Photo of Karlheinz Inventoryhausen by Kathinka Pasveer by way of Wikimedia Commons
It’s possible you’ll hear the phrase “electronic music” and consider tremendousstar dubstep DJs in enjoyableny helmets at seashorefacet celebrity parties. Alternatively, you could consider the mercurial compositions of Karlheinz Inventoryhausen, the musique concrete of Pierre Henry, or the otherworldly experimalestalism of François Bayle. If you happen to’re in that latter camp of music nerd, then this submit might convey you very glad tidings certainly. Ubuweb—that stalwart repository of all issues Twentieth-century avant-garde—now hosts an furtherordinary compilation: the 476-song History of Digital/Electroacoustic Music, originally a 62 CD set. (Hear under Stockhausen’s “Kontact,” Henry’s “Astrologie,” and Bayle’s spare “Theatre d’Ombres” further down.)
Spanning the years 1937–2001, the collection ought to especially enchantment to these with an avant-garde or musicological bent. Actually, the original uploader of this archive of experimalestal sound, Caio Barros, put these tracks on-line in 2009 whereas a student of composition at Brazil’s State University of São Paulo. Barros’ “initiative,” as he writes at Ubuweb, “grew to become some type of legfinish” amongst musicophiles within the know.
And but, Ubuweb reposts this phenomenal collection with a disclaimer: “It’s a transparently flawed selection,” they write:
There’s few girls and nearly nobody working outfacet of the Western tradition (the place are the Japanese? Chinese? and so on.). However, as an effort, it’s admirable and contains a ton of nice stuff.
Take it with a grain of salt, or perhaps use it as a provocation to curate a extra intelligent, inclusive, and comprehensive selection
It’s a good critique, although Barros factors out that the exclusions mostly need to do with “the best way our society and the tradition this music repredespatched works” (sic). And but, as disciplinary certainaries increase on a regular basis, and histories broaden together with them, that description now not holds. It might be a fascinating exercise, for examinationple, to listen to those tracks alongsidefacet the history of girls in electronic music, 1938–2014 that we submited currently.
Additionally, there’s clearly way more to electronic music than both celebrity DJs or obscure avant-garde composers. Many hundreds of popular electronic composers and musicians—like Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Bruce Haack, or Clara Rockextra—fall somethe place in-between the worlds of pop/dance/efficiency and serious composition, and their contributions deserve representation alongsidefacet extra experimalestal or classical artists.
All that mentioned, however, there’s no reason you may’t curate your personal playlist of the history of electronic music as you see it—drawing from the astounding wealth of music availin a position free at The History of Electroacoustic Music. Or consider this collection a fully immersive course in “traditional, western avant-garde electronic music” from “the world of Europe-America,” as Barros places it. As that, it succeeds admirably.
Word: An earlier version of this submit appeared on our website in 2016.
Related Content:
Meet Clara Rockextra, the Pioneering Electronic Musician Who First Rocked the Theremin within the Early Twenties
What’s Electronic Music?: Pioneering Electronic Musician Daphne Oram Explains (1969)
Hear Seven Hours of Ladies Making Electronic Music (1938- 2014)
The History of Electronic Music, 1800–2015: Free Internet Mission Catalogues the Theremin, Fairlight & Other Instruments That Revolutionized Music
Josh Jones is a author and musician based mostly in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness
