Morton Subotnick, co-founder of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, was a pioneer in many rights, perhaps most importantly because of his catalyst-like affect on the world of synthesizers. He developed alongside his work, with the help of engineer Don Buchla, the Buchla 100 series Modular Electronic Music System. This obviously meant that he exploited all of its possibilities whilst composing solidly and solely for nearly eight years.
His most talked about and 'famous' piece from this period is undoubtedly 'Silver Apples of the Moon'. Unsurprisingly the music does resemble a lot of the music of the same period including the Babbitts, best known for 'Forbidden Planet'. Other than reminding many listeners of the Clangers and early B-movies such as 'The Day The Earth Stood Still', the piece shows a real correlation between sound design and musical composition, which may be debated are becoming two separate art forms in today's industry.
Where in my eyes the comparisons lie between this music and the low-fi music of today are really in sound source. Similar era synthesizers are still being used in today's music, and the idea of using soundscape and washing textures are still a great deal part of music today. Subotnick's music stays well within the realms of A-tonality however it is again more about texture and sound that create the real 'vibe' effect that I feel in both this and modern lo-fi. Perhaps we can see that A-tonality has been replaced with ear destroying distortion which destroys the clarity of original sound source. Subotnick perhaps in a way relates to this also with his grainy sounding synthesizer.
As stated before I think the real distinction with these artists music is the texture with which they wash away the obvious tonal centre and leave a driving force of sound. This interest in sound is probably the key aspect to any music being made creatively today, however in low-fi, when sounds are stripped of all acknowledgement, all you can hope for is the wash of texture. Cheers Morty.
Recommended Listening:
Morton Subotnick: 'Silver Apples of the Moon: Part A'
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