ELECTRONIC_MUSIC_HISTORY.md

An history of electronic music

full of personal and geographical biases...

Before modern electronics (The Electricity Fairy)

Some ancestors of electronic instruments

• The telharmonium (1897). Patent US580035A.

• The intonarumori is an instrument created in 1913 by the futuristic composer Luigi Russolo. Russolo is the author of a manifesto on The Art of Noises (L'arte dei rumori), a manifesto for futuristic music.

  • French translation: http://luigi.russolo.free.fr/mani1.html ; http://luigi.russolo.free.fr/mani2.html ; http://luigi.russolo.free.fr/mani3.html ; http://luigi.russolo.free.fr/mani4.html

• George Antheil, Ballet Mécanique (1924). Piano, percussions and noises.

• The Theremin, a non-contact instrument invented in 1919. It is used from time to time by certain bands:

  • Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin guitarist:
    • In the documentary It Might Get Loud (2008), he shows The Edge and Jack White how to use theremin to create sounds.
    • A 1977 live.
  • The Rolling Stones: "2000 Light Years From Home", album Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), mellotron and theremin.
  • Sting.
  • Jean-Michel Jarre (Monaco concert, 2011).

• Ondes Martenot (1928)

  • The Beach Boys, "Good vibrations (1966)".
  • Radiohead, "How to disappear completely" (live)
  • Daft Punk feat. Paul Williams, "Touch", Random Access Memories, 2013.

• Hammond organ (1935):

  • Bob Marley & The Wailers - "No Woman, No Cry" (Live At The Rainbow 4th June 1977).

• Ondioline (1941).

Musique concrète

Before music produced by electronic circuits, experiments were made in the 1940s with electroacoustic music and musique concrète, where (concrete) sounds were recorded on tape or vinyl and arranged and manipulated (the ancestor of sampling):

• Pierre Schaeffer, 78 rpm with closed groove (1948).
• Pierre Schaeffer, "Etude aux chemins de fer" (1948).
• Iannis Xenakis, "Diamorphoses" (1957).
• Pierre Henry, "Psyché Rock", Messe pour le temps présent (1967).

50's: Stockhausen

• Elektronische Musik Studie I (1953).
• Elektronische Musik Studie II (1954).
• Telemusik (1966).
• A more recent work, Oktophonie (1991).

50's: misc

• Herbert Eimert, Klangstudie II (1952).
• Luciano Berio, Perspectives, per nastro magnetico (1957).
• Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan:
  • Song of the Second Moon (1957).
  • Syncopation (1958? released in 1962).
• Edgard Varèse, Poème électronique (1958).
• Else Marie Pade:
  • Syv Cirkler (1958).
  • Faust (1962).

50's: Forbidden Planet (1956)

First film whose soundtrack (Louis & Bebe Barron) is entirely electronic:

• Robby.
• The great machine.
• Main Titles Overture.

60's: misc

• Daphne Oram, Pulse Persephone, 1965.
• The Oramics Machine - Oram’s ‘drawn sound’ synthesis and sequencing system.

60's: computers

• Music From Mathematics (I.B.M. 7090), 2nd edition, DECCA, 1962.
  • Contains especially a few pieces by Max Mathews (Bell Labs).

60's: some famous electric keyboards

• The Doors, "When The Music's Over" (1967) (Ray Manzarek is generally playing a Fender Rhodes electric piano keyboard bass and a Vox Continental combo organ).

60's: Moog synthesizers

Wendy Carlos

• Switched-On Bach (1968).
• A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick) theme (1971).

Popcorn (Gershon Kingsley, 1969)

The first great success of electronic music.

• Popcorn, original by Kingsley (1969).
• HotButter cover (1972).
• M&H Band cover (1987).
• Kingsley (2000).
• Muse cover:
  • Taratata (French TV), Oct. 2009.
  • Single (2010).
• The Muppets cover (2010).
• Other covers.

Bernie Krause

He was a student of Stockhausen. As a guitarist, he will work for Moog and learn about electronic music, before becoming a bio-acoustician: he will study soundscapes, record the sounds of nature, highlight their frequential and temporal organisation, then show the degradation over the decades of soundscapes and therefore of the corresponding ecosystems (https://www.wildsanctuary.com/). He also played with people like The Doors or George Harrison.).

• Paul Beaver & Bernard L. Krause - The Nonesuch Guide To Electronic Music (1968).

The Beatles (Abbey Road, 1969)

The Moog is used on the tracks "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "Here Comes The Sun", and "Because".

• "Because".

About modular synthesizers

Before becoming digital, the first synthesizers were analogue and modular: each function corresponds to a button, the functions and modules are connected by cables (wave generators, envelope generators, low frequency oscillators, filters, sequencers...) Ideal to understand what a synthesizer is!

• Documentary 50th Anniversary of the Moog Modular Synthesizer (2014).

• Documentary Back to the future sounds.

• Silver Apples, "Dust" (1968).

• Eliane Radigue (drone music)

  • Stress-osaka (1969).
  • A later work, L'Île Re-sonante (2000).
  • IMA Portrait documentary.

• The Analog Session (Alexander Robotnick & Ludus Pinsky):

  • Fun-fare (2009).
  • N5 From Outer Space (2009).
  • Lettrobox1.

• Misc:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iIo5Y-oPhk
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drbD4GigDAo
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjlnJciXbnY
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vkwtSRmDyI

70's: Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze

Tangerine Dream:

• Zeit (1972).
• Tangerine Dream, Rubycon (1975).
• Live at Conventry Cathedral (1975).

Klaus Schulze:

• Cyborg (1973).
• Timewind (1975).
• Moondown (1976).
• Live 1977.

70's: Vangelis

• "Heaven and Hell" (1975).
• "Pulstar", Albedo 0.39 (1976).

Later famous works:

• Chariots of Fire (1981).
• Blade Runner - Theme End Titles (1982).
• 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992).

70's: Jean-Michel Jarre

• Oxygène (1976):
  • Oxygène track 4.
  • Album cover.
  • Oxygene: Live in Your Living Room (2007).
• Equinoxe (1978).
• Les champs magnétiques, 1981.
• Interview, Oct. 2015.

70's: Synth-Punk

• Suicide, Ghost Rider (1977).
• The Normal:
  • Warm Leatherette (1978).
    • Cover by Trent Reznor (NIN), Peter Murphy, Atticus Ross, Jeordie White, 2006.
  • T.V.O.D. (1978).

70's: Kraftwerk

• Autobahn (1974).
• Radioactivity (1975).
  • Radioactivity (Chernobyl version), Moscow (2005).
  • Radioactivity (Fukushima version), Tokyo - No Nukes 2012.
  • Radioactivity, French TV (1978).
• Trans-Europe Express (1977).
• Die Mensch-Maschine (1978).
• "The Robots", The Man-Machine (1978).
  • The Robots (Roboter, original German version).
• The Model (1978).
• Computer World (1981):
  • Computer Love.
    • The Coldplay tribute to Kraftwerk, Talk (2005).
  • It's more fun to compute.

70's: Giorgio Moroder

• Donna Summer - I Feel Love (1977).
  • Cover with a modular synth.
• Chase, soundtrack of Midnight Express (Alan Parker, 1978).
• Daft Punk tribute "Giorgio by Moroder", RAM (2014).

70's: misc

• Pierre Henry, Machine Danse (1973).
• François de Roubaix, Le Monde électronique de François de Roubaix (1971-75).
• Isao Tomita:
  • Snowflakes Are Dancing (Debussy) (1974).
  • Switched on rock - Electric Samurai (1972).
• Pink Floyd, On the Run (1973, The Dark Side of the Moon).
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind(Steven Spielberg, 1977).
• David Bowie and Brian Eno, Sense of Doubt (1977, Heroes).
• Brian Eno, Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978).
• Tubeway Army, Are Friends Electric (1979).
  • A "recent" version (AllSaints Basement Sessions).
• Edward Artemiev, Listening to Bach (From the movie "Solaris" 1972).
  • J.S. Bach - BWV 639 - Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
• Bernard Parmegiani, De Natura Sonorum (1975).
• Throbbing Gristle, 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979).

80's: the synth invasion (pop, techno, electro, new wave...)

The synthesiser market skyrockets, prices fall. The year 1980 marks a turning point.

• Joy Division, Isolation (1980).
• Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Statues (1980).
• Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Enola Gay (1980).
• Visage, Fade to Grey (1980).
• Taxi Girl,Cherchez le garçon (1980).
• Grauzone, Eisbaer (1980).
• DAF, Alles Ist Gut.
• Depeche Mode, Just Can't Get Enough (1981).
• Soft Cell, Tainted Love (1981).
  • In fact a cover of Gloria Jones (1964).
• The Human League, Don't You Want Me (1981).
• Kim Wilde, Cambodia (1981).
• Liaisons Dangereuses, Los Niños del Parque (1981).
• Guerre Froide, Demain Berlin (1981).
• Yazoo, Don't Go (1982).
• Tears for Fears, Mad World (1982).
  • Cover by Gary Jules (2001).
  • Gary Jules in 2023.
• Front 242, Kampfbereit (1982).
  • The bass line is an homage to Kraftwerk's Kometenmelodie 2 (Autobahn album, 1974).
• New Order, Blue Monday (1983).
• New Order, Confusion (1983).
• Eurythmics, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (1983).
• Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Relax (1983).
• The Neon Judgement, The Fashion Party (1983).
• Anne Clark, Our Darkness (1984).
• Fad Gadget, Collapsing New People (1984).
• Talk Talk, Such a Shame (1984).
• Bronski Beat, Smalltown Boy (1984).
• Alphaville, Forever Young (1984).
• Harold Faltermeyer, Axel F (1984) Beverly Hills Cop Soundtrack.
• Art Of Noise, Moments In Love (1985).
• Kraftwerk, Musique Non Stop (1986).

...

We can stop here, with Art of Noise (remember Luigi Russolo) and Musique Non Stop: electronic music is now mainstream!