Early Electronic Pop was Awkward and Glorious
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Explore these sounds yourself with Cherry Audio's free Voltage Modular Nucleus bundle, and try free demos of the VM900, Miniverse, and Memorymode 2 for classic vintage tones: http://cherryaudio.com/bandsplaining
The long awaited follow-up to Space Age Pop takes us to the early days of the synthesizer, when pioneering synthesist weren't sure whether to use it for lounge music, classical music, abstract bleeps and bloops, or all-of-the above. This early period yielded some of the most bizarre mash-ups; from synth-country to atmospheric Greek jazz. Not to mention the beginnings of ambient, new age, progressive and many other genres recognizable today.
Check out the prequel video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEjWpbtOxAM
Podcast coming soon to https://www.patreon.com/bandsplaining
SUPPORT INDEPENDENT HUMAN MUSIC RESEARCH AND HAVE LOTS OF FUN IN THE PROCESS. Patreon subscribers have access to our biweekly podcast, follow-up episodes/videos, and lots more. 👍
Patrons can enter to win THIS copy of Dick Hyman's "Moog" here: https://www.patreon.com/bandsplaining/posts/dick-hymans-m…
Editing by @sedatephobe
The long awaited follow-up to Space Age Pop takes us to the early days of the synthesizer, when pioneering synthesist weren't sure whether to use it for lounge music, classical music, abstract bleeps and bloops, or all-of-the above. This early period yielded some of the most bizarre mash-ups; from synth-country to atmospheric Greek jazz. Not to mention the beginnings of ambient, new age, progressive and many other genres recognizable today.
Check out the prequel video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEjWpbtOxAM
Podcast coming soon to https://www.patreon.com/bandsplaining
SUPPORT INDEPENDENT HUMAN MUSIC RESEARCH AND HAVE LOTS OF FUN IN THE PROCESS. Patreon subscribers have access to our biweekly podcast, follow-up episodes/videos, and lots more. 👍
Patrons can enter to win THIS copy of Dick Hyman's "Moog" here: https://www.patreon.com/bandsplaining/posts/dick-hymans-m…
Editing by @sedatephobe
@Bandsplaining
*Update* Until Nov 5, Cherry Audio is offering 20% off the synth VSTs shown in this video. You can also try them free for 30 days: cherryaudio.com/bandsplaining
PLEASE COMMENT YOUR FAVORITE RECORDS including ones I didn't mention. I know there's a lot more we sadly didn't have time to cover.
14 likes
@UrsulinCobler
We need a full Krautrock history. We need an "Ambient vs. New Age" video (which will prove controversial probably). We need a Part II. (Which features Jarre, Vangelis and others that massively put synth music onto turntables in the mid-70's).
Thank you for your good work !
169 likes
@Hainbach
This video makes me very happy.
124 likes
@SocietyofSteve
You should absolutely make the Ambient vs. New Age video!
Just know I will defend Enya with the rage of one million Celtic warriors.
28 likes
@MirlitronOne
In fairness to Bob Moog, he did strongly resist the development of a Moog traditional keyboard until a number of influential users insisted that if he didn't offer one, somebody else would make money from it.
7 likes
@eti313
Not completely electronic, but lets have a shout out to Del Shannon's "Runaway", 1961, and Joe Meek, who wrote and produced The Tornados "Telstar," 1962, which went #1 in the US and UK. The Clavioline was the prominent electronic component. Apologies if this was already mentioned in a previous video.
29 likes
@NünterGetzer
The Dr. Who Theme wasn't made with an electronic instrument. It was made by Delia Derbyshire in using a sine generator and pure tape manipulation as speeding up/down, splicing and glueing and so on. In a sense you could say that her complete workflow would have been the electronic instrument ... but ...
30 likes
@gumbypokey
The guy who did Plantasia was author of a darker album Lucifer - Black Mass...used to scare myself listening to that...
11 likes
@UrsulinCobler
Hey, everyone, I recommend the "Sisters with transistors" documentary if you want to dig deeper into female pioneers in this genre. Suzanne Ciani (❤), Delia Derbyshire of Dr Who fame (and the White Noise album which was a recording nightmare), Eliane Radigue... Please give them appreciation !
42 likes
@wayneclark3020
White Noise An Electric Storm deserves way more than just honorable mention in this video. The 5 songs on side one are excellently crafted pop gems as good as any of the era. The synth and tape loop effects by Delia Derbyshire are psychedelic beyond belief. And notice how perfectly in time with the beat all the edits are!
I remember this album from my childhood. My brother Dennis bought it because he liked the album cover. I heard it when I was 11 or so then someone stole it from my brother. I searched for it for many years and found a CD copy on eBay around 2006. I couldn't wait to play it for my brother when he and his wife stopped by to visit. When my sister in-law heard My Game of Loving she began to say things like "I'm not comfortable listening to this" and it was at that moment that I heard that album through "adult ears" lol! Up til then it was just a dreamy pop record I loved as a kid. So yeah watch out if you are listening to this album around people who are easily offended by sexual overtones on a record. I kinda found that out the hard way haha!
18 likes
@thecosmicblueautistic
When I say that I am a fan of synthpop, this is what I mean. I really cherish the experimental weirdness of the early days.
32 likes
@HerrSpuzzmacher
This is actually the only era of electronic music I really like. You never know what you’re going to hear, it’s the sound of a thousand new directions out into the unknown, dark and formless, and filled with monsters. You can hear the lack of confines and expectations, with artists landing on whatever they thought fit, rather than “HoW dO i AcHiEvE tHe 303 sound….” On a desert island, all I need are me Isao Tomita cd’s.
1 likes
@PeterKerans-h6z
Maybe missed some of the early Space Rock - Hawkwind in particular.
4 likes
@luxinveritate3365
Waiting for the Stockhausen, or Berio mention. Not to mention Ligeti and his Artikulations. Have to do something on Musique Concrete.
5 likes
@DubArchaeologist
Strange but true. Three days before this upload, I found Tomita's Snowflakes Are Dancing, sleeveless in a corner of my mum's record collection - mostly early/baroque. Maybe my dad ended up with the sleeve as it was probably his lol. I have no memory of it ever being played at home as a 70s 80s kid or knowing it was electronic when flicking through the records in my JM Jarre phase before starting to make music myself. It's a synth/mellotron response to the same by Debussy. Hauntingly beautiful in a way and certainly not awkward. The sound design is top tier.
5 likes
@Voyage-Futur
Love it!!! Yes pleaseeee - a video about Ambient vs. New Age 🙏
17 likes
@stearnshd
Now i want to dive into all this early synth music. I've always liked the old synth and exotica genre since Capital Records released the Ultra Lounge series in 1996. I wish there was more online to stream
7 likes
@singlesideman
Buchla was fundamentally wrong saying that a keyboard is for throwing hammers at strings. Before any keyboard did that we had the harpsichord which plucked them, clavichords which used a tangent to play the strings, and of course the organ, which controlled the flow of air through pipes, and had done so for centuries before the piano.
1 likes
@geeksplice
I love this stuff. Got to see Morton Subotnik speak and give a performance a couple years ago. He was actually pretty involved in the development of the Buchla synth. IIRC he actually commissioned Buchla to make it for his experimental music. I've personally found east coast stuff to be a bit more listenable, but it's fascinating regardless how this stuff developed from weird experiments to being such a big part of music today.
BTW Country Moog is definitely more on the side of kitschy, but the sequel to that album Nashville Gold has a cover of Wichita Lineman that's actually pretty beautiful. Funny how things can just line up perfectly for one track on these records and make something really great.
10 likes
@TheGotoGeek
The studio I used to record in had a Buchla, which we ran by electric violin through. Good times.
3 likes