THE DREAM IS ALWAYS THE SAME
Some music has a soul and a heart that comes from an organic place of feeling and emotion. What fires the synapses of your brain into engagement with the music differs from person to person. A lyric, a hook, a recognition of a shared understanding; all of these contribute as to how you feel about what you hear.
What happens when you experiment and construct artificial, robotic sounds that are almost not of this world? Does it have soul?
In 1967 a Russian musician named Edgar Froese was keen to explore new sounds. As an Artist living in Berlin his modus operandi was to make music tangible; transferring visual arts into sounds. Under the name of Tangerine Dream electronic music was born. The 1974 album Phaedra will leave you in no doubt of the legacy they have within today’s electronic scene. It’s been thirty-five years after the title track of this album was produced and a listen will settle any arguments as to the origins of this genre.
As with all things, the electronic movement expanded. It was, of course, rooted in experimental discovery and attracted a host of artists to take it to a new level. Electronic music began to springboard into the mainstream music scene with Kraftwerk’s 1974 hit “Autobahn. They had a purist approach to electronica whilst contemporaries were adding embellishments to their compositions. The composer, Vangelis teamed with Jon Anderson (of the progressive rock band Yes) to produce “I’ll find my way home” and “State of Independence” amongst a slew of stand-out tracks. Where there is change there will be copious labelling for new strands of electronic music emerging from the melting pot of ideas leading to:- Trance; Drum & Bass; Electronica; Synthpop; House; Techno; Breakbeat; Jungle; Ambient; and Experimental.
Mixing hip-hop, house and downbeat electronica Massive Attack launched their brand of excellence on us all. Tracks like “Dissolved Girl” and “Karmacoma” demonstrate the fusion to perfection. Tricky’s ‘Ponderosa’ and Portisheads’s ‘Cowboys’ move the genre further downstream.
From Brian Eno and Robert Fripp at the experimental end of electronic music to the funk of today’s Squarepusher as a genre, it has evolved into sub-sections of brilliance. Aphex Twin’s experimental sounds leads on from where Eno and Fripp left off. Joining the experimental stable of genius is Birmingham artist Machine Boy. His compositions from the brilliant ‘Shaved Fish’ to his quirky and commercial ‘Action Figures’ track continue to attract attention. In a recent interview with Machine Boy I was curious as to what influences he had as an artist.“My tastes and influences are very similar now to what they were years ago; Kraftwerk Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream. They are all still massive influences on what I do with Machine Boy. I certainly don't try and make machine boy sound like any of these artists but they are big influences.” He ticks all the boxes of artistic workmanship, writing and producing his own tracks, animating and directing his own videos and creating his artwork and visuals. Reaffirming the Edgar Froese belief of visual art into sounds he says“it is a very visual medium for me personally. A lot of elecronica is created by lone musicians basically from one mind, one creator and whenever I create any new music it always conjures up visuals, so yeah personally speaking its a very visual thing!”
As I listen to the ambient Autechre track ‘Weissensee’ I can answer the question posed in the first paragraph: “Does Electronic Music have soul?” As a movement it continues to spill over into other genres. Hip-hop funksters, Outkast of ‘Ms Jackson’ fame cite Squarepusher as a major influence in their style. To my mind, the answer is definitely ‘yes, it does have soul’. Whatever hails from a fertile imagination that has the ability to inspire has soul.
J@8pr
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