Fluorescent Grey - Antique Electronic / Synthesizer Greats 1955 - 1985 Pt 2

[brian trageskin]

EOD and myself share some random French(?) mag's pick for best album of 2013

 

 

 

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haha, that journalist cunt (imo) complains about the rise of hate and intolerance in france. a little background with gilad atzmon (it's in english):

 

[awepittance]

which journalist, the guy who chose eod and my album or someone else in the mag? To be honest i know nothing about the french social climate or racial/class/religious divides.

 

but now that i have your attention, do you know of a channel back in 2007-ish that would have been considered the 'hbo of france' ?

[brian trageskin]

i've never watched hbo but checking their wikipedia info, i guess you're thinking of canal+.

yeah i think it's the same journalist (but the bottom of the article is cropped so i don't know).

 

about the french social climate, the shows of a very popular antizionist humorist (dieudonné) were recently canceled at the request of the minister of the interior (manuel valls) and the jewish lobbies (crif and licra), which is pretty unconstitutional. dieudonné has been demonized and blacklisted by the media and the government for 10 years now, for criticizing israel and the jewish lobbies.

the french government has a 30-year-long history of fight against racism and antisemitism , which is, imo, a smokescreen designed by the establishment. therefore, in my perception, anyone who claims that racism and antisemitism are major social problems in france is a fucking clown.

needless to say i think the dieudonné "case" is just another smokescreen, and is quite revealing of the current state of freedom of speech in france.

[brian trageskin]

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[awepittance]

Acroplane now has the cassettes for order direct out of the UK

http://acroplanerecordings.bandcamp.com/releases

click the 'buy now' link for a physical purchase

I think we literally have 1 tape binder left and Paul of Acroplane has it, so if anyone wants that i'd advise jumping on it pretty fast (you might need to message him on facebook or email through the website)

[awepittance]

Part 3 is now out for FREE in mp3/flac/wav

http://acroplanerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/antique-electronic-synthesizer-greats-1955-1985-part-3

[awepittance]

Acroplane Antique Electronic Music Part 2 / 3 One Sheet

 

Three years have elapsed since Acroplane unleashed Fluorescent Grey’s conceptual dance LP "Antique Electronic / Synthesizer Greats 1955-1985." The concept: to construct new songs solely out of sampled material from three decades of the pre-rave electronic music era. A year after the LP’s release, Fluorescent Grey (government name; Robbie Martin) continued to add new finds to his expansive collection of obscure electronic records. It quickly became clear that the wealth of obscure material warranted a newer iteration (or two) of the concept. The conceit has evolved --the sources unearthed are often more obscure, and the composition is far more reliant on vinyl record samples from Robbie's personal collection, avoiding represses whenever possible. The modernity cut off was extended from the original record, from 1984 to 1985. This 'modern' electronic music brings in FM and other digital synthesis as well as samplers, in contrast to Part 1 which primarily plundered vintage analog synthesizer samples.

 

Differentiating itself from other sample based works (Luke Vibert’s Kerrier District comes to mind), no micro-editing was done nor original instrumentation added to channel the classic sounds. Instead, locked groove snippets of drums or background ambiance were arranged to create a soundscape completely reliant on the source material. Another inspiring predecessor in this vein is Richie Hawtin’s De9 Transitions (mixes comprised of small loops of up to 8 different techno songs playing simultaneously). AAEMP runs the gamut in its loop selections, from italo disco to Raymond Scott, from a John Carpenter bassline to an Asmus Tietchens hi-hat riff.

