A Groundbreaking Compilation of Female Electronic Composers
A groundbreaking compilation of female electronic composers originally released in 1977 has been reissued on vinyl for the first time by Italian label Blume.
‘New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media’ contains work by many seminal and pioneering electronic artists including Laurie Spiegel, Laurie Anderson, and Pauline Oliveros.
Liner Notes and Historical Significance
The new liner notes call the eight-track LP both “an astounding document of the landscape of experimental music toward the end of the 1970s” and “a historically significant feminist statement”.
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It is “the first collection of experimental music entirely dedicated to female composers, a number of whom were grossly under-celebrated at the time, but have since gone on to be regarded as among the most important composers of their generation,” write Jennifer Lucy Allen and Bradford Bailey on the record sleeve.
Meanwhile, in the liner notes to the original record, released via Thomas Buckner’s 1750 Arch label, Charles Amirkhanian declared: “The music on this album exhibits an exciting, wide-open, free-wheeling approach to the medium of electronic music which has come to be typical of this genre in the late 1970’s.”
“No longer are composers obsessively concerned with the agonizing, expressionistic, and purely ‘electronic’ (synthesized) sound formulas which marked much of this music composed between the mid-Fifties and the late-Sixties,” he continued. “Instead, today we have composers willing to mix media and sonic materials in thoroughly inventive ways to achieve ends which are new-sounding, and often more engaging, than that of the ‘academic’ avant-garde.”
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Recent Reissues and Celebrations
The recent reissue comes as the third of three releases by Blume in celebration of its 10th anniversary, following the arrival of James Tenney’s ‘Postal Pieces’ and Ben Vida’s ‘Vocal Trio’.
Last month, Music From Memory released the final compilation album that the late Jamie Tiller worked on.
‘Virtual Dreams II: Ambient Explorations In The House & Techno Age, Japan 1993-1999’ came exactly a year after the revered DJ passed away in a “tragic accident”, and contained ambient house and techno music by a number of acclaimed Japanese producers.
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Tracklist
Tracklist:
A1. Johanna Beyer – Music of the Spheres
A2. Annea Lockwood – World Rhythms
A3. Pauline Oliveros – Bye Bye Butterfly
B1. Laurie Spiegel – Appalachian Grove I
B2. Megan Roberts – I Could Sit Here All Day
B3. Ruth Anderson – Points
B4. Laurie Anderson – New York Social Life
B5. Laurie Anderson – Time to Go
Meena Sears is Mixmag’s Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram
FAQs
Q: What is the historical significance of ‘New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media’?
A: The compilation is considered a groundbreaking document of experimental music in the late 1970s, dedicated entirely to female composers who were often under-celebrated at the time.
Q: How does the recent reissue tie into Blume’s 10th-anniversary celebrations?
A: The reissue of ‘New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media’ is part of a series of releases by Blume in celebration of its 10th anniversary, highlighting the label’s commitment to innovative and pioneering electronic music.
Credit: mixmag.net
