Customer Reviews

Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music, 1948-1980

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OHM makes a very lofty ambition to cover the entire history of electronic music in one set of 3 CDs. While three CDs may offer considerably more time than the standard 1 or 2 disc compilation, it is hardly enough space to really cover much in detail for one decade of music, let alone four. "OHM" is refreshing in its honesty, admitting these flaws and then getting on with what really matters: the music.

Many of the pieces included on this set have been severely shortened for variety's sake. Rather than include the full hour or so of Terry Riley's "Poppy Nogood," for instance, we are treated to a seven minute excerpt. In many instances, this does what the set is meant to do on the whole: it gives a good overview of the history and growth of electronic music as its own experimental genre.

Some of the names appearing within this collection are fairly well known: John Cage, David Tudor, Edgard Varese, Steve Reich (performed by Sonic Youth), Karlheinz Stockhausen, Terry Riley, Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Schaeffer.... There are also a few unexpected appearances, by Tchaikovsky (an absolutely beautiful performance of his "Valse Sentimentale" on theremin), Holger Czukay (of Can), and a few more contemporary artists such as Jon Hassell and Brian Eno, vintage ambient that finishes up the last disc at the close of the seventies.

Much of the music is what may be considered "difficult" by unexperienced ears. Every once in a while this is true: La Monte Young's "31 I 69" maybe be edited down to a mere 7 minutes, but it's still almost impossible to endure the solid tone of mid-range feedback. Tudor's "Rainforest" squawks and chirps like an electronic jungle of his own creation. Many of the tracks, on the third disc especially, are more ambient in nature and are easier to absorb.

As a fan of electronic music and its history, I cannot praise the label enough for putting together this fantastic compilation. Any limitations of the format are made up for in terms of quality and variety. Not only does it cover artists whose work I already appreciated, and places them in a historical context, but it also draws attention to dozens of other artists that until now may have lived in the high-profile composers' shadows.

As with the Caipirinha set "Early Modulations: Vintage Volts" (recommended also, only two songs overlap), many of the works are decades old and sound as new as any of the "glitch" movement hitting the streets this year. This set is essential!

This is required listening for anybody interested in the history of electronic music. Although implicitly aiming for the techno music audience, this audio history is overwhelmingly focused on the classical avant-garde of electro-acoustic composers. The closest you'll get to pop electronica is the Brian Eno track at the end of the third disc. No Kraftwerk, no Moroder, etc. Instead "OHM" manages to point to the continuities between, say, John Cage and artists currently working at the experimental edges of electronica (so-called IDM). It seems to be saying, "You think Kid 606 is visionary? Well check out this Stockhausen track from '59!"

Admittedly, some of the songs are much more interesting to think about than they are to listen to. Some of the early pieces that were made through thosuands of hours of pains-taking tape-splicing could be made today in an afternoon with a digital audio editor and a few effects plug-ins.

It is a beautiful package, containing a 90 page booklet of essays, quotations from the featured artists, and photographs. What all music should be: an education in daring.

OHM is a really exciting release. The product is clearly a labour of love, and the location of artists in a larger context is brilliantly achieved - together with a definition of that context. Possibly the best compilation effort I've ever seen, it breaks ground like Hughes' `Shock of The New', providing a similar public service: the definition of essential repertoire. OHM gives us, for the first time, a map of this strange, fascinating territory, showing us the connections, and offering brilliant, concise critique in the beautifully-designed accompanying booklet.

One complaint about early electronica is that it's `interesting', but you can't listen to it. It's a din, or it sounds like cartoon or sci-fi music. Counter this criticism with OHM, which comprehensively renders the accusation false. The music is uniformly beautiful, substantial, affecting, repeatable. And it hits its targets in ways which can make contemporary stuff look wanting. Messaien's drifting, spiritual ondes martenot piece `Oraison' is an object lesson in the humanisation of electronica. Cage's `Williams Mix' is jawdropping: half a century old and hyperkinetically modern beyond Autechre or Kid 606, with a prophetic title. Tod Dockstader's `Apocalypse II' does things with voice synthesis to make Thomas Bangalter turn pale. Ussachevsky's `Wireless Fantasy' from 1960 is a techno bleepscape set against alien clouds of ambient noise. It's moving in ways FSOL, and even The Orb, imply but never quite get to. MEV's `Spacecraft' is an intensely clear, bone-raw noisefest to inspire any of Norway's current cutting-edge electronica/improv crossover artists; like AMM told they have 6 minutes left to live.

