Release Date: 15 May 2020
Label: Wormhole World
About Retrophonica – Aetheric Transmissions:
Retrophonica – Aetheric Transmissions is a charity compilation curated by John from Sound Effects Of Death And Horror (SEODAH) along with 12 other artists to celebrate the work of Delia Derbyshire, Wendy Carlos and other electronic pioneers. Each artist has created a track using 60/70’s sounds as a starting point. They include classical pieces and original works in a wide variety of styles and sounds that fit together well. It will be available as a limited edition CD and digital download.
The lead track will be Metro Musix by Elizabeth Joan Kelly.
Artwork
The cover and layout are by Nils-B. Frohn and the insert images are by Skip Doncaster.
Chosen Charity
The artists have agreed that the supported charity is Delia Derbyshire Day (DD Day). Profits will go to them once the label has recouped costs. The charity’s objectives are:
- To advance the education of the public in music technology and the history of British electronic music via the archive and works of Delia Derbyshire.
- To advance the art of British electronic music via the archive and works of Delia Derbyshire.
DD Day offers public events and participatory activities in Greater Manchester, with national touring events and a developing education programme. So far, DD Day has commissioned artists based in NW England to respond to the fascinating archive of the late great Delia Derbyshire, producing new music and art that in turn inspires others.
Track listing and artists
Title |
Artist |
|
1 |
Like Clockwork |
Roberta Fidora |
2 |
Deep Thought |
Sick Robot |
3 |
Metro Musix |
Elizabeth Joan Kelly |
4 |
Pachelbel’s Canon Lies Broken On The Ground |
Rupert Lally |
5 |
Le Sacre du Printemps – Danse Sacrale |
Petridisch |
6 |
Deo Gratias |
Alan Morse Davies |
7 |
Leisure Time |
The Central Office Of Information |
8 |
Lover’s Wine |
Flying Pyjamas |
9 |
Let Ur Charm Inundate All |
The Home Current |
10 |
Toccata in D Minor |
St James Infirmary |
11 |
Within Dreams |
mzungu |
12 |
Soave Maria |
Newlands |
13 |
The Menace Of Terror |
Sound Effects Of Death And Horror |
From the artists:
Some quotes from a selection of the artists involved.
Elizabeth Joan Kelly:
“Metro Musix is inspired by Delia Derbyshire’s incidental City Music, written for a segment on industrialization for the BBC television documentary Time On Our Hands. Redolent of the melodic motif from Derbyshire’s original composition, I used virtual synths to create a retro-futuristic soundscape indicative of urban life in an increasingly artificial reality.”
The Home Current:
“Let Ur Charm Inundate All came out of an improvised session. I did a bassline I really liked and then just added a few things on top. Most notably this contains the very first piano solo I have ever done in one take.”
The Central Office Of Information:
“Leisure Time was inspired by Delia Derbyshire’s ‘Time On Our Hands’, which has such an eerie and otherworldly atmosphere to it. My aim was to make an original track which captured the vibe and feeling of the original, rather than just doing a cover version. All sounds in this track were created from scratch using analogue synthesis in order to achieve an authentic radiophonic quality.”
Sick Robot:
“Deep Thought was written last May after my wife had been discharged from hospital. She was admitted before her birthday as her gall bladder had literally packed up and at one point it was really touch and go. During this period I began to think how fragile life can be and started jotting down ideas on a song in honour of my wife. It was produced in Reason with the aid of an Akai Midi Synth and a Lenovo Laptop. No studio, no magic tricks and certainly no big production values. Just good old creativity and an ear for music.”
Roberta Fidora:
About Like Clockwork… “As a reformed FS-70 pedalboard pusher with a penchant for patterned jumpers in every shade of Tron, the music of Wendy Carlos (with Rachel Elkind on production duties, it should be noted) has been intrinsically linked to everything I grew up with and loved in the realm of music and film. With its complex artistry, encompassing dystopian dread and majestic Moog, her work defies the conventions of what electronic, and indeed classical music, can be. Most notably, through the release of ‘Switched-On Bach’ (1968), her revolutionary compositions made the science of sound accessible enough to kickstart the entire electronic music genre and to free it from the tyranny of musical elitism and a boring traditionalist superiority with regard to “proper” instruments, elevating the synthesizer to an artform in its own right.”
