solipsistic NATION No. 65: Mad Scientist

Electronic music has become so common place that no one bats an eye when you hear
it. Nearly all of Madonna‘s music, for example, is electronic, but she’s about as mainstream
as you can get. But electronic music wasn’t always that way. Long before the early days
of hip hop and long before the day’s of Kraftwerk, electronic music was the
domain of avant-garde composers such as Edgard
Varèse
.

With Poème Électronique”, Varèse experimented with
electronic sounds, natural instrumentation and recorded sounds. But even Varèse
owes a debt to the Dadaism, Surrealism and Futurism, all of which were trying to go beyond the constraints of what
music was supposed to be. And in time, these experimental approaches were incorporated
and adopted into the mainstream.

On today’s show, we’re going to pay homage to the trailblazers in sound. I hope you
enjoy the journey.

Photo credit: TrailofTerror

  1. Christopher Willits “Plane”
  2. Virgox “Green Ping Orange Pong”
  3. Carson Day “While You’re Away”
  4. Nathan Hubbard “i/nside (no exit)”
  5. Gescom
    “C2”
  6. Lapsed
    “where were you?”
  7. Raven Chacon “Naakits’ Áadah”
  8. Esther Lamneck “Trio for Clarinet and Two Computers (Part
    1)”
  9. Mad E.P.
    “HZ”
  10. Dielectric Minimalist All-Stars “Cocaine Lovin’ Orange County Kids”
  11. For Barry Ray
    “Aurora Dancing”
  12. Son of Gunnar, Ton of Shell “The Populous”
  13. Mel “Lies All Lies”
  14. Jvox “Cold Squeeze”
  15. Daniel Blinkhorn “Resource14”
  16. Akira Kosemura “Pause”
  17. Damon Holzborn “E. Digest”
  18. Hans Fjellestad “Phone Damage”
  19. David Toop
    “Chair Creaks, Though No One Sits There”
  20. Dielectric Drone All-Stars
    “Ghosts in the Shitter”