MATRIXSYNTH: Synth Britannia Airs This Friday


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Synth Britannia Airs This Friday

via Electronic Battle. For those of you in the UK, Synth Britannia airs this Friday night at nine o'clock, on BBC Four. Mark your calendars as unless something new comes up between now and then, this will be the only post. For the rest of us, here's a trailer [previously posted].


YouTube via Synthasy2000
" In the late Seventies small pockets of electronic artists such as The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle were inspired by Kraftwerk and J G Ballard to dream of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain.

Gary Numan's 1979 appearance on Top Of The Pops heralded the invention of synthpop, which would provide the soundtrack as Britain entered a new, ruthless era in the Eighties.

Depeche Mode, four lads from Basildon, came to embody the new sound, while post-punk bands such as Ultravox, Soft Cell, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and Yazoo took the synth from the pages of the NME and onto the front cover of Smash Hits.

By 1983 the Pet Shop Boys and New Order were pointing to where the future of electronic music lay in dance.

Contributors to Synth Britannia include Philip Oakey, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, Bernard Sumner, Gary Numan and Neil Tennant."

6 comments:

  1. Is there any way us synth freaks in the USA can see this documentary? Will it be released?

    Thanks,
    Jim
    Los Angeles

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should be able to watch it live here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/watchlive/

    You can usually catch up with programs you missed with the with the BBC's I-Player.

    ReplyDelete
  3. iPlayer's only available to UK IP addresses. It seems you can get to it from outside the UK using a proxy service though. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. OK, try again - inspired by Synth Britannia, here's a version of a 1977 UK synth-pop classic - Warm Leatherette!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome! Where's the synths though?! :)

    ReplyDelete

Note: comments that insult people will be removed. Critique on gear is allowed. Do not ask if listings are still available. Click through auction links to check yourself. Posts and pics remain for historical purposes. To reduce spam, comments for posts older than one week are not displayed until approved (usually same day).

PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE HOME



Switched On Make Synthesizer Evolution Vintage Synthesizers Creating Sound Fundlementals of Synthesizer Programming Kraftwerk

© Matrixsynth - All posts are presented here for informative, historical and educative purposes as applicable within fair use.
MATRIXSYNTH is supported by affiliate links that use cookies to track clickthroughs and sales. See the privacy policy for details.
MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH