At Left: Two views of one of the greatest synthesizers of them all, the ARP-2500. It can be heard in the opening to "Who Are You?"and was a favorite of Walter/Wendy Carlos; it's also responsible for arguably the most famous five-notes in cinema history, when Man communicates with the Aliens in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
Radio Anthrocide had another delightful evening of music on hand- at least for the host, yours truly, who, again, had as much fun as he's ever had in his life putting together a daunting and obscurantist collection of knob-turning exegesis from frantic Frenchmen and mad-genius Krauts. With only few entries of more mainstream and Techno-friendly tracks, episode 13 was probably the most avant-nutty of all of my shows yet. And my love for Berlin School and beyond never abates, so prepare for more of this kind of an assault in the future.
The show started with the great Igor Wakhevitch, probably my favorite avant-garde composer of all time and a man seemingly dedicated to getting inside the listener's head and scrambling their fucking brains. "Let's Start" from the same-titled 1979 LP is interesting to me because- for one- I hated it the first time I heard it. Since then, things have fallen into place, and I don't think it would be a good idea to admit how many times I can sit and listen to this album over and over and over again; I'm still clinging to the fantasy that some people believe that I'm sane.
Other show highlights included some very dark Ambient music from Seattle native Jeff Greinke, whose album Cities In Fog is about as perfectly-described by its title as is humanly possible. There were two interesting lost-fragments of 70's quasi-avant music, first from Library veteran Serge Bulot and then- cheating a bit- a masterful atonal arrangement for church organ by Franco Battiato called "Canto Fermo"; interestingly, this album is absolutely REVILED by the reviewers over at the Prog Archives, averaging an incredible 1.5 rating; proving, yet again, that the power of PRIC may be vast, but their taste and discretion meager.
Bruce Haack deserves special mention here for his contribution from the album Haackula, a pleasant little Electro-ditty made with home-built synthesizers called "Man Kind", said album being so incredibly nasty, mean-spirited, jaded and cynical that not only did Haack's label refuse to release it...they kept the master tapes and wouldn't give them back. Haack was an Electronic pioneer from Canada, who- and this is serious- made his name writing children's music which met great acclaim; later in life, somehow embittered by the internecine vicissitudes of the music industry, he went nuts, made this album...and died a few years later. The Great Cultural Noise Machine claims another victim.
Avant-garde nuttiness abounded, with some Roedelius, vintage Tangerine Dream from the album Zeit (a PRHOI Top-50 album and guest-reviewed- with admirable skill- by Sean Kelly here) and then the terror of Philippe Besombes and Kluster, taking things to the absolute limit of comprehension and weirdness with part one of their amazing album Zwei Osterei. Mellowing a bit in the closing segment, there was some nifty Kraftwerk remixes and a bit of fun from Space Art, exalted Electro-disco from their album Playback called "Folkstone Hovercraft". And closing with the great Terry Riley is never a bad idea- so that's what I did.
As always...I do hope at least some of you enjoyed the show, and I hope to see you Saturday night, as always, on Radio23 and Cascade Community Radio- this week with mad-outrageous amounts of pure fucking insane Krautrock. Cheers, and remember...Be There And Be Square. - TKR
Setlist For Radio Anthrocide#13 Bride of Progressive Electronic
1) Igor Wakhevitch- "Let's Start"
2) Zanov- "Machine Desperation"
3) Wolfgang Riechmann- "Silberland"
4) Jeff Greinke- "Maintain Circulation"
5) Elektriktus- "Frequencer Departure Flying At Daybreak"
6) Automat- "TheRise"/"Advance"/"Genus"
7) Serge Bulot- "Universalis"
8) Franco Battiato- "Canto Fermo"
9) Pierre Henry- "Machine Danse"
10) Bruck Haack- "Man Kind"
11) Hans-Joachim Roedelius- "Durch Die Wuste"
12) Tangerine Dream- "Zeit"
13) Philippe Besombes- "Pawa 1"
14) Kluster- "Zwei Osterei 1"
15) Harmonia- "Holta-Polta"
16) Kraftwerk- "Abzug"/"Metal On Metal" (Der Robotmix re-mixes by Ralf and Florian)
17) Cristian Vogel- "Sentinel"
18) Space Art- "Folkstone Hovercraft"
19) Richard Pinhas- "Belfast"
20) Terry Riley- "Rainbow In Curved Air"
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