That's just CD1. Favourites from CD2/CD3 are: (1) David Tudor/`Rain Forest': trompe de l'oreille mapping out territory the Hafler Trio are fond of crossing; (2) Terry Riley/`Poppy Nogood': luminous, systemic, floating; a beautifully architected anticipation of ambient world music. (3) Luc Ferrari/`Promenade Music': `aleatoric' collisions of environmental sound. Zen-like, be-here-now music. (4) Francois Bayle/`Rosace 3': I admit Bayle has failed to impress me before now, but here he makes his `Jean-Michel Jarre of the avant-garde' tag work for him - in a big way. (5) Xenakis/`Hibiki-Hana-Ma': blood-dark, apocalyptic musique concrete. (6) Robert Ashley/`Automatic Writing': voices downloaded from another dimension (again, see Hafler Trio) underpinned by a gently funky bass track that sounds like it's bleeding through your ceiling. (7) Curran/`Cantus Illuminati': delicious, clamouring dronescape filled with bells and sighs. (8/9) Hassell/`Before and After Charm'; Eno/`Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hill)': these two selections represent a genuinely new idea in electroacoustics: after sine tones and oscillation come softly-textured granular fabrics. Hassell's piece is enormous, moving sky-church music; Eno's an intimate, enfolding glimpse into memory.

Throughout the 3 CDs, one is constantly impressed by two things: intense, bloody-minded, against-the-odds musical vision, allied with incredible discipline. Much music sounds diluted, smudged or second-hand compared with this. It's not easy stuff, but as the compilers so persuasively argue, without these pioneers, all the important modern idioms fail to exist. Mark Prendergast, in `The Ambient Century', argues all modern music is ambient. Well, no. All modern music is post-electronic - `post-OHM'. Find the roots, the methodologies, the tropes, and the atmospheres drawn together, unalloyed and superbly mounted, on this brilliant, essential anthology. From the selection of repertoire, through the commentary, to the graphic design, it's hard to see how this could ever be topped.

If you're looking for disco electronica, dance music of any kind, 'ambient', 'ill-bient' or anything put out by the assorted DJ 'bands,' then this is not a set for you. However, if you are interested in serious electronic music by the inventors of the field, pieces that are concerned with sound, structure and the technical aspects of the genre at its very basics, highly experimental music that demands attentive listening, than indeed buy this collection. It is not only the sole collected survey of serious electronic music available, it's an excellent one, containing the very most important pieces ever made and a nice selection of others that have stretched the field form its earliest days, pre-WWII. Very much pre- and un-rave.

This CD collection seems to have inspired some of the mostthoughtful and lengthy in reviews. And rightly so! It is beautifully packaged, the musical selections are carefully chosen and surprisingly diverse, and the introduction by Brian Eno is an absolute bulls-eye. The thick booklet included in this 3 CD set devotes a paragraph or two to each artist and his/her work.

True, some of the works have been truncated, and some electronic artists were overlooked, while others probably should have been (La Mont Young's mathematical exercise "31/69..."). But overall, this collection is still representative of the evolution of electronic music; crucial works like Poem Electronique and and excerpt of Kontakte make an appearance. But...

OHM deserves three stars, because the producers and/or editor made a surprising, and significant error. The track described as Milton Babbit's "Philomel" is not "Philomel" and furthermore, it is not electronic. "Philomel" as presented on this disc, is actually a shorter Babbit work called "Phonemena", written for piano and voice! Doubtless, listeners who aren't familiar with the piece probably pass up that track saying, "so what? doesn't sound very electronic." And they are right. The version of "Phonemena" on OHM is indeed the original version for piano and voice, written in 1969 (Phonemena was eventually realized as a piece for voice and synthesizer in 1975). This mistake is truly unfortunate, because "Philomel" is a beautiful song for live voice, recorded voice, and synthesizer. (You can find the full "Philomel" on NEUMA Records #450-74)

I hope that the people who compiled this disc will insert the correct song, and that they will stick with "Philomel" in the next pressing of this potentially excellent CD. It wouldn't hurt to include excerpts from Denis Smalley's "Wind Chimes" and Jonathan Harvey's "Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco" too.

Electronic Music has a storied career. It is a genre of music that is uniformly denounced when at the time of its creation, yet that becomes completely assimilated decades later. Music that was unabshedly daring at the time, now seems familiar in retrospect.

