VARIOUS ARTISTS
Doctor Who Vol. 1: The Early Years 1963-1969
DRWRW1
Mute Records 2005
76 Tracks. 77mins50secs 

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Doctor Who Vol. 2: New Beginnings 1970-1980
DRWRW2
Mute Records 2005
49 Tracks. 77mins51secs 

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The music for the Doctor Who television series introduced electronic music to a domestic UK audience more than a decade before the new sounds began to seep into pop music. There were, however, a number of precedents in contemporary composition in the form of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry’s musique concrete and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s electronische musik of the 1950s. The first major example of electronic music in the popular realm may be Louis and Bebe Barron’s extraordinary soundtrack for 1954’s Forbidden Planet (starring Robbie The Robot and a young Leslie Nielsen), while in 1962, a year before the first episode of Doctor Who, The Tornadoes scored a no.1 hit in the UK and US with Telstar, Joe Meek’s futuristic ode to a telecommunications satellite.

Most of the aforementioned music began life as fairly standard sound effect fare such as rattled pebbles, mutilated instruments and occasionally sine-wave generators. The innovation lay in what was done with those sounds, namely painstaking tape editing and the application of a wide variety of post-production techniques such as the application of reverb, pitch manipulation and reverse playback. The BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop was set up in the 1950s to provide soundtracks for radio drama. It was located in two unimpressive rooms in the Corporation’s Maida Vale studios (built in 1909 as a roller skating rink) and predominantly used equipment scavenged from other departments. Such facts make the sounds presented on Volume 1 of Doctor Who At The BBC Radiophonic Workshop all the more extraordinary.

The most recognisable pieces are inevitably the various versions of the title theme composed by Ron Grainer and recorded/produced by the late Delia Derbyshire. There’s an exhaustive study of the piece here. These continue to stand as remarkably prescient works in their conflation of alien soundworld and insistent rhythm (think Kraftwerk, techno, electronica and so on). Coldcut acknowledged this clearly in concluding their 1997 megamix Journeys By DJ with the theme.

The vast majority of the tracks here are the work of Brian Hodgson. According to Ray White’s fascinating history of the Workshop (available here) he created the basic sound of the Tardis by running door keys along the strings of a derelict piano. The disc comprises seventy six short tracks, many of which are less than half a minute long, most lasting a lot less than two minutes. The descriptive track titles are highly resonant. For example, Dalek City Corridor, Sensorite Speech Background, Tardis Lands and so on probably conjure pictures more vividly in the mind’s eye than the original videotape. There’s something qualitatively distinct about the abstraction of music, particularly when isolated from its visual counterpart. Even the sound of, say, scrunched-up sticky tape is potentially more fascinating than the make-believe of eggbox alien planets, at least in today’s visually (over) saturated age. Listening to this lengthy procession of brief pieces is like dreaming of browsing a series of gorgeous, alien sculptures. Each possesses a miniature structure, a distinct identity and a sense of imaginative potential. They repay repeated listens. The same can’t be said for the content of Volume 2 whose sounds are predominantly the creation of the Workshop’s analogue synthesizers, the EMS VCS3 and the Synthi 100, nicknamed the Delaware Dinosaur. The majority of the pieces are more clearly sound effects and the relative familiarity of their textures and colours makes them less fascinating than Volume 1.

Vol. 1: 4 / Vol. 2: 2.5/5

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Welcome To The Neo Golden Age – A Sound Exposure Vol. 1
EQX001CD
Equinox Records 2005
14 Tracks. 60mins51secs 

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If the rather presumptuous title of this first compilation from Munich-based Equinox Records could well put off the most curious of listeners, and leaves itself open to disappointment, this album actually collects a rather interesting selection of crossover electronica tracks, and deserves to be given a chance.

Although the label was founded back in 2002, Welcome To The Neo Golden Age is Equinox’s first full-length release. Gathering six of its artists, each one coming from a different part of the world, this album focuses mostly on hip-hop-infused electronic constructions, with hints of old school electro to occasionally spice up the mix. With contributions from ArcSin, Danny Decock, Emynd, Mnemotrauma, Equinox founding member DJ Scientist, and Scientist’s other project, Echelon, the fourteen tracks on offer here appear to focus on a specific sound, yet each artist, most contributing at least two tracks, bring their own universe and help profiling the general mood of the album. The use of hip-hop beats and structure characterises the majority of the compositions here. Often evolving in laidback territories, these tracks offer a variety of approaches, from the soulful touch of Viennese Danny Decock to the heavy electronic constructions of ArcSin, a Brooklyn-based musician who has previously released music on Definitive Jux and its DRX sub-label, and the luscious soundscapes developed by Scientist.

Everything presented here is of excellent musical quality, and if the experimental side of the music is often pushed aside to privilege a rounder, more accessible sound, this first compilation is still well worth an attentive listen.

3.8/5

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Force Majeure
409CD02
409 2005
22 Tracks. 76mins53secs

Following a first compilation, Forcefeed, released over two years ago, Ohio-based art collective 409 is now introducing the second instalment in a series of compilations with Force Majeure. Once again collecting the work of members of the collective, each artist contributes between two and six tracks.

Clearly set on the more melodic side of electronica, the twenty-two tracks comprising this record offer a further incursion into the sonic environment developed by the various members of this collective. Like its predecessor, Force Majeure showcases a variety of atmospheres and influences, ranging from beautiful lush compositions to abstract pop-infused moments to truly experimental tracks, yet the scope appears more varied and accomplished than on Forcefeed. Alternating between full-blown tracks and short interludes, force Majeure never leaves time for the listener to settle down, throwing new equations with insistent regularity.

While Mmodule, Masaru or Makeup & Vanity Set craft complex electronic structures close to the work of some of Warp’s or Hefty‘s rosters, Merk or Ade Lun Sec develop organic ambient compositions based in turn on arid, rich or dark soundscapes. Very much like its predecessor, the strength of this collection resides precisely in its apparent lack of real focus. Constantly jumping from one genre to the next, it only becomes clear after repeated listens that the direction of this record is to be found in the sum of the various sources of inspiration expressed here rather than in its part.

Once again the work of passionate, Force Majeure very much continues on the footsteps of Forcefeed and provides a rare opportunity to experience all these artists and moods on one album.

4.2/5

VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Enlightened Family: A Collection Of Lost Songs
VE001
Voodoo-EROS 2005
13 Tracks. 36mins22secs

Voodoo-EROS is a Brooklyn-based label founded by CocoRosie’s Bianca Casady. To celebrate the birth of her new venture, she has collected a series of previously unheard songs from friends, both famous and unknown. The Enlightened Family features two tracks from a sixteen-year old Devendra Banhart, a 1968 recording from British folk legend Vashti Bunyan, an instrumental recorded by Patrick Wolf on a desert island, two tracks from Diane Cluck, an old forgotten piano track from Sierra Casady, and two of the sisters’ side projects, Metallic Falcons and Island Folk Lore.

Far from focussing on just one sound, this album changes direction with every track, from the fragile opener by Metallic Falcons and the soulful You’ll Never Know from Nomi to Houses, a track recorded by Devendra Banhart for a friend’s Birthday, which already showed signs of his particular aptitude at crafting perfect bohemian pop songs, or the chaotic gallic hip-hop of Rock N’Roll from CocoRosie’s regular collaborator Spleen, here with Zen, each track seems placed specifically against the one it follows to generate multiple clashes all the way through.

The two gems out of this eccentric family are to be found with Diane Cluck’s delectably sweet and sour Real Good Time and Vashti Bunyan’s long lost demo Song Of A Wishwanderer, which appears to encompass everything her followers thrive for in the astonishing purity of her voice and singing, which even the poor quality of the recording cannot alter. Elsewhere, Londoner Patrick Wolf offers a rather perverse instrumental, stuck somewhere between acoustic and electricity, sheer beauty and awful discomfort.

Although this album doesn’t pretend anything more than a scrap book for misfits and vandals, it’s honesty captivates and its vision intrigues. For sure, it is difficult to know for sure what to make of it, but it certainly is set to become a truly legendary collection.

4.5/5