FROM MY STUDIO: The EDP Wasp

Here is the machine that brought synthesis to the masses,  at least in the UK.  The Wasp was produced between 1978 and 1980, and sold around 3000 units.  It's price (far cheaper than any contemporaneous Moog or Arp)  and portability made it very inviting to neophyte synthesists.  It featured 2 oscillators, a 25 note non-moving keyboard (even smaller than the Synthi AKS' 30 note capacitant keyboard),  and a tiny onboard speaker for those special moments when you need to bring the noise with you. This monosynth has plenty of power and modulation capability,  especially when heard through an external amplifier.  And how can you not love a cuddly little wasp... ouch?!

A BRIEF ENCOUNTER: PULSE EMITTER

PULSE EMITTER is Daryl Groetsch,  an inhabitant of Portland, Oregon.  His sound projects run the gamut from harsh aural assaults to eerily transcendent soundscapes,  from the highly experimental to the beautifully approachable.  He graciously answered a few of my questions below.
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AP:  Why do you use only modular synths? Which ones?

DG: i don't only use modular synths, i've been using keyboard synths more and more the past few years. on recent recordings, keyboard synths outweigh the modular. i still love the modular, but write more tonal material which is really tough on modular.

my modular is entirely hand built, modules by PAiA, MFOS, and CGS mostly. my keyboard synths are an Oberheim OB-8, an Ensoniq ESQ-1, and a Yamaha TX81Z.

AP:  Do you use any particular external effects?

DG:  i used to be obsessed with analog delays and layered them on everything, i have numerous ones. but they're on the shelf right now, lately i have been using only my Lexicon PCM-80.

AP:  Any new releases?

i've started a label recently (Expansive) and released a CD (Cosmic Images). http://expansive.synthnoise.com/

AP:  What is your art or music background?

DG:  my mom taught me guitar. i played bass in rock bands in high school and college, and in symphonic and marching bands as well. i have a bachelor of music composition from missouri state university. i started doing experimental electronic music in college in the 90's.

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SELECT RELEASES:

MEDITATIVE MUSIC 2 (2008 - self-released) CD-R

OPPRESSIVE NATURE (2009 -  Digitalis Recordings) CD

DECAYING SHIPS (2009 - Ultra Eczema) LP

COSMIC IMAGES (2010 - Expansive) CD

PHOTOS BY ETHER^RA: THIS SECOND SLEEP STUDIO VIEWS

GO ANDY GO

BRIEFLY SPEAKING, ETHER^RA

BLOOD ON MY HANDS: RICARDO VILLALOBOS' APOCALYSO NOW MIXES 1, 2

When I first heard this track,  its slow, haunting mix of text and electronics caught me off guard,  as if I was being ushered into despair merely by listening to our world's fears and the events we all attend one way or another.  Villalobos' mix turns Shacklton's faster,  conga-laced original into an unnerving, slow motion smear of half-remembered,  coagulated nightmares.  Here is the text:

                                             When I see the towers fall,
                                               It cannot be denied that,
                                                       as a spectacle
                                            It is a realization of the mind.

                                     You see,  I'm standing on a mountaintop
                                                 and letting out a scream,
                                              It's the language of the earth,
                                             It is the language of the beasts.

                                           There's no point to look behind us,
                                                  we left the corpse behind,
                                     because flesh is weak and forms break down,
                                                    they cannot last forever.

BLOOD ON MY HANDS PT. 1

BLOOD ON MY HANDS PT. 2

A NOBLE AMBITION

MERZBOW/POTTER: AN AUDIO/VISUAL COLLABORATION

Included (graphics only) in the RRReport on Japanese Noise and Junk Omnibus,  SUB-URBAN is an audio/visual collaboration that merits attention because of its unusual brevity (the audio track) and graphic clarity (the visuals).  Both of these qualities make this distinct from the bulk of Masami Akita's work, especially as it's a miniature with spoken word included. The audio track was only released as part of the OF SOUND MIND (Godsend Productions) double cassette compilation.  SUB-URBAN is described in the liner notes as "combining Masami Akita's brutal, grinding electronics/processing with Potter's spoken text/poetry".  Both magazine and compilation are from 1992-93.

VISUAL NOISE: THE ARTWORK OF MERZBOW

Like Kurt Schwitter's architectural assemblage that is the inspiration for Masami Akita's primary sound project,  the visuals that accompanied Merzbow's early work seem to be Dada influenced collages caught in flux. They form a visual analogue for an all enveloping excess incorporating eroticism,  sex,  death,  loss of self,  and conceptual obviation.  These visual cut-ups of cultural detritus  (Lowest Music & Arts, indeed!) are often color xerox skeins that incorporate both abstraction and realism in their convulsive surfaces.  The discomfort of fleeting form is their contribution to Merzbow's world of noise.

SCUM: SEVERANCES

Masami Akita (Merzbow) and I started our correspondence around 1987 or 1988 with a shared interest in sound manipulation,  mail art,  and the cassette underground.  I first became aware of his work through purchases of several early cassettes which almost immediately became totemic objects signifying a harshness and otherness well beyond their simple means (xerox upon xerox reproduction,  and scraped, looped,  bowed, and overdriven analogue sources).  His noise discouraged analysis beyond its own materiality.  I loved its lack of "musical" development,  its anti-virtuosity,  and its instantaneous envelopment of the listener. Here was postmusic without any concern for harmony,  pitch, consonance/dissonance,  or formal development in the traditional sense.

When I asked Masami if he'd like to produce something for release on my Discordia/Concordia cassette label, he sent me the cassette master that became SCUM (Society For Cutting Up Merzbow): SEVERANCES.  I created the package, artwork, and graphic design.  This was 1989,  and his aural eruptions seemed the perfect soundtrack to a world of broken, reconfigured excess,  and is still relevant today.  SEVERANCES is now only available on wayward copies of MERZBOX.

THIS SECOND SLEEP VIDEO

EX VOTI

0n one my earliest trips to Rome I found myself in the open air market located in Campo de' Fiori.  Among the hordes of tourists and locals, fish, flowers, vegetables, and bric a brac,  I spied a pushcart filled with Victorian postcard erotica and a variety of metal ornaments.  Those ornaments turned out to be ex voti,  votive offerings to a saint or divinity given in thanks or in hopes of grace.  These models of miraculously healed body parts are placed in church chapels by the worshippers as evidence of their faith.  I collect them for their simple sculptural forms,  their patina of age and intention,  and their mystical cache.

A COMMONPLACE DREAD

Here is a photo of the battered antique doll that I purchased at a flea market in Brooklyn.  It now hangs gleefully (and without the slightest bit of remorse in its expression) in my studio and gives me the tiniest bit of trepidation when I glance up at it.  Could it be a slight case of pediophobia or just a normal response to its crumbling visage? Perhaps I watched the ventriloquist's self-animated dummy in DEAD OF NIGHT one too many times? Hmmm...

THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF KARL BLOSSFELDT

My wife recently started a series of drawings based on photographs of plant forms that she had been studying intently.  Those spectacular photos are from a book called KARL BLOSSFELDT: The Complete Published Work.  That his photos were meant as pedagogical guides rather than as works of art makes them even more interesting, as the baggage of pretense is stripped away and the forms are truly examined.  Given that Blossfeldt lived from 1865-1932,  and that his work predates Surrealism, Color Field Painting,  and Conceptual Art,  he can be seen as a true visual innovator.  This is naturalism re-examined,  the decorative arts torn from the chains of Classicism,  and the idea of beauty re-defined. Check this modest man's work out.

URFORMEN DER KUNST (Art forms in Nature)

ether^ra IN HIS STUDIO

THE EMS SYNTHI AKS IN ACTION

FROM MY STUDIO: The EMS Synthi AKS Mk. II

Essentially a 1972 performance/portability refinement of the lovingly designed VCS3,  the Synthi AKS added a 30 note non-moving keyboard sequencer to the basic VCS3 synthesizer specs.  That is why this suitcase synth is coveted by noise freaks and sound junkies the world over.  I must say that I love the pin matrix as well,  with its ease of use and visual clarity.  My Synthi had a few mods done (by EMS guru,  Robin Wood?) to it by a previous owner,  but I seldom use them.  The sounds that this thing makes out of the box seem more than enough to me. A keeper for sure!

OSCILLATIONS: Releases By Astro and Demons

Recent listening has included two CD releases from 2007,  both of which rely on a particular analogue synth (an EMS Synthi A for Astro's ASTRAL ORANGE SUNSHINE,  and a pair of what I believe are Sequential Circuits Pro Ones on EVOCATION by Demons) for their oscillations and modulations.  The lengthly tracks on both CDs seem to share a timbral and structural feel reminiscent of Louis and Babe Barron's all electronic soundtrack for FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956).  While Astro's delayed Synthi drones tend to sometimes evaporate into tedious toxic clouds,  the Demons present ominous textures and elaborately "epileptic" noise structures that really capture the psychological dread of the film.  Strangely enough,  the high contrast,  color saturated,  and rigidly composed graphics found on the ASTRAL ORANGE SUNSHINE package belie its monochromatic drones.   EVOCATION's cover artwork showcases some faux Max Ernst decalcomania in tones of gray,  a sinewy forest of drips that suggest forms while at the same time obviating them.  Great stuff!

EML ELECTROCOMP 101 & FOLKTEK BOX OF SECRETS

PERE UBU: A Double Feature

THE EML ELECTROCOMP 101

This was EML's most popular synth,  with 1000 made between 1972-82.  The 101 is a duophonic,  semi-modular keyboard synth with inputs/outputs for each module,  and continuously variable waveform control for each VCO (how can you not love those knobs!).  This is the suitcase synth made famous by Allen Ravenstine of Pere Ubu,  whose wonderfully expressive noise bursts, sonic squiggles,  and aural textures first turned me on to the possibilities of sound.  Listen to THE MODERN DANCE,  DUB HOUSING, and NEW PICNIC TIME for the sounds of pop architecture crumbling into poetry.

FROM MY STUDIO: The EML ElectroComp 101

EML-400 & FRIENDS

THE EML-400

Sometimes called the EML 400/401 because it shipped as a double module (synth/sequencer), this analogue/digital hybrid was produced between 1970-84.  Only about 300 were ever made.  It seems that it was the first sequencer to use a quantizer and a voltage-controlled envelope generator.  That one is able to  program and patch this beast while running the sequence quantized or variably,  can make form some truly twisted little sequences.  My 400 is missing the original colorful slider caps, yet functions flawlessly. Like most EML products,  the 400 was built mainly for use in schools,  so I can only imagine the sonic mayhem that blared from those music rooms!

FROM MY STUDIO: The EML-400 Sequential Synthesizer

ME: Messing Around in My Studio

The EML-200 IN ACTION

THE EML-200 MODULAR SYNTH

One of my favorite toys is the EML-200.  It was made by the Electronic Music Laboratories between 1972-1980,  and about 400 were manufactured.  Mine is in excellent shape, and was purchased from the fine folks at Tone Tweakers (check them out!).  It has two oscillators,  an LFO,  a HPF,  a LPF,  ring modulators,  sample and hold,  spring reverb,  and more.  It seems to be more of an educational,  lab-oriented synth than a performance model,  but fun nonetheless.  If anyone has its companion piece for sale,  the EML 300 Manual Controller,  please drop me a line care of this blog. Thanks.  Also,  the 200 was meant to work as an add-on to the EML ElectroComp 101 keyboard synth (which I also own), but as a non-player of keyboards I keep them unconnected.

FROM MY STUDIO: The EML-200 Modular Synth

EMS (Electronic Music Studios)

My last three posts presented a terrific little documentary about the times,  technology,  people,  accomplishments, and sad demise (yes, they're still functioning, but at a snail's pace) of EMS,  England's premier synth maker since 1969.  Since the oscillators of both the VCS3 and the Synthi AKS (of which I'm a proud owner) tend to drift,  only the brave,  the creatively unencumbered,  and the wealthy (present prices are beyond ridiculous) need apply.  If chance and variable pitch are part of your abstract musical endeavors, check one of these babies out.  Wendy Carlos did early on,  and was not too kind in her response to the EMS ethos.  Let's face it,  a Synthi AKS isn't playing "Switched-On Bach" any time too soon,  and why would you ever want that!

WHAT THE FUTURE SOUNDED LIKE: Parts1-3

FROM THE WIRE 306: Hotwire My Heart

You've got to admire the tinkerer, that solitary individual armed only with a soldering iron, a blog,  and a fierce desire to explore those dark and dusty aural corners that corporations like Korg, Moog, and Roland usually avoid like a short circuit. While I very much enjoyed your Primer on the much maligned and celebrated Roland TB-303 (The Wire 303), I'd love to see you continue exploring the man/machine interface, but by digging a bit deeper next time. What I'm suggesting is an article about those seemingly fearless boys and girls who purposely cross wires, combine incongruous materials and ultimately embrace discovery. This seems to be the antithesis of the laptop sensibility,  doesn't it?

A bit of fun also seems in order, and circuit bending certainly fits the bill (Speak & Spell from the depths of hell,  anyone?).  And let's not forget the scores of people who create limited edition pedals,  exotic electronics,  and sound art objects.  There are even collectives like Folktek whose handmade,  limited edition "instruments" provide a technological glimpse backwards and fowards,  combining a dada-flavored modernity with a crumbling Victorian patina,  all with sounds that seem right for 21st century ears.

What these artists/inventors share is that they are generally unheard and undocumented,  and The Wire seems just the publication to give them a face and a history.  Even a small Bite would do.

                                                                                                 Arthur P.

FOLKTEK ARTS: Listen & Look

Sounds from the two previous videos were created using various Folktek "instruments" as primary sound sources.  Devices such as The Drum Scape,  The Intercom,  and The Pluton all contributed their fair share of aural terror to the proceedings. Most are heard with very little "sweetening" from external effects. Folktek is Arius Blaze and Ben Houston,  whose many creations can be seen and heard at http://folktek.blogspot.com/

TWO FOLKTEK SHOWCASES

CURRENT SPINS

Here are some of the discs I've been enjoying during the last few weeks, presented in no particular order:

1.  Cabaret Voltaire -  "The Original Sound of Sheffield '78/'82 Best Of"
2.  John Foxx -  "Metatronic"
3.  Monoton -  "Monotonprodukt 07"
4.  Karlheinz Stockhausen -  "Elektronische Musik 1952-1960"
5.  Pulse Emitter -  "Oppressive Nature"
6.  Rene Hell -  "Porcelain Opera"
7.  Martial Canterel -  "Refudge Underneath"
8.  Carlos Giffoni -  "Severance"
9.  Various -  "The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume One"
10.  square_wave -  "Sec Coma"
11.  Saverio Evangelista & Federico Spini -  "Works II"
12.  Merzbow -  Another Merzbow Records"

ETHER^RA

Many THANKS to brother project ether^ra for including me in his blog. It's called ETHER^RA: VISUAL ARTS,  SOUND MANOEUVRING & ARCANA.  Definitely worth a look and a listen. Check it out at http://etherra.blogspot.com/

EML Machinery at Work For You

HYPNAGOGIC POP? An Open Letter to The Wire

The inclusion of S. Robin's letter in The Wire 318 prompted me to refer back to David Keenan's long-winded treatise on Hypnagogic Pop in an earlier issue. It's good to know that I wasn't the only reader offended by that ridiculous appraisal of "Hypnagogic" musicians who seemingly tap into a muddy stream of Eighties mediocrity ("Ghostbusters", no less!) and mono-culture for their inspiration.  Indeed,  ideas such as ambiguity, the ineffable,  and half-remembered experiences do shape and transform an artist on both conscious and unconscious levels,  but why limit Mr. Keenan's term only to artists/musicians effected by Eighties cultural detritus?  Who said that "to name something is to destroy it"?  Well certainly not Mr. Keenan, as he's been rather busy creating silly catchphrases that add little or nothing to our understanding of what may be music of substantial value.  And did I see a "Proto-Hypnagogic" playlist? What a mess! I certainly hope I was dreaming.
                                                                     Arthur P.

A Video Taster

Those previous posts give you some small idea of the type of work I do with electronics and imagery. Enjoy.

WELCOME!

With this forum I hope to showcase ideas about sound and its relationships to art, nature, memory and the subconscious. As a painter and a "musician" working mainly with vintage analogue synths (with little or no concern for traditional ideas of pitch),  noise (those sounds consigned to the margins of form and acceptability) will be my primary concern. Let's see what happens.