New collaborators include Kush Arora on 'The Silver Apples of the Penobscot'. This track, alongside 'Vend Blank Cyst Now, Sacrilegious' and 'Garage In the style of David Tudor' abandons micro-loops for handcrafted sample packs sourced from vintage vinyl. Sometimes themes are more apparent, as in the case of an imagined supergroup of female electronic music pioneers of the early 80s: Grace Jones, Grace Slick, Laurie Anderson and Kate Bush get together to issue the dreamworld's feminist response to the male ego's domination of electronic music in 'We Are Not Robots To Do With As you Please,” a joint effort with female electronic musician Black Fuhrer. Electronic music critiques are irreverently delivered on titles like 'The Space Between The Last Two Times Genesis P-Orridge Claimed He Invented Acid House' which mixes Chris Carters synths and GPO's live TG-era vocals from Throbbing Gristle live shows with vanguard Moebius & Plank and Charanjith Singh to conjure up a dark proto-acid techno. Fluorescent Grey calls it “a tribute to a 'what if' scenario if Psychic TV was actually making acid back when it would have usurped DJ Pierre and actually mattered as a milestone in electronic music.” "Derrick May's Assertion that Techno sounds like Kraftwerk and George Clinton stuck in an Elevator is Inaccurate" breaks down the premise of Derrick May's infamous quote by responding to the question with a literal answer of what could be expected if Kraftwerk had actually collaborated with P-funk. It sounds absolutely nothing like techno. The cold minimalism of Kraftwerk is completely eclipsed by and infused with George Clinton's gratuitous cyberfunk. Many of the tracks sport confounding titles like 'Bridegroom Groin Igloo' -- which on the surface seems to be a commentary about marriage lowering libido, but upon closer examination reveals an anagram of artists sampled for the track (Bride Groom Groin Igloo = Goblin Giorgio Moroder). Beyond this example, the anagrams become more opaque and the depth of obscure source material does not make for an easy puzzle to solve.

 

The finale track 'Ambiente 78' distills bits and pieces from new-age synth workouts and scratchy vinyl records playing electronic film score fragments to evoke Fluorescent Grey's non-plunderphonic work, specifically the recent three disc boxed set 'Ambiente released on his Record Label Records imprint. New technology that enables individual retuning of the notes in a synth chord sample allowed for the construction of an entirely new melodic composition out of a pre-existing golden age synth riff. This technique is also in effect in other tracks like 'Brian Tregaskin’s Grandpa, Alan Hawkshaw' wherein samples from Patrick Moraz, Hawshaw and Quick Culture and masterfully merged with a Sequential Circuits vocoder demonstration 12" from 1978, despite having no common melodies or keys. The end result of this software manipulation is a song that resembles a much more contemporary sound comparable to Rephlex’s The Tuss.

 

The only additional information provided regarding the sources for parts 2 and 3 of this project was the following 'credits list', the comprehensiveness of which is not assured..

Akaba, Laurie Anderson, Automatic Man, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Serge Blenner, Richard Burmer, Kate Bush, Cabaret Voltaire, Caldera, Can, Wendy Carlos, Cetu Javu, Chris & Cosey, George Clinton, Coil, Francis & Carmine Coppola, Patrick Cowley, Delia Derbyshire, Mort Garrison, Gazebo, Gentle Giant, Goblin, Jerry Goldsmith, Gong, Bruce Haack, Jan Hammer, John Harrison, Craig Huxley, Jon & Vangelis, Mark Isham, Grace Jones, King Tubby, Klein & MBO, Klinik, Korg, KPM Music, Kraftwerk, Laibach, Lime, Alvin Lucier, Melbourne University Electronic Music Program, Gil Mellé, Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Moraz, Naughtiest Girl was a Monitor, Mosaic, Fabian Nesti, Klaus Netzle, Newcleus, Nicolas Peyrac, PhD, Jean Luc Ponty, Poussez, Prince Jazzbo, Production Elements, Quick Culture, Red Queen, Kurt Riemans, Donna Rhodes, Jean Claude Risset, Rush, Sequential Circuits, Second Sight, Conrad Schnitzler, Raymond Scott, Charanjit Singh, Skinny Puppy, Grace Slick, Gino Soccio, SPK, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Subject, Morton Subotnick, Donna Summer, Sylvester, Synergy, Taffy, Tag Yr It, David Tudor, Throbbing Gristle, The Vendetta, Vin Zee, Joe Yellow, Yes, Neil Young

[cear]

ey john, why are tracks 12 & 13 16bit and the rest 24?

[awepittance]

thats a very good question, wasn't aware of that. I'm going to say it was accidental. I'll reupload those ones