Saturday, May 28, 2011

KPM 1102 - ELECTROSOUND





Track 1 - Glass Dance
Track 2 - U.F.O
Track 3 - Song Of The Wire
Track 4 - Industrial Jungle
Track 5 - Bottling Plant
Track 6 - Slow Song
Track 7 - Syncopot
Track 8 - Enzymes In Your Ear
Track 9 - Troglodyte
Track 10 - Slow Sprinkle
Track 11 - Organ In The Clouds
Track 12 - Duck Figures
Track 13 - Electric Barbed Wire
Track 14 - Commuter
Track 15 - Car Crusher
Track 16 - Sky High
Track 17 - Duet For Choir And Tunnel
Track 18 - Spirograph A
Track 19 - Spirograph B

Providing another link between early pioneers such as Raymond Scott and artists like Kraftwerk, Ron Geesin's "Electrosound" proves to be a memorable and truly strange listening experience. Dark and sombre, cinematic and spacey, mysterious and abstract...many adjectives come to mind when faced with such fascinating work. For the most part the tracks are sparse, elements of musique concrete flow through "Industrial Jungle", "Duet For Choir And Tunnel" and "Car Crusher" while tape manipulation also plays a part in several pieces. It's certainly a world away from the playfulness exhibited by songs on the "Electronic Toys" compilations and it's also difficult to imagine the context in which this library music could be used. Regardless, it is an electronic tour de force and in many respects light years ahead of it's time ( "Industrial Jungle" could easily be a track from the 1994 album "ISDN" by Future Sound Of London ). This is a musical journey well worth taking.

1 comment:

Tex said...

At least one of these tracks (U.F.O.) was used as atmospherics in an old Doctor Who episode.

And if you want weird, try listening to the soundtrack to The Body that Geesin and Roger Waters did.

Tex
(kids must have used it to annoy their parents)