Electronicists
Like many the first electronic music I heard wouldve been
Tangerine Dream - I knew a bunch of TD fans at school. Tho
I liked some of what I heard then, I was into jazz/rock
fusion then and didn’t catch the boat.
Hearing
Artemiev’s score to Solaris was a big inspiration for me
- soundcapes with some captured sounds and on the edge of
tonality - tho I still wasn’t making electronic music then.
Then I heard some artists who blend electronic with ambient
and soundscapes - Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana etc.. Then the
theremin came into my life and another side to electronic
music revealed itself. Then there are the classical electronic
composers - KH Stockhausen, Nordheim etc which was aquired
taste.
For
some reason I never caught the boat with the German EM scene
- TD, Klaus Schultz etc… Much of it is great music but for
me it is in the class of music that I enjoy hearing in other
people’s houses but never bought myself…
Thru
my Quadelectronic nights I run and the Hands Off theremin
conventions, I have met many an excellent electronicist.
Electronic music seems to me to be at the frontier - when
I was younger it was jazz/rock - then it was free improvisation/free
jazz. Electronic music has become a lot easier to make since
the early TD days. Now all you need to to do is press a
key down on an evolving pad in the Omnisphere virtual synth
program and you could make a whole album of it.
The result is that electronic music exists for many on a
hobby level. Like free jazz - if you’re into it, you’re
probably doing it yourself rather than go see it live. So
apart from setting up jam nights with chums there’s not
a lot of upward mobility paths.
I
have identified these different strands of electronic music
- some artists straddle more than one…
Classical/Academic
Noisemakers/Avant Gardeners
Ambient soundscapists
Berlin school EM
Loops/samples/glitchers
New age
Overall
I tend to like my electronic music atmospheric and on the
edge of tonality and atonality/noise - plus some minimal
repetative/arpegiated bits are good for me too.
So
here’s a list …(I’m not including synth players in bands.)
Eduard Artemiev - http://youtu.be/A1bZZeTt7us
- his soundtracks to Tarkovsky’s Solaris, Stalker &
Mirror films really inpired me. Soundscapes with a haunting
tonality and found sound sources
Karlheinz
Stockhausen - http://youtu.be/aNt6a5xFOnE
- pioneer of classical electronic music. Once you get into
his aesthetic, it all makes sense.
Robert
Rich - http://youtu.be/rzVImfDQjGA
- very consistant ambient electronic music with some minimal/systemic
elements and a big influence on my ambient music.
Vidna
Obmana - http://youtu.be/AUEldyH8DH8
- similar territory to Robert Rich - ambient infinite reverby
soundscapes.
Barbara Buchholz - http://youtu.be/UXDzDV_f1jw
- a thereminist yes but with a good taste in soundscapes,
jazz and modern clasical.
Pamelia
Kurstin - http://youtu.be/CGgXLzClrac
- another thereminist who has made some great ambient music
usually built up live with loopers and effects.
Wendy
Carlos - http://youtu.be/-FyZxMt-pdg
- another pioneer - Switched On Bach was fun but for me
her Sonic Seasonings and Beauty In The Beast goes further.
Kevin
Kendle - http://youtu.be/BnIYBsUVyBY
- new age and electronics - love his sounds and chord choices.
Feels a link at times with the Steve Hillage/Miquette Giraudy
arpegiator heaven.
Arne
Nordheim - http://youtu.be/6WrsoIn3lNE
- classical composer who did pioneering electronic music
and used electronics to good effect with orchestral and
vocal works.
Simon
Stockhausen - http://youtu.be/N3t2yUBFGgc
- uses samples and beats with jazz and pop elements and
makes very attractive music which often has an edge to it.
Jan
Bang - http://youtu.be/VGJavBPhfsM
- master of sampling - often used by artists to add that
special electronic fairydust… eg with Arve Hendriksen
Dieter
Feichtner - http://youtu.be/6AlTFc879js
- he was a one-off electronic improviser who worked with
jazz bassist Barre Phillips
Al
Gromer Khan - http://youtu.be/pawl2k_vLyg
- ambient with world music touches.
Ulrich
Schnauss - http://youtu.be/yLNM-rJi1mM
- somewhere between the German EM school and shoegaze scene.
Kenneth
Knudsen - http://youtu.be/9FioKMopTTA
- I know him from his work with Palle Mikkelborg - he’s
made several excellent electronic ambient albums