Part of the reason for this is that Electronic Music composers have been inspirational to more mainstream composers, who in turn influence listeners and later composers. For example, Pierre Schaffer's "Etude aux Chemins de Fer," with its samples of Railroad Trains would have influenced a long lineage of sampled music creators such as David Byrne & Brian Eno (who writes the foreword in the liner notes), The Art of Noise and Lori Anderson, as well as more mainstream artists such as Peter Gabriel, The Chemical Brothers and even Public Enemy. Electronic Music is even enjoying a secret renaissance among the fans of Techno, Trance and Electronica, as they search for the roots of these genres.

While there are other compilations that mine similar ground, such as "Early Modulations," they tend to be either so cursory that they provide little perspective, or so focused on a particular composer or salon that they become narrow and needlessly detailed.

"OHM, The Early Gurus of Electronic Music" is sufficiently broad with 42 selections covering thirty years. And it covers a wide range of musical explorations. Yet at the same time, it provides a clear historical chronology of the genre. But beyond all of this--the music featured in this compilation is REALLY interesting. Quite a bit of it is mesmerizing and not at all what one might think of as "Electronic Music."

Incidently, I highly recommend that the reader also consider purchasing "Electric Sound" by Joel Chadabe (Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-303231-0), who also contributes to the liner notes. After reading the book, I searched high and low to find a compilation of Electronic Music that would serve as a suitable companion. "OHM" works marvellously, as it covers most of the significant composers mentioned in the book.

As a listener becomes familiar with this music, his perspective on sound and music changes. Even hearing something as mundane as a Nissan Altima commercial, one begins to hunt for Electronic Music influences: "that cloud of sound is Xenakis, while this cymbally swoosh is clearly Stockhausen..."

The point of this ramble is simply that Electronic Music has been subtly and deeply woven into the fabric of popular music. Whether we are aware of it or not, we have already been exposed to it in much the same way that a kid might be exposed to Rossini through Bugs Bunny. This one compilation is an excellent introduction into a subject that seems intimidating, but that is strangely familiar.

Go ahead. Take the plunge.

Stephen B. Ward
Mercy College, White Plains, NY

Although it's quite expensive, Ohm is well worth buying if you've ever wondered if there was electronic music before Phuture (or Jean Michel Jarre, depending on how old you are). It comes in a great plastic sleeve and folds out like a giant bug, and looks good on a shelf or table. There are three artfully-illustrated CDs with music on them and a big, well-written inlay booklet which could easily have been bigger. There is also a special edition that has a DVD, but I can't comment on that because I don't have it.

Ohm does two things - on the one hand it's a little piece of history, and a useful one too. Many of the pieces here are very hard to get otherwise, and to have the main theme of Forbidden Planet and Terry Riley's "Poppy Nogood" in one handy box is ace. Elsewhere the usual faces are present - Cage, Stockhausen, Schaeffer, and so forth, plus FM pioneer John Chowning. The cast list is an exclusive set of faces picked from the high-art end of the musical scale. It's a shame the compilers didn't go the whole hog, and include Stevie Wonder or the Silver Apples or some other popular musicians who brought electronic music to the masses. I mean, some of the pieces on this record from the 1980s are just going over old ground.

As an album of music to listen to it's not quite as successful - most of the songs are like Monty Python sketches, in the sense that they're basically a punchline extended much too long. You get the joke after a minute, and find yourself hanging on, waiting for another joke, and there isn't one. The abstract nature of the pieces renders them timeless, but timeless as a corpse - cold and dead. Stockhausen, in particular, sounds almost like a parody of esoteric experimentalism.

It's fascinating, then, and worth the money, but you probably won't listen to it more than once or twice.

These three discs are loaded with difficult, but potentially rewarding, music. To reap the rewards, listen attentively in an area free from other distractions. This is serious music. It is important also to read the liner notes which accompany the discs - they are well written. Think of the whole experience as if you are a participant in a captivating lecture on electronic music delivered by the very capable Brian Eno. On top of it all, the packaging is a real treat - Stoltze Design, of Boston, MA is again able to add something visually worthwhile to an aural adventure.

For those who are unacquainted, this set is the gateway into an entirely new experience of sound. Few listeners, and likely not many practitioners, for that matter, of dance, techno, and trance fully appreciate the extent to which "electronic music," as we know it, was borne from the world of avant-garde classical music...

