape machines for feeding in tape loops or tape delays, etc.. His music invokes influences from the likes of Tod Dockstader, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and others.

Atomic Shadow's electronica is moody and dark, sometimes challenging, sometimes whimsical, always intriguing."

---

"Bob Tavis started with experimental music in the late 60s when all he had was a test oscillator, two tape recorders, a Hammond and Farfisa Duo organ, a spring reverb and a tape echo.

Bob studied under electronic music pioneer, Vladimir Ussachevsky, in the 60s and has also worked with Boris Kovalev on developing two software synths, psyBox and Ambitron."

---

"Matthias Schuster's prolific output is forever fascinating with the various projects he and his Thereminist wife, Trautonia, are involved with. From Das Institut to Geisterfahrer, his unique brand of music always challenges.

But Matthias dates back a bit and is as adept at 'Berliner Krautrock' with sweeping Mellotrons backed by his PPG modulars and all the other crusty old analogue gear he has as he is at more angular experimental material."

http://www.hollowsunrecords.co.uk/

The Unofficial Tod Dockstader and Musique Concrete

via The Unofficial Tod Dockstader
"The extent of Dockstader's experimentation with sound can be gauged by the fact that in the early 60s, when much of his work was 'constructed', there was no instant means of categorising such work. This was made more the case by Dockstader's straddling of the popular and high art cultural zones: working on the production of cartoons and sound-effects whilst scoring a Fellini film and having his pieces played alongside those of Varèse. Yet, in the mid 60s such 'musique concrete' experiments were more or less a very fragmentary and dispersed form a minor subset of avant-garde classical music. The centre of gravity may have been Schaeffer's Groupe de Recherche Musicales and there may have been other nodal points like John Cage's Fontana Mix and Steve Reich's Come Out, but what seems to be inflected in Dockstader's work, like that of Varèse, is just this sense of isolation and difference from the 'canon' of electronic music as it was becoming conscious of itself and establishing its paradigms."

This one in via Atomic Shadow

Note: I'm creating a Musique Concrete label for such artists. Musique concrete is in effect sound synthesis and the beginnings of sample manipulation. I'll see what blogger brings up for past posts but if you see any I miss the label for let me know and I'll add it.

PHILLIP WERREN - ELECTRONIC MUSIC 1968-71 (BUCHLA)

http://www.castexotic.com/werren.htm
"In 1971 Phillip Werren released a 4 Lp box through Simon Fraser University of his early Electronic Work which was recorded at S.F.U., McGill University & Radio Warzawa, Poland. Only 100 copies where ever made. A few years ago I discovered this record and was completly blown away. The Lp has heavy elements of tape collage, Modular Synthisis, voice, and experimental thought. Some of the pieces where conceived by psychedelic and occult influences. Much of the record was done with a Buchla 100 Series,the first of their modular synthesizers. I tracked down Phil in Toronto where's he's been living a number of years. Phil taught music composition and theory at York University in Toronto from 1977 to 1997,where he headed York's Electronic Music Studio.

The Album was created for the most part at the height of the late 60's at Simon Fraser University. "1968 was a year of great upheaval: at SFU, Canada's Berkeley, 114 people were arrested for their part in the protest over the firing of the entire faculty of the Political Science and Anthropology department. Marcuse, Baba Ram Dass and others came to speak to us at peril to themselves; acid and mescaline abounded and apocalypse seemed to fairly shout out at us in the rarified atmosphere of Burnaby Mountain. The neo-fascist architecture of the university seemed to beg for anarchy and chaos and linear thought itself seemed doomed to extinction."
"The electronic music studio at SFU was at that time probably the most sophisticated studio in Canada. After working in studios at Columbia and Radio Warsaw, both of which were small and somewhat limiting, I found it impossible to continue composing with the Princetonian precision in which I had been schooled. The SFU studio contained the most recent synthesizer designed by Don Buchla. I only vaguely understood what ÒitÓ did and realized that I would have to put aside my rigid preconceptions of how one sound should follow another. The sequencer, a device which can generate a sequence of sound events in a more-or-less random pattern and at times seemed to have a life of its own, became for me a sort-of window through which I could see/hear a universe of sound I had never imagined possible. It was necessary for me to Òstep backÓ from these sequences of sound-events, to control them in some other way: through the mix of one sequence with another in time and space."

This album is a nugget of Canadian Psychedelic Avant-Garde history, up there with the early works of Bill Bissett, The Nihilist Spasm Band, and Intersystems. Also in line with early America works by Robert Ashley, Tod Dockstader, and Gordon Mumma.

Phil and his Engineer friend Tony Crea have transfered the original tapes to digital and cleaned it all up for this CD reissue. Original artwork on the cover was created by local Vancouver Artist JAS Felter."