benge - twenty systems

basicallly an illustrated musical encyclopaedia o synth

Ben Edwards is one of the people behind the excellent Expanding record label and has been writing and producing electronic music for many years now. Expanding itself is set to, well, expand. The lads have set up a new sub-label under the moniker Concurrent to put out, as they explained to me, "all the music that doesn't really fit with Expanding". You might expect the first release on the more experimental arm of an already cutting edge label to be a cautious affair, but all the stops have been well and truly removed. Known for their attention to design and the beautiful photographs that often adorn their releases, this particular effort is backed up with a 52-page colour booklet in a lovely digipak.

The concept behind the album is simple - 20 tracks, showcasing 20 different synthesizers, one from each year, covering the period 1968-1987. The extensive liner notes include an introduction from Edwards himself in which he explains; "the purpose of this record is to demonstrate the development of the synthesizer" - no mean feat. If this sounds geeky in the extreme, well it probably is. Some of these machines I'd never even heard of before, so it was a delight (speaking as a fellow geek) to be able to investigate the timbres of each one in turn.

Every track/synth has it’s own accompanying photo and text, delving into the history of each piece of kit and touching on the techniques used to create each piece of music. The EMS VCS3 is demonstrated with thick tones and some extreme bottom end. The liner notes are keen to point out that this particular machine found fame in the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop as the voice of the Daleks. The ghost of the Workshop reappears several times on the album – music made on both the ARP2600 and the Kawai K5M (actually the most recent machine on show) both give significant nods to the work of Derbyshire, Baker et al. Indeed, the idea of sonic exploration from within strict confines pervades this collection, as does a certain amount of retro worship - the Oberheim Xpander practically screams Vangelis soundtrack. But there are surprises to be had. The ARP2500 track sounds like a modern piece of laptop glitchery but this machine was actually made available to the public in 1970. The Serge Modular threatens a rhythm while all manner of squeaks go off, building to a crescendo reminiscent of the work of many of today’s faceless DSP kids – but stunningly, this box of tricks was developed before 1972 by a tutor at the California Institute of Arts.

It’s not all uneasy listening either. The pieces created with the Yamaha CS70M and the Moog Polymoog feature exactly the kind of gorgeous melodies for which Expanding is best known, and provide some of the highlights of the album. In his written conclusion, Edwards explains that the original concept was to see what the machines could do under their own steam, but of course “none of these machines are capable of working on their own” – so it’s man versus machine, and whilst Benge has put a bit of himself into the sonics, he has been sure to let the idiosyncrasies of each synth remain at the fore. In an age increasingly dominated by computer software for music production, this is a vital document of the evolution of the hardware of the last forty years, but it’s much more than just a library piece.

the wire likes it too.

gonna have to check this out cause that's an interesting idea for an album!

the tracks on his myspace sound nice... http://www.myspace.com/twentysystems

shall be checken

'I am 9' is a fantastic record, shall check this fo sho!

Benge is a proper lovely guy, very talented too, and his synth collection (seriously) puts richard james' to shame.

hmmmm, how would you know what RDJ's synth collection is like....?

  Atop said:

hmmmm, how would you know what RDJ's synth collection is like....?

from what i'm told by mutual friends.

Interested in this. Can someone point me where to order the cd (w/ booklet)?

ay, pretty nice ..and warm

it is

finally acquired this

it's lovely

loads of this album looks really cool in a spectrograph

moog modular

'I am 9' is a masterpiece...

this record is cool but not nearly as good imo....

thank you tidbit, you probably turned me onto Benge....twas someone on slsk

funny thing.. i think i least like iam9 of his releases.

i think my fav might be home music

and i still like this one too.. especially during the night time.

getting 'home music' right now........

One of the best albums released last year, listened to it again taking a bus through the countryside, very very nice.

  tidbit said:

funny thing.. i think i least like iam9 of his releases.

 

i think my fav might be home music

 

and i still like this one too.. especially during the night time.

yeah, my favourite time to listen to this is late at night, and not too loud