Me, I Disconnect from you
Computer music before AI
From early maverick classical composers Edgard Varèse, and Pierre Schaeffer, musicians have tried to master electronic music composition.
Minimalist pioneers like Terry Riley, who’s pioneering use of tape loops, and sound manipulation still resonate today.
The fabulous BBC Radiophonic Workshop founded in 1958, responsible for creating sounds for TV. Namely for the massively popular (at least were the UK is concerned) Doctor Who. They experimentation and sound manipulation was pivotal to the genesis of modern electronic music as well.
Silver Apples 1968 self titled debut, is regard as instrumental in the development of electronic music. Reportedly Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon were fans on this release. And certainly there’s a lot of The Beatles experimental side on their compositions.
Also in 1968 the release of Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos took both the classical and electronic world by storm. On the classical side I believe it was more like shock and awe.
Seventies
But arguably it wasn’t until the release of Autobahn by Kraftwerk that we started witnessing the merger between man and machine. The music tried to be as far removed from human emotion as possible.
Bleak in it’s approach, stripped of all analog sounding instrumentation. The music was supposed to sound emotionless and stark. But inexplicably it was still able to sound warm and pleasant.
1975’s Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed was considered as divisive as it was pivotal to the development of electronic music. A record the owed as much to the proto-punk scene as to the minimal composers of the late sixties. All tied together with a fierce nihilist approach to composition, bordering on the inaudible.
The influences would also spill over to the punk rock movement (dubbed Electropunk) were bands like France’s Metal Urbain or US’s Suicide thrived. Fusing punk’s aggression and crass attitude with instrumental programming.
Gary Numan who inspired by the androgynous imagery of Aladdin Sane era David Bowie and Kraftwerkian influences concocted a unique blend of Gothic Electro Punk first with his band Tubway Army and later as a solo artist.
Eighties
Eerly eighties new-wave bands such as New Order (formed after the death of Ian Curtis) and also Ultravox after the departure of John Foxx and the integration of former Thin Lizzy guitarist Midge Ure, were also becoming more and more electronic sounding.
Steve Albini’s Big Black and Britain’s Head of David and Godflesh brought an industrial oblique sounding aesthetic to heavy music. Programmed drums and downtuned guitars to further accentuate the aridity of the music on display.
Trent Reznor sequenced his first Nine Inch Nails album on a Mackintosh Plus, utilizing old records samples in the process.
Although I believe much like Black Metal band’s Lo-Fi attitude, came more out of necessity, than of actual artistic desire.
Nineties
Cyberpunk composed almost entirely on a computer by Billy Idol, is a misunderstood masterpiece to this day.
Band like The Prodigy and Atari Teenage Riot brought a punk, confrontational attitude to the forefront of electronic music.
Conclusion:
I could’ve talked about more instrumental figures like Jean Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode, Ministry, Neu, Cluster and a whole host of German artists / bands. Alas I didn’t want this essay to become too long.
For many year musicians tried to sound like a machine, like computer programming. Either you appreciated it or you didn’t, that was your prerogative, and always will be.
If your like me I can enjoy music done with real instruments / players as much as I can fancy programmed music. Sampling, sound manipulation, noises, etc.
Nowadays with the AI debate things have taken a strange turn, because it almost feels like machines are trying to sound like humans.
Streaming platforms creating ghost profiles and through the algorithms try and scam artists out of their revenue.
AI band appearing, attempting to sound human, unless you want to see them live, someday.
There are so many positive things that could be achieved through the use of AI. Like remastering old recordings for example. Trying to bring muffled live recordings to life again.
But I guess the prospect is that more and more music produced in the future, will be AI based.
Does that bother me?
I honestly don’t know.
What I’m sure of is that there are still so many bands / artist from the past that I don’t know or at least don’t know sufficiently well to be wasting my time with this.
I’m sure my musical journey of discovery will continue for many years….