...and don't expect a killer drum and bass rhythm section on any of these pieces. As you'll soon learn from listening to this box set and reading the ample liner notes (with intro by Brian Eno, no less), the origins of electronic music were anything but simple, or dull. The set takes off by introducing a couple standard-ish classical pieces which put to use some of the first electronic instruments invented. The theremin and ondes martinot (a small keyboard-based instrument which was a distant precursor to the synth) are featured in the first two tracks, respectively, and after that the set moves into some of the different movements and styles developed throughout the middle part of the 20th Century.

Track three is by Pierre Schaeffer. For all you dance and techno buffs out there, this was the first man ever to loop a track, play a track back in reverse, or use a host of other effects which are all common tools for musicians of today. His "Etude Aux Chemins de Fer," or "Railroad Study," is a field recording of various train sounds which was manipulated by Schaeffer in his Paris studio. He developed this method of documenting found sounds and applying various effects to them, dubbing it "Musique Concrete." The process caught on fast. John Cage uses the same method in "Williams Mix," but organizes the sounds in random, rapid succession according to complex principles of chance. This piece is absolutely jarring. Another amazing example of musique concrete is Hugh le Caine's "Dripsody," a virtuosic piece composed from the repetition and manipulation into different pitches of the sound of a single drop of water.

Before entering the age of synthesizers, there is some fine tape-music in the form of Varese's "Poeme Electronique," a fantastically subtle blend of found sounds and instruments grossly manipulated by tape cuts, as well as Richard Maxfield's "Sine Music," a sort of pointillist tape piece which rearranges the sound of a sine wave.

Shortly following the era of musique concrete, synthesizers were being brought into development. One of the first synth pieces on the Ohm set is an excerpt from Milton Babbitt's "Philomel," a complex serialist work scored for female voice and the Mark II synthesizer, (one of the earliest ever developed, to which Babbitt had sole access for a time). "Cindy Electronium" by Raymond Scott is another highlight, which uses Scott's own "Electronium," a "spontaneous composing and performing machine," as he described it, developed half a century ago. As you will notice when hearing this track, the Electronium was capable of producing electronic sounds which sounded as modern as anything churned out by the electronic musicians of today. Also provided in the synth category is a sample of Morton Subotnick's infamous "Silver Apples of the Moon," one of the most popular electronic pieces ever recorded.

The later tracks on this box set delve into digital computer pieces and soundscapes. Paul Lansky's "Six Fantasies" is a rather haunting piece for robotic-sounding voices harmonically enriched using early computer technology, and David Behrman's "On the Other Ocean," is a brilliantly thought-out improvisation between a solo cellist and a computer program written by Behrman himself, which reacts to the soloist's performance. The four or five tracks rounding out the set can be considered some of the earliest forms of New Age, as these artists used combinations of the earlier techniques to make some of the first intentionally ambient and hypnotic music.

To me, the most fascinating aspect of all of this music is not only the lack of conventionally-produced sound, but also in many cases the complete abandon of traditional compositional form. In 90-95% of the pieces, there exists either no recurring themes, introductions, crescendos, counterpoint, etc., or there exists merely a complete distortion of these standards. This music truly represents everything new and revolutionary we have come to expect from the beginnings of the postmodern era.

The Ohm box set serves as a fantastic historical document and THE definitive entrance point for anyone interested in the origins of electronic music. The fact that edits are occasionally used can be a bit frustrating (the original versions of many of these pieces are loooooong), but some of this music is not available anywhere else, and let's face it: after being infected by the incredible sounds encased here, you'll be searching for all of the artists' original albums, anyway.

(PS, be sure to pick up the reissued version, OHM+, which is the same exact set but comes packaged with a DVD.)

The OHM collection contains some of those ground breaking electronic compositions that have shaped today's styles, from the early electronic instruments of Theremin and Martenot, through Pierre Schaeffer's Music Concrete tape music and the electronic music of Stockhausen and Subotnick, to the mainframe computer output of Risset and Chowning.

It is unfair to mark this collection down due to the production quality and 'musicality' of its contents, to do so would be to staggeringly miss the point of the development of electronic music through the 20th Century. What this collection shows is the ideas behind those at the cutting edge of the genre before many could even conceive of such output. That said it is hard going at points, as experimental music can be.

Highlights for me are no doubt Olivier Messiaen's 'Oraison' on CD 1, David Tudor's 'Rainforest Version 1' on CD 2 and on CD 3 David Behrman's 'On the Other Ocean' and Maryanne Amacher's 'Living sound Patent Pending'.