The Blog

In the 1970s, before the internet, before YouTube vids, what did synth companies do to get the word out about their amazing future-shaping technologies that would allow people to play sci-fi Mozart and jazz/rock/prog? Well, they made demonstration discs, which could be distributed via the shops which stocked the synths …

It’s Friday, so it must be Kraftwerk documentary time, right? This one was made in Germany in 1981 about their local heroes who at the time had just released ‘Computer World’. The visual quality is a bit ropey, which is to be expected from the 10th generation VHS bootleg. But …

In 1973, Robert Fripp and Brian Eno released the electronic masterpiece ‘No Pussyfooting’. From its room-of-mirrors cover to the other-worldly sounds on the grooves, it was clearly a signifier not only of Eno’s new direction (it was his first post-Roxy Music release), but was the first release of what effectively …

Devo’s ‘Hardcore Devo Live!’ Album is out about now. People who pledged on the pledgemusic.com campaign are starting to receive their packages of signed double vinyls, blu-rays and CDs and the like, and the CD and DVDs are on general sale too. It was the tour that all hardcore fans …

We all love jumpers, right? And we all love electronic music, too. Imagine if those two things could be combined somehow. Wouldn’t that be just peachy? Well, it just so happens that someone is ahead of us, and they’ve made what might be the perfect knitwear for the electronic music …

At the tail end of the 1970s, a small NME article alerted its readers to the fact that there were some great albums lurking in the 50p racks at a UK chain of downmarket electronics shops. Most of them were the usual tat (although the ‘Funky Junction Plays a Tribute …

Insane Autobahn Cover Version 1970s cheapo compilation cash-in reverse engineers ‘Autobahn’ with remarkable results Words: ES STAFF In the 1970s, the cash-strapped youth of Great Britain (and there were many of them in that decade) and other cheapskates who wanted to own the latest chart sounds were often victim to …

In 2008, a documentary was released called ‘Kraftwerk And The Electronic Revolution’. At three hours, it is a pretty comprehensive overview of the German music scene that gave us Kraftwerk. What makes this epic doc all the more fascinating for us and readers of Electronic Sound, is that David Stubbs, …

As anticipation builds for Korg’s ARP Odyssey launch, we had a quick chat with Korg’s Product Manager Ian Bradshaw about the recent announcement: Are you relieved to have finally announced the ARP Odyssey? “I wouldn’t say relieved as that implies we were under pressure. We have been very excited about …

If you need something to warm up your Monday morning (it’s chilly in the UK this morning, international weather fans), look no further. Mixmaster Morris, stalwart of the UK electronic music scene, has released a mix of Robert Wyatt tracks in celebration of the great communist’s 70th birthday. It really …

The Kraftwerk documentary aired by the BBC tonight was a pretty grim experience. Billed as an examination of Kraftwerk as ‘total art’, it was a promising proposition, with interviews with Can’s Holger Czukay, Detroit techno star Derrick May, and Kraftwerk pal Francois Kevorkian. Along for the ride was, almost inevitably, …

Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh has a studio on Sunset Strip called Mutato Muzika where he and his team of composers knock out an impressive amount of soundtracks for Hollywood films, TV shows and adverts, and the games industry; ‘The Lego Movie’ for one, and most of Wes Anderson’s films also. The …

Back to claim the terror-electro high ground, The Prodigy have released a video for the title track of their new album ‘The Day Is My Enemy’. The album is due out March 30th, and on the evidence of the two tracks they’ve put out so far, it’s a spectacular return …

Last night Wolfgang Flür entertained a packed house at the monthly Campfire (http://www.playworks.tv/campfire/) event in London. The audience – which included luminaries like Neil Arthur of Blancmange, Jon Fugler of Fluke and Kermit, formerly of the Ruthless Rap Assassins and, of course, Black Grape – lapped up the wide-ranging discussion …

Last summer, Devo played a handful of dates to the devoted in the USA, performing songs from their so-called ‘Hardcore’ era, the strange, mutated and twisted songs they wrote between 1974 and 1977 before they became a major label post-punk phenomenon. The whole shebang was recorded and filmed in Oakland’s …

The release date, Friday, January 18, 1980, made John Foxx’s debut solo album one of the first of the 1980s. It was a statement of electronic music that was put together relatively quickly, and with a simple set-up (“an eight track cupboard in Islington”), but one that would continue to …