30 November 2021: Ian Boddy - Modulations II; Electronic Music from Scandinavia

 

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Ian Boddy Modulations II DiNDDL27

The first synthesiser Ian Boddy ever played was a VCS3 at Spectro Arts Workshop in Newcastle-upon-Tyne sometime in 1978. This weird and wonderful electronic contraption has gone down in synth history as one of the truly original vintage designs. Much loved by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop as well as early progressive and electronic bands it has a look and sound all of its own. Whilst it is a modular synthesiser it went for a pin matrix board where patches were created by inserting pins rather than the more standard patch cable route. However it is notoriously difficult to keep in tune and more often than not gets consigned to sound FX duty.

As a follow up to his first “Modulations” album which saw Boddy compile an album from his live modular synth explorations this time he decided to create an album just using his venerable VCS3. This meant a lot of multi-tracking as well as using some modern Eurorack gear to give a helping hand with various Control Voltage sources such as sequencers, LFOs & envelopes. However all the sounds were painstakingly created using just the VCS3 and with the use of vintage FX such as spring reverb, tape echo & analogue phasing the overall sound has a truly vintage feel.

The four core tracks of the album are being released on a 12” vinyl limited edition (100 copies) by the Greek label Kinetik Records. The digital edition will not only include these tracks which just use the VCS3 but also two bonus tracks from a couple of livestream events Boddy played utilising several of his modular systems. The first, “Livestream 191220” was a broadcast from his DiN studio and is based around the Roland System 100M. The second piece was from his performance at the Phoenix Synthesiser Festival 2021 and uses his Serge & Eurorack systems.
  
 
FreeForm Radio thanks DiN for providing us with a copy of this release for the show.

credits

released November 5, 2021   license   all rights reserved

ambient em electronic electronic music electronica vcs3 downtempo improvised music modular synth Sunderland


The electronic music emanating from the Scandinavian region encompasses a vast universe and has a long tradition behind it. In 1964 the electronic music studio EMS in Stockholm opened as a conventional analogue studio, its primary intention being to build the world’s most advanced hybrid studio and to conduct an international research program into sound and sound perception. Since then the Scandinavian electronic music scene has continued to flourish decade upon decade, culminating in the most recent ambient and minimalistic sound shapes. Unexplained Sounds Group, started researching Scandinavian electronic and experimental music in 2015 when it published the Scandinavian experimental underground 015 survey. A second anthology was released 2016, its remit being much wider than the first, and entitled Northern Lights - The Scandinavian experimental 016 survey. Both of them were published in digital format only, but finally a CD edition containing a selection of 12 tracks from those compilations emerges into the light. This is an appropriate tribute to an experimental electronic music scene that is still evolving and growing, and as such the Unexplained Sounds network will continue to chart its ever-expanding boundaries as the future unfolds.
https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/anthology-of-electronic-music-from-scandinavia

Raffaele Pezzella
 
FreeForm Radio thanks Raffaele Pezzella for making this recording available to us.

credits

released November 5, 2021

Edited by ©Unexplained Sounds Group
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst)
sonologyst.com
Cover image: Spring Evening, Akershus Fortress
by Harald Sohlberg, 1913
© 2021. All rights reserved

license   all rights reserved  

experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy