<div>All:</div>
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<div>Music is an infinite universe, for all practical purposes... I'll never have time to listen to but a small fraction of the music in the world. But I have loved "electronic" or "experimental" music since I was a teenager.
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<div>Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Gyorgy Ligeti (just died in June, how sad! He composed the riveting solo piano piece in Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut," and who can forget his otherworldly music in Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey?"), Edgard Varese, Iannis Xenakis etc. opened up astonishing worlds of experimental soundscapes when I was an early teen. This was before Walter Carlo's "Switched On Bach," Pink Floyd and the Who's use of synthesizers, the studio wizardry of Jimi Hendrix on "Electric Ladyland," the Beatles on "Revolver" and Sgt. Peppers," among other influences, made electronic/experimental music more mainstream. Now, experimental, synthesizer and computer generated music is taken for granted.
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<div>Here is a short list of some favorites, some more recent, some not:</div>
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<div>Wendy Carlos, "Tales of Heaven and Hell, 1998" The same artist who brought us the groundbreaking "Switched On Bach" in 1968. Yes, Walter became Wendy. I could care less. The same person to me! Warning on album cover "Contains genuinely scary material. Use caution when listening alone or in the dark."
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<div>Synergy, "Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra," 1975. Larry Fast's composing and electronic execution of his music. Not rock! He's both compositionally and technically incredible. Worked with Peter Gabriel extensively. I've heard this hundreds of times, but it still induces the holographic infinite sound cathedral response (well documented by modern neuroscience as the ultimate state of being).
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<div>Vangelis, "Spiral," 1977. The "Chariots of Fire" and "Bladerunner" soundtracks brought Vangelis into the mainstream. "Sprial" has a cut, "Dervish D," "inspired by the Dervish dancer who by his whirling realizes the spiraling of the universe." Sufism, anyone? An Islamic mystical tradition. Check out the movie "Baraka" to watch Dervish dancers in action.
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<div>Jean Michel Jarre, "Metamorphoses," 2000. "Oxygen," 1976, Jarre's first album, still brings chills! No one makes music quite like this.</div>
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<div>Steve Roach, "Light Fantastic," 1999. Relatively unknown genius. Often integrates electronics with tribal ethnic trance using traditional instruments from Australian and North and Central American cultures. I love Rain Sticks!
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<div>Juno Reactor, "Labyrinth," 2004. Millions have heard their music from the "Matrix" soundtracks. I suspect Matrix writer/directors The Wachowski Brothers must have been big fans of these artists. Can you imagine how much money Juno Reactor made with their music heavily featured on the Matrix films? Some of the best modern electronica, a couple of steps above the rest. "Bible of Dreams," 1997, is a luminous transcendent wonder.
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<div>Can't forget pioneer electronic wizards Tangerine Dream. "Tangram," from 1980, is a dreamy and blissful work.</div>
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<div>Future Sound of London (sometimes Amorphous Androgynous, but same artists), "Lifeforms," 1994, or "Dead Cities," 1996. This is music from another planet, very electronic and experimental, too good to be a best seller. Now they are reborn as spiritual visionaries on "The Isness," 2002, and "Alice In Ultraland," 2005, doing more accessible song oriented music some compare to early Pink Floyd combined with the Beatles from "Sgt. Pepper." They are more well known in their native United Kingdom market.
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<div>Orbital, "The Middle of Nowhere," 1999. Orbital had soundtrack music on "The Saint" with Val Kilmer, and scored the entire film "Octane" with Madeleine Stowe. I worship these guys, especially 1996's "The Insides," one of the greatest modern electronica albums. Puts most of the posers in this genre in their place, weaving numerous simple rhythmic and musical ideas into complex tapestries (excuse the trite phrase, if you can).
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<div>The Orb, "Orbus Terrarum," 1995. Dr. (is he really a doctor?) Alex Paterson and company. A classic of the electronica movement. Just watch out for the slug eating piece at the end... What were they thinking?
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<div>And finally, from back before all the cool computer kids who think they invented electronic/experimental music took over, Iannis Xenakis was blowing minds with "Orient-Occident," 1960. I heard this in the early 1960's and was taken by the fact I was listening to the ionosphere. Read about this at the link below:
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<div><a href="http://www.emfmedia.org/catalog/em102.html">http://www.emfmedia.org/catalog/em102.html</a></div>
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<div>'Orient-Occident' (1960), commissioned by UNESCO as music for a film by Enrico Fulchignoni, uses the sounds of bowed boxes, bells and metal rods, sounds from the ionosphere, and a speed-altered excerpt from Xenakis' orchestral work 'Pitoprakta' are combined to create a work suggestive of the themes of the film, which tracks the development of civilization.
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<div>----------------</div>
<div>Ted Moffett</div>
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<div>"The more I know, the more I know I don't know."</div>
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<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 7/30/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">keely emerinemix</b> <<a href="mailto:kjajmix1@msn.com">kjajmix1@msn.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"><br><br>I bet I'm not the only one looking for a change in topics, and so, at the<br>risk of sounding shallow, I wonder if we could lighten up a bit and switch
<br>the focus . . .<br><br>A constant source of amazement, not to mention occasional ridicule, is my<br>allegedly awful taste in music. I endured the scorn of my Vision friends<br>when I admitted that I'm not a Sly and the Family Stone afficionado, and my
<br>husband is mortified that I have joined the teeming mass of middle-aged<br>Christian housewives who really like punk music. Accordingly, then, an<br>endorsement from me probably is enough to ensure that no one else dares try
<br>anything I listen to, but, for all it's worth, I've discovered some<br>absolutely wonderful music this summer. What gems are you all listening to?<br>Do tell, and promise you won't think less of me for the list below:
<br><br>1. The Raconteurs "Toy Broken Boy Soldier" -- Hands down the best debut<br>album I've ever heard. It's rarely left my car's CD player. Excellent<br>post-punk pop with hooks reminiscent of late-70s/early-80s indie bands.
<br><br>2. Crashdog "Cashists, Fascists, and Other Fungus" -- After more than a<br>decade, this treasure from the late, great Jesus People USA house punk band<br>still kicks. Raw, angry, yet lyrical punk that manages to be both prophetic
<br>and worshipful.<br><br>3. Daniel Amos "John Wayne" -- Every song's a winner! Lyrically stirring,<br>bitingly funny, and with DA's signature musicianship, which veers from arena<br>rock to rockabilly to post-punk to New Wave. If they lived here, they'd be
<br>my new best friends.<br><br>4. Jennifer Knapp "Kansas" -- Overcoming my distrust of sensitive<br>singer-songwriters, especially evangelical ones, I discovered one of the<br>most beautiful, poignant, convicting songs I've ever heard in "Martyrs and
<br>Thieves." JK is angry, hurt, tattooed, dark and altogether lovely. She<br>toured with Lillith Fest and thus alienated her Christian base. This can<br>only be a good thing.<br><br>5. Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler "Road Running" -- Emmylou Harris could
<br>sing the back of a cereal box and rip my heart open; with Mark Knopfler's<br>brooding vocals, this bluegrass/blues/folk collection will enliven every<br>radioplay-deadened cell in your body.<br><br>OK, what great tunes am I missing? I'd love to know what you all are
<br>listening to. (Note to Bruce Livingston: Yes, if Sly Stone ever sings the<br>Emmylou Harris songbook, I promise to listen . . . )<br><br>keely<br><br>_________________________________________________________________
<br>On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to<br>get there! <a href="http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement">http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement</a><br><br>
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