Dinosaur Gardens » Electronic

Unknown Mystery Tape Recordings

sukho — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:13:47 +0000

I recorded these two unknown tracks on tape decades ago from a local college radio station, WCBN-FM, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I’ve saved them this whole time, never figuring out who or when these were originally made. They both consist of well-arranged samples from different sources – old sci-fi movies, Janis Joplin screaming, an old radio or TV ad, opera music, etc… This is the kind of sampling I fell in love with early in my days of discovering non-mainstream music: No cheesy dance or hip hop beats, just pure dada-esque collage that keeps you hooked and wanting to listen to it again and again. If you can identify the artist or provide any information – please do!

Unknown Song 1

Unknown Song 2

BBC Radiophonic Workshop – Fourth Dimension

ECC — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:13:33 +0000

(How has Dinosaur Gardens managed to avoid all references to the legendary BBC Radiophonic Workshop until this post? Surprising…)

So much has been written and said already about the infamous and influential BBC Radiophonic Workshop that I start this post at a loss. I mean, they deserve the praise — their legendary status is well-deserved — but with so many articles, a great documentary, and other dissections of their career and influence, I think I’ll take the easy way out and stick to a short obituary of their accomplishments.

If you know only one thing of their work, it would be the theme to Doctor Who, the venerable BBC sci-fi television series. They also did the sound effects. And incidental music. In fact, they were a BBC department that produced all manners of strange noises and sound effects (and theme songs) for over 200 other BBC shows. In doing so, they paved a superhighway of innovation that led electