Women Synthesists

My Book/eBook: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020.

My Podcast: The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music

My blog for the Bob Moog Foundation.

Original music by Thom Holmes can be found in iTunes and on Bandcamp.

This episode features some great works by women composers in electronic music. I have assembled eleven works by six composers. Some of these names are recognizable from the past, some are newer. I think you’ll agree that each work is a unique and amazing contribution to the field of electronic music.

The first two works explore the idea of continuous energy in music and drones. The first is what I like to think of as a harmonic drone work, a piece by Elaine Radigue recorded in 1973 using the marvelous ARP 2500 modular synthesizer. The second is a drone work comprised of noise sounds by Caroline K. She was one half of the UK team that gave us the Nocturnal Emissions in the early 1980s. Following those two extended works, we’ll listen to three shorter works by electronic music Pauline Anne Strom from the 1980s. Her music is often categorized as new age, as it came out of the same self-produced music cassette culture that spawned so many advocates at the time. But give a listen to her peculiar sounds, harmonies, and atmospheres. It was produced using various synthesizers from Yamaha, the Prophet 10, and you will also detect some sampled sounds from an Emulator digital keyboard. Following Strom, we will hear two more extended works that explore the psychological and physical effects of electronic music. Composed about 18 years apart, we’ll hear a work by the American artist Maryanne Amacher from an album called Sound Characters followed by “This Causes Consciousness To Fracture” from Patterns Of Consciousness by Italian musician Caterina Barbieri. I think you will understand why I paired these works for this episode. Finally, we will hear side 1 of the album Sauco, the latest release by Argentinean composer Nina Corti who also goes by the name QOA. She mixes sounds from nature with electronic music.  

Episode 129

Women Synthesists

Playlist

Time	Track Time	Start
Introduction –Thom Holmes	04:36	00:00
Eliane Radigue, “Transamorem – Transmortem” (excerpt) from Transamorem – Transmortem (2011 Important Records). Composed in 1973 for ARP 2500 modular synthesizer. Music of slowly changing drones using the marvelous ARP synthesizer, which was Radigue’s key instrument for years after having experimented with Moog and Buchla modulars.	39:29	04:40
Caroline K, “The Happening World” from Now Wait For Last Year (1987 Earthly Delights). Caroline was a co-founder of Nocturnal Emissions, together with Nigel Ayers, in 1980. Arranged By, Recorded By, Producer, Composed By, Performer, Caroline K. Executive-Producer, Nigel Ayers. Drones of a different ilk. Noisy sounds, steady articulation, interesting timbres popping in and out. Sonically articulate.	20:49	44:03
Pauline Anna Strom, “Organized Confusion” from Plot Zero (1987 Trans-Millenia Consort Recordings). Pauline Anna Strom was a decades-long composer, musician and healer who lived and worked in San Francisco, CA. Pioneering blind synthesist. Music composed, synthesized, electronic treatments by Pauline Anna Strom. Strom taught herself to compose intuitively, practicing sounds with her various synthesizers, which included a Yamaha DX7, Prophet 10, two Yamaha CS1X portable keyboards and an E-mu Emulator. When she was ready to record, she laid it down using a Tascam four-track recorder and assembled her albums using a computer workstation. Early days for both the sampler and workstation.	06:04	1:04:48
Pauline Anna Strom, “Spacial Spectre” from Spectre (1984 Trans-Millenia Consort Recordings). Composed, synthesized, and electronic treatments by Pauline Anna Strom. From her vampire-inspired album.	06:58	1:10:51
Pauline Anna Strom, “Blood Thirst” from Spectre (1984 Trans-Millenia Consort Recordings). Composed, synthesized, and electronic treatments by Pauline Anna Strom. From her vampire-inspired album.	07:23	1:17:40
Maryanne Amacher, “"Head Rhythm 1" And "Plaything 2" from Sound Characters (Making The Third Ear) (1999 Tzadik). Electroacoustic composer of sound installations, best known for her incorporation of otoacoustic emissions -- sounds that seem to be emanating from inside one's own head. This track plays with that concept and sets your brain up to experience itself, so to speak.	10:04	1:25:04
Caterina Barbieri. “This Causes Consciousness To Fracture” from Patterns Of Consciousness (2017 Important Records).  Italian composer and musician from Bologna. This album was created using analog synthesis. Barbieri has said, “In Patterns of Consciousness I was interested in exploring the power of sound on our consciousness. I wanted to explore how a pattern creates a certain state of consciousness and how the gradual transformation of that pattern can affect that state of consciousness. I believe that sound is a tool for the exploration, reconfiguration and expansion of human perceptions.” I find this to be in a similar psychological vein as the Amacher work also heard in this episode.	22:44	1:34:56
QOA (Nina Corti), “Sauco” (04:22), “Liquen” (02:50), “Yatei” (03:04), “Muitu” (03:16) from SAUCO (2024 Leaving Records). Side 1 of the newest release from this composer-performer from Argentina. “Sonic journey crafted to cultivate poetic gestures amidst Fauna, Flora, Fungi, Mineral Waters, Wind, and Earth. Each track is an exploration of sound's constant transformation, akin to dragonfly particles swimming in the air. Like waves occupying a space in the spectrum, the compositions work with the movement, condensation, and lightness of the air.”	13:33	1:57:38

Opening background music: Pauline Anna Strom, “The Unveiling” from Trans-Millenia Consort (1982 Ether Ship Records). Her first cassette release from 1982. Composed and performed on synthesizer by Pauline Anna Strom. (06:04)

Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.

Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.