Lucien Goethals - "Lucien Goethals" Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Remastered, 2014 (Cacophonic)

Lucien Goethals (1931-2006) is a composer who had a focus on electronic music.  Or with 'real' instruments such as bass clarinet, which is the focus on side one of this album.  "Difonium" is an 18-minute composition with Harry Sparnaay on bass clarinet, with Goethals's electronic sounds. This 1974 composition is a moody interplay with the wind instrument andmagnétaphone. I think of Edgard Varése's music when listening to this piece.  Not only due to its compositional techniques but for it's the sense of purity in sound and vision. 

Side Two starts off with "Cellotape," and I have to say I love the mixture of electronics and real instrumentation such as piano and violin.   I admire electronic music as it stands by itself, but the tension of having real instruments brings the music a specific type of intensity.  Sometimes this music is instruments treated through an electronic medium (besides the recording studio of course), but here it's on equal ground with Goethals's eternal sounds.  The Piano goes through cluster-sounds, strumming of the piano keys as well as played on the keyboard.  "Studie VII B" is pure electronic composition, and I find it lacking in that it does need the presence of a real instrument in its mix. 

Alwin Nikolais' "Choreosonic Music of the New Dance Theatre of Alwin Nikolais" LP, Vinyl, Album, 2013/1959, (Cacophonic)

Alwin Nikolais (1910-1993) started out by playing the organ in the silent films. When sound came in, he needed to expand his horizons, and he did so by studying scenic design, costuming, acting, puppetry, and music composition.   These field of interests led him to dance choreography where he could combine all his different mediums in one space.   He founded the Henry Street Playhouse in New York City in the 1950s, where he started to do multi-media presentations.  Nikolais wrote electronic music go with his performances, and here we have the aural results of sounds he made in the 1950s. 

In a similar situation as John Cage/David Tudor (and Eno), Nikolais' partner-in-crime David Berlin, operated and manipulated the sounds from the sound booth that looked over the stage.  Some of the music/noise were played by the dancers with such instruments as drums, bells, wood blocks, gongs, and rattles but all played through Nikolais/Berlin's electronic filters.  The music now is just as fresh as it must have been in 1959.  

When I was in the ARTBOOK store, I played this album, and I sold copies there and then.  By no means is it ambient, due to it being originally used as modern dance music - but a total pleasing listening experience, where the sound brings a sense of rhythm and dynamics.  It's interesting to note that Nikolais was the first person to purchase the first Moog analog synthesizer system.  Another electronic composer of great importance, yet I never heard of him till recently and when I bought this album "Choreosonic Music of the New Dance Theatre of Alwin Nikolais."

Henk Badings - "Evolutions" Vinyl 10" album (Cacophonic) 1958

Dutch composer Henk Badings score to the ballet "Evolutions" by Yvonne Georgi.  The sound reminds in parts of Portishead and early Kraftwerk.  Th music is moody in a cinematic nature.  A combination of tape and electroacoustic music.   There are traces of musique concrete but also melodies being played as well.   Before buying this recording, I never heard of Badings' music nor his name.    It's great to be turned on to a new composer and finding it by chance  - mostly due to the record cover design.  It's good.

One hears real instruments throughout the six pieces that make "Evolutions."  I can hear accordion, piano, but manipulated by tape editing.  Recorded in 1958, Badings used electronic music not as an experimental practice, but as new ballet music of its time.  As mentioned some melodies play hide and seek with the electronic effects.  A great short ep length album. 

Martial Solal Joue Michel Magne - "Electrode" Vinyl, LP, 1966 (Cacophonic)

Martial Solal + Michel Magne + Jean-Claude Vannier = Wow!   Kind of a super band or super musicians getting together for one album.  What we have here is the amazing talents of Martial Solal and trio (Gilbert Rovère on bass and Charles Gellonzi on drums) plus composer Michel Magne's orchestration and then with the additional genius of Jean-Claude Vannier's arrangements.  First of all, when you hear the very first note on Solal's piano, you're immediately drawn to Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" in which Solal did the soundtrack.   And not surprisingly, when one hears "Electrode," you think soundtrack music because there is something incredibly visual within the music. 

Magne composed the music here, and Vannier takes that music to another planet.  It is jazz, but with avant-garde leanings and sounds from Magne and Vannier, who both can be experimental on their own each recording.  So what we have here is the Solal trio doing what they do, which is magic, and Magne's composition which is pushing the envelope between the medium of jazz and 20th century written score.  Vannier then kicks the whole project into another soccer stadium.  Recorded in 1966, it's a lively energetic album.  And for those who are hung up on the sounds of early Godard (like me) will find this album amazing. 

Otto Luening/Vladimir Ussachevsky - "Tape Recorder Music" (Cacophonic, Vinyl LP)

Slowly and surely, this is becoming my favorite album in my collection of vinyl goodies. I have written about Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky before, on another album that was released in the early 60s.  "Tape Recorder Music" was recorded in 1952, and it's a remarkable album on so many levels.  Without a doubt, Brian Eno must have had this album during the early Roxy Music years.  Otto and Vladimir did was basically used real instruments - piano, flute, orchestration and put it through the tape machine to manipulate the sounds. Doing loops, echo, etc. Low-tech technique that keeps getting better.

On another level, the music on this album is really beautiful. Funny as well - especially with the voices mixed in one of the works.  It has a lightness, but the sound is fantastic. And again, listening to this album, I 'm reminded of the first two Roxy Music albums.   The Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center was a sound lab for Luening and Ussachecsky - and they used it wisely.   Historically this is a very important album, but the listening pleasure is also endless.  I really love it.