Electronic Music Documentaries
On Saturday @lingmops tweeted:
Just spent an hour reading amount Delia Derbyshire and musique concrète thanks to @fireholly99 FACINATING THINGS I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW EXISTED
and then I lost the rest of the day watching music documentaries, so I thought I’d blog the very incomplete list to make sharing easier.
Alchemists of Sound
Looks at BBC Radiophonic Workshop from its inception, through its golden age when it was supplying music and effects for cult classics like Doctor Who, Blake’s Seven and Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and charts its fading away in 1995 when, due to budget cuts, it was no longer able to survive.
Sculptress of Sound: The Lost Works of Delia Derbyshire
The broadcaster and Doctor Who fan Matthew Sweet travels to The University of Manchester – home of Delia Derbyshire‘s private collection of audio recordings – to learn more about the wider career and working methods of the woman who realised Ron Grainer’s original theme to Doctor Who.
Synth Britannia
Following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.
Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany
Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard.
To which I would add a sideorder of Minimum Maximum by Kraftwerk
Pump Up the Volume – The History of House Music
From its early days as NY disco to the massive european (and international) scene it has become, via the major people and clubs who pushed it forward.
The Shape Of Things That Hum
From an 8 Part TV series looking at cult electronic instruments that have shaped modern music: Minimoog, Vocoder, Yamaha DX7, Fairlight, Simmons, Roland TB-303, Roland TR-808 and the Akai Sampler.
and some extra links:
Bassline Bassline
A video essay that investigates the invention, failure and subsequent resurrection of the mythic Roland TB-303 Bass Line music machine in the last two decades of the 20th century.
Can I Get An Amen?
A perspective of perhaps the most sampled drum beat in the history of recorded music, the Amen Break. It begins with the pop track Amen Brother by 60’s soul band The Winstons, and traces the transformation of their drum solo from its original context as part of a ‘B’ side vinyl single into its use as a key aural ingredient of Drum’n’Bass.
The Hip Hop Years
Charting story of Hip Hop, from the streets of the Bronx to taking over the mainstream.