Saturday 4 June 2011

Instrumental Forms Are Eliminated



Two of my proudest posessions are two little 7" ep's on the Castle label, released in the early 1960's. Marked 'copyright free to amateur users only' they both contain fascinating electronic tracks put together by currently unsung British wireless and sound recording genius F.C Judd.

'Electronic Themes and Music Concrete' (there's a little accent over the first 'e' in concrete that I can't type) is the second of the little records and is 'mainly intended for effects purposes in stage drama, recording and film soundtracks'. The rest of the sleevenotes are equally informative: 'nothing pertaining to electronic music and musique concrete is analogous to conventional music performed with traditional musical instruments. Electronic music and musique concrete may therefore seem extremely complex and without recognizable order, for instrumental forms are eliminated; timbre, functional harmony and symmetrical rhythms are suspended'. So now you know.



Here's a sub ten minute mix of the four tracks: 'Delta F', 'Study In Sinetones', 'Sound Object' and 'Montage'. The quality of the recording is 'much loved', because it is.



If you like what you hear, please let production company Recorded Tuition Limited know. They can be contacted, according to the sleeve, by telephoning Buckhurst 9315. Good luck.

5 comments:

  1. Absolutely wonderful, thank you for sharing the magic. My head is now perfectly skewed.
    Been trying to ring Recorded Tuition Limited (to complain) all afternoon, but without success. Maybe they're closed for the weekend; I'll have another go on Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As Fearlono said.......absolutely wonderful. These are amazing. I see/hear why these are among your proudest possesions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The snippet is very intriguing, reminds me of some of those 'library' albums out there. By equal measures, some were (and still are) fascinating, and others are pretty naff. Ron Geeson and David Vorhaus did some pretty wacky stuff. I wonder if the Castle label is the one that went on eventually to morph into Sanctuary Records?

    ReplyDelete
  4. No, it isn't Sanctuary... now that's why it's a good idea to Google first!

    ReplyDelete
  5. A film documentary about Fred Judd is currently in production. It is being made by electronic film and sound tinkerer Ian Helliwell.
    http://www.ianhelliwell.co.uk/practical_electronica.htm

    He truly is one of the overlooked pioneers of electronic music.

    ReplyDelete