Algorithm My Rhythm: John Chowning's 'Stria' and The Discovery of FM Synthesis

Potentially the most important discovery for music, in the 21st century, was made by John Chowning. It's a bold claim, but one easily backed up with the commercial success of Korg, Moog, Yamaha, Nord e.t.c He created FM synthesis; the combination of two frequencies, creating an oscillator to which any number of effects and wave mutations can be added. This really destroyed the boundaries of contemporary electronic music and helped give the synthesizer its lease of life. Unfortunately this may have spawned two generations of second rate morons, writing songs on their synth, see 'I love my life as a 'Dickhead', but despite this we have gained an insurmountable number of great and influential artists because of this. 

John Chowning's 'Stria', entirely composed and performed with a computer, uses his frequency modulated synthesizer to great effect. Through a series of recursion and algorithmic sequences Chowning created a piece that resembles much of the music heard today. It's long, feedback heavy, tones create an ambience and space which previously would have been impossible to create without the 'FM'. 'Stria' has the effect of an almost meditative like state on the listener, gliding along your ears as if listening to a glass cabinet sing. 

The piece's main attributes certainly lie with its texture and homogenous sound, rather than any recognizable time scale or rhythm (No Arpeggiators here). Its dissonance is almost pleasing as they constantly evolve to the next 'chord' and mood. It's difficult to hear themes in the piece or particular ideas, as there is never any clear structure to it. However 'Stria's charm is the fact that it evolves constantly, moving linearly towards, what one can only suspect, some sort of climax, in which Spock kills Jim. 

To purely enjoy this piece for musical merit, is perhaps a daunting challenging. But give it a chance. After a few listens the piece becomes relaxing and definitely reminiscent, and therefore comfortable. By today's standards this would be an incredibly easy piece to reproduce, which is where the dilemma comes. Whilst wanting to really enjoy this piece, for its self contained recording, it becomes more evident that it is almost impossible to achieve such a thing. 

New inventions, new conceptions, they all have that wonderful story behind them, that clincher or deal breaker. By inviting us into the small world of conceptual art, the composer gives us a snap shot of his/her mind and that's what we as listeners find endearing. Why do album sleeves exist? Because the artist is driven to give you this as a package, giving the whole story. So John Chowning's piece, when considering the background, suddenly becomes mind-blowing. It goes beyond the music, because of what he created and applied to a work. Contextually this piece is as solid as a rock, no questions asked; it's über-important. But is that enough? Considering the gravitas of the occasion, I think by all means that is enough. I mean where would we be without Gary Numan? 

Classic Low-Fi: Morton Subotnick

Considering the love of the low-fi sound over the past couple of years, particularly this summer, I thought it fitting to discuss one of the originators of electronic composition.

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'
No Age: 'Every Artist Needs A Tradgedy'
Health: USA Boys

Italian Conceptual Heritage- 1. Rome- Daniele Luppi + Danger Mouse

Hello everyone! First blog and all that, thought I might talk about one of my favourite albums of the past year, the concept album: 'Rome: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack' by Daniele Luppi and Danger Mouse.

This may not be so obviously a concept album, however it definitely holds the characteristics of one. The album is all based around the Spagetti Western music of Ennio Morricone and capitalises on Luppi's Italian heritage by acquiring some of the original musicians who played for Morricone. Stated on the cover as an 'Original Motion Picture Soundtrack' the word Original does certainly stand out. I have not seen or heard of any film in production that would be using this music, which is a shame, making this album rather unique in that sense. It seems as if Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi have created a method in which to write convincing conceptual music, which needs not the big O.K. from the film bosses. This could be perhaps a statement being made to the film production companies, although I personally like to think it was just a good idea to anchor both of their creativity around. The songs are shared between the major US names of Jack White (White Stripes, Raconteurs, Third Man Records) and Norah Jones. Both supply exactly appropriate vocals for the album, with especially Jones' voice blanketing the moving strings in the slower numbers. However perhaps the most enjoyable tracks on the album are the instrumental interludes, my personal favourite being 'The Matador Has Fallen' which has its own character and melody, especially the swaying strings, and is not simply a last minute added bridge.

The production on the album is so classy that it would scream elegance even to the Royals. Using only vintage analog equipment certainly seems popular at the moment (see Foo Fighters: Wasting Light) and certainly lends to the aura surrounding the albums content and creation. Particularly the recording of the strings and the bass are so brilliantly spaced in the mix that it makes listening to the over compressed music of today quite a struggle. It is rather refreshing to listen to an album with dynamic range today, making this a huge stand out album of this year for production and mixing value.

Although some of the songs may appear to lack the linear motion that would normally fill a traditional album, it feels that these snapshots bring the best of the soundtrack world and the album world together. By having the leit motifs, traditional to film music, running through the songs we do feel as listeners a transportation to the 'film' but by keeping some of the songs detached from one another I personally find the whole listening experience easier. As would anyone expect from a band or solo artist; there must be some divide from track to track, to normally avoid monotony, which this album accomplishes.

I recommend this album to almost everyone I talk to nowadays as I find it an absolute pleasure to listen to. The album neither demands your attention or sits in the background completely. If you want an album to relax to then this can fulfill your needs. Personally I prefer to listen to the album as you would watch a film, with no distractions and your attention devoted to the images created. Even if it's just for half an hour it's nice to escape within the walls of music, and 'Rome' offers that experience.

Recommended Downloads:
'Two Against One'
'Season's Trees'

'The Matador Has Fallen'