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.
I'm so happy to see Dockstader getting more exposure - he was a great pioneer of electronic music and, in a sense, the grandfather of every solo artist with a home studio, but never got the recognition that the academics of the 60s received. His "Apocalypse" and "Quatermass" were classics of early experimental music, and stunning for their time.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I only recently discovered this man's work and I thought- "How come I have never heard of this guy?" Those two works that Richard mentioned are stunning for now even. Back when he was first doing this stuff NOBODY was doing work like this.
ReplyDeleteThere is more info on the Dockstader pages at Starkland records. Highly recommended.