Episode 177
Chapter 36, Modern Turntablism. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music
Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes.
This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text.
The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings.
There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast.
Let’s get started with the listening guide to Chapter 36, Modern Turntablism from my book Electronic and Experimental music.
Playlist: TURNTABLISM
Time
Track Time
Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes
01:28
00:00
1. Ottorino Respighi, “The Pines of Rome” (1924) recorded by The Milan Symphony Orchestra conducted by Cav. Lorenzo Molajoli in November 1928. Recorded bird sounds is heard at about 36 seconds into this section. This is a 78 RPM recording from 1928 that used a turntable to play the sounds during the performance.
01:44
01:36
2. Paul Hindemith, “Trickaufnahmen” (1930). Recording made available by Mark Katz, author of Capturing Sound: How Technology has Changed Music (2004).
00:58
03:16
3. John Cage, “Imaginary Landscape No. 1” (1939) from The 25-Year Retrospective Concert Of The Music Of John Cage (private, 1959).
08:37
04:12
4. Milan Knížák, “Composition No. 1’ (1979) from Broken Music. Selection and assemblage of materials made by Walter Marchetti at Harpo's Bazaar, Via San Felice 22, Bologna.
03:26
12:46
5. Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five, “The Wheels Of Steel” (1981) from The Wheels of Steel. Medley Compiled by Sylvia Robinson; Produced by, Joey Robinson, Jr., Sylvia Robinson.
07:04
16:10
6. Christian Marclay, “Smoker,” (1981) from the album Records. Christian Marclay, turntables and processing. Recorded on a cassette deck at home.
03:40
23:12
7. DJ Shadow ... And The Groove Robbers, “Hindsight,” (1993) from In/Flux/ Hindsight.
06:55
26:56
8. Afrika Bambaataa, “Looking For The Perfect Beat” (1985) from Looking For The Perfect Beat 1980-1985.
03:51
33:56
9. Gen Ken Montgomery, “Droneskipclickloop” (excerpt, 1998) from Pondfloorsample. Using four CD players and curated sounds in the categories Drone, Skip, Click, and Loop. Mixed in real time at a performance at Experimental Intermedia Foundation (NY) on March 17, 1998.
07:19
37:48
10. Crawling with Tarts, “Trecher Track”(1999) from Turntable Solos. By Michael Gendreau and Suzanne Dycus-Gendreau.
04:11
45:08
11. Christian Marclay, from Record Without a Cover (excerpt, 1999). Marked with instructions, "Do not store in a protective package," my copy is a reissue of the disc first released in 1985, done by Japanese label Locus Solus. The naked record will naturally become increasingly damaged from shipping, storing, and playing the record, all becoming part of the work. In essence, the owner is implored to progressively destroy the release, allowing it to become scratched and bruised from accumulating damage that make each copy unique. My copy actually skips a lot. In the passage I am playing I often had to press the needle down a little bit to get through a skip. There is faintly recorded jazz music found on some of the disc, while other parts are pretty much composed only of surface noise.
04:31
49:18
12. Yasunao Tone, “Part 1” (excerpt 1999) from Solo for Wounded CD. All sounds used were from scratched CD's.
03:54
53:50
13. Philip Jeck, “Untitled 2,” (2002) from Soaked. Turntables, Philip Jeck, electronics, Jacob Kirkegaard. Recorded live at the Electronic Lounge, Moers Festival, Germany.
04:30
57:42
14. Maria Chavez, “Jebus” (2004) from Tour Sampler, recorded in Houston, Texas. Turntables and electronics by Maria Chavez.
04:59
01:02:12
15. Marina Rosenfeld, “Three” (2005) from Joy of Fear. Piano, turntables, dubplates, electronics, sound processing], vocals, Marina Rosenfeld. She said, “This record couldn’t exist without the small collection of one-off ‘acetate records’ (dub plates) that I’ve been making since 1997, when I first encountered Richard Simpson and his disc-cutting lathe in Los Angeles.”
05:47
01:07:12
16. Luc Ferrari and Otomo Yoshihide, Slow Landing” (2008) from Les Archives Sauvées Des Eaux. Composed by Luc Ferrari and Turntables, Electronics, prepared phono cartridges by Otomo Yoshihide.
10:40
01:12:58
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.