MAGNIFIERS: PINK NOISES by Tara Rodgers

As an audio signal,  pink noise has been described as a random distribution of all audible frequencies in which every octave has equal amplitude or loudness.  Allen Strange,  in his groundbreaking  book ELECTRONIC MUSIC (1972, 1983),  calls this signal "pink sound",  thus obviating the negative connotations of the word "noise".  Pink noise as an entity and as a frame of mind suggests an egalitarian and inclusive approach to music-making,  technology use,  and  gender roles.  This collection of interviews with female musicians,  DJs,  and instrument makers,  seeks to level the playing field while promoting feminist and social concerns.  To most folks,  noise-making is consigned to men like Merzbow,  Whitehouse,  and even  musique concrete maestro Pierre Schaeffer.  While Masami Akita's first wife Reiko was originally part of Merzbow's sonic maelstom,  few who bought their cassettes,  albums,  and CDs thought of Reiko as an integral part of the Merzbow experience.  I would have loved to have read an interview with her,  especially in light of Japanese culture's cult of female subservience.  Beyond this omission,  this publication (which started life in 2000 as Pinknoises.com) brings together 24 interviews with a diverse group of women that range from composers to remixers to installation artists to synth-makers and beyond.  Some interviews garbbed me more than others,  but all are worthy of being read and discussed further. My particular favorites include synthesist Eliane Radigue,  drummer Ikue Mori, and musician/synth designer & builder Jessica Rylan.  They all tell stories of grappling with tired male attitudes concerning use of technology,  the creative process,  and  performance.  Rylan,  in particular sheds light on the beauty of circuit design and the moral dilemma of sweatshop production of those same circuit boards. Why do most of us set ourselves apart from that kind of social/moral concern? Could it be our particular gender circuits?  Tara Rodgers has assembled an insightful series of interviews that do far more than entertain. Read this book.

SOME OUTER LIMITS

If you haven't seen THE OUTER LIMITS series from the Sixties,  you don't know what you're missing.  Various portals into the unknown were presented there,  with few answers given.  You never knew what to expect from the series,  except that it was going to be heady stuff indeed (in glorious B&W).  This was a fiercely intelligent series that was clearly too good for network TV,  and was cancelled after a season and a half.  "The Zanti Misfits" was one of my favorites. BTW,  the images from this video are not from that episode,  but do remind me of the series.

APPS: DM1 The Drum Machine by Fingerlab

If you'd like to own an arsenal of mainly vintage drum machines without incurring some serious financial damage,  this may be just the app you're looking for.  I was looking for a Roland CR-78 (you know,  that fabled machine that formed the backbone of John Foxx's classic METAMATIC album from 1980),  and found its beefy sounding virtual version here,  along with other sought after "beat boxes" like the TR-808 and 606.  I prefer the retro sounds I got effortlessly from rhythm generators by Farfisa and Wurlitzer.  They brought me right back to the gritty glory days of early Cabaret Voltaire. While I do own a Roland TR-55 (1972),  an early analogue drum machine with wonderful beats ,  but limited capabilities,  I will return to this app for the possibilities it presents. BTW, the TR stands for "transistor rhythm",  which gives you a good idea at how far we've travelled technologically.

DM1 - The Drum Machine for iPad - By Fingerlab from Fingerlab on Vimeo.

OSCILLATIONS: THE ANDERSON TAPES OST

Well,  this is the kind of oddity only late night or early morning TV viewers get to discover.  It seems this  rather weak 1972 Sidney Lumet heist flick not only features a young post-James Bond Sean Connery (sans hairpiece),  but also a strangely neurotic sounding synthesized soundtrack by Quincy Jones.  I was somewhat taken aback by the abstract severity of those sounds in the context of a feature film,  but I continued to watch and listen. I'm sure many others found the score obtrusive,  but for a movie whose underlying themes  are surveillance,  eavesdropping,  and paranoia,  its atmosphere of early electronic sound seemed just right to me.  One must assume the idea of using what may be Moog Modular (first available in 1965) "noise" (filter sweeps,  pulses, etc.) as the primary ingredient of a film soundtrack was quite foreign at the time.  Move ahead to 2011 and to our technology-laden homes and cities where surveillance is now pervasive,  and digital "noise" is not just part of a sound-designer's palette,  but is omnipresent.  The future is now,  and we have every reason to be paranoid.  Try being a part-time luddite, and unplug something.

OSCILLATIONS: I HAVE A SPECIAL PLAN FOR THIS WORLD by Current 93

In a world filled with mundane "communication" (Twitter, anyone?)  and sudden hyperpole ("awesome"), here is a quiet bit of electronica and spoken word that does its job and exits gracefully leaving an indelible impression.

                              When everyone you have ever loved is finally gone
                              When everything you have ever wanted is finally done with
                              When all of your nightmares are for a time obscured
                               as by a shining brainless beacon
                               or a blinding eclipse of the many terrible shapes of this world
                               when you are calm and joyful
                               and finally entirely alone
                               then in a great new darkness
                               you will finally execute your special plan

And so begins the ride into a secret and terrible beauty,  courtesy writer Thomas Ligotti and musician David Tibet,  who supplies voice,  found sound,  atmospheric electronics  and vocal processing aplenty.  The suffocating cloud that surrounds this piece offers a personal apocalypse glimpsed through the strangulation of phrases and the clipping of vocal sounds.  Thomas Ligotti provides the chillingly nihilistic and philosophically elliptical (thematic loops to some extent) confessions here,  without ever spilling over  into mere sensationalism.  This nightmare seems all the more real for its calm delivery and pacing.  While a similar sinister quality may be found in earlier Current 93 works like NATURE UNVEILED and DOGS BLOOD RISING,  this release greatly benefits from Ligotti's text,  the unflustered development of the voices,  and an almost obsessive use of repetition.  In many ways the minimalism heard here makes this a distant cousin to Steve Reich's COME OUT (1966)  and David Tudor's I AM SITTING IN A ROOM (1969),  but without their concern for aural texture and process.  I HAVE A SPECIAL PLAN FOR THIS WORLD (2000),  while not as artistically prescient as those works,  does do something that great art often does so cunningly.  It provides possibilities without any comforting disclosure at all.

THE ON-STAGE RS7030

After a year of dealing with the slipping and sliding of modules within my self-made wooden cabinet for three Serge powered boats,  my brother suggested this solution.  The RS7030 is an inexpensive,  yet sturdy metal rack that handily accepts my M-Series modular synth modules.  To say that I am happy with the result is something of an understatement.  Many Thanks to ether^ra and Rex at STS for their help.