Sound Effects Of Death And Horror:
“The title The Menace Of Terror came from a conversation between a friend and myself aiming to come up with the most meaningless Doctor Who title we could. This also inspired the theme for the track: a soundtrack for a story that doesn’t exist. My aim was to recreate a 1970s sounding track that is split into distinct sections to help the narrative move forward. It uses a mix of samples, analogue synths and emulators to create different atmospheres.“
Alan Morse Davies:
On DeoGratis… “I’d loved this piece by Ockheghem for some time so decided to do a naive homage to artists like Ruth White and Wendy Carlos who had pioneered adapting classical music for the synth.”
Rupert Lally:
“Pachelbel’s Canon Lies Broken On The Ground was inspired by both Wendy Carlos’ ground-breaking electronic realisations of classical pieces and also the early music concrete work created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It begins as faithful arrangement of Pachelbel’s piece using sounds created by a modern, virtual recreation of the classic Minimoog synth; however once the piece is established each of the melodic lines are then fractured further through different types of effect processing, so that further element of musical canon is then added.”
Flying Pyjamas:
I discovered the works of Ruth White a few years ago through an indie video game which included some of her songs. The game itself was more of an artsy trip and barely functional, the soundtrack just crackling recordings of different psychedelic vinyls from the 60’s & 70’s, and among those was Flowers Of Evil by Ruth White. The record is her interpretation of Charles Baudelaire’s Le Fleurs Du Mal, what is a collection of his poems, and was original released in ’69.
After I got the chance to contribute a song to this compilation, I immediately thought about Ruth White and took inspiration from a song on the Flowers Of Evil record and re-recorded the poem Lover’s Wine. A priority regarding the production of the song was to capture the feeling of those Proto-Synth/Musique Concrète works of the later half of the 20th century. For example I tried to achieve this by recording the vocals, meaning the poem, with an old Sony tape recorder for kids which I have owned since my childhood days. It was also the perfect opportunity to use my GEM PK 4900, an old italian synthesizer build in ’81. Some 4/4 drums I created on my iPhone and digital processing made the rest.
Contacts:
Wormhole World:
- Website: https://wormholeworld.bandcamp.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WormholeWorld
Sound Effects Of Death And Horror:
- Website: https://soundeffectsofdeathandhorror.co.uk/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SEODAH
Delia Derbyshire Day:
- Website: https://deliaderbyshireday.com/
Please contact john@soundeffectsofdeathandhorror.co.uk for interviews, review files and further information.
Artist links:
- Alan Morse Davies:
Web: org/details/atseamusic
Bandcamp: submarinebroadcasting.bandcamp.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMDGOAT - Elizabeth Joan Kelly:
Web: com
Bandcamp: https://elizabethjoankelly.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElizabethJelly - Flying Pyjamas:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nf.colla_gen/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nf_orange - The Home Current:
Web: https://thehomecurrent.bandcamp.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHomeCurrent - mzungu:
Bandcamp: https://mzunguzu.bandcamp.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mzunguzu - Newlands:
Bandcamp: https://newlandsmusic.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/moray_newlands - Petridisch:
Web: https://petridisch.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/petridisch - Roberta Fidora:
Website: com
Bandcamp: https://robertafidora.bandcamp.com
Twitter: @RobertaFidora - Rupert Lally:
Bandcamp: https://rupertlally.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rupertlally - Sick Robot:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/68pyOjGD9MlY20OXtQVgG6?si=3NeOi4qpQ-yWh_vV86cViA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SickRobot1980 - Sound Effects Of Death And Horror:
Website: https://soundeffectsofdeathandhorror.co.uk/
Bandcamp: https://wormholeworld.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://seodah-weatnurecords.bandcamp.com/ - St James Infirmary:
Bandcamp: https://stjamesinfirmary1.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/smokeybarkid - The Central Office Of Information:
Bandcamp: https://woodfordhalse.bandcamp.com/album/treedom | https://coi-cis.bandcamp.com/
REVERBNATION: https://www.reverbnation.com/thecentralofficeofinformation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/COI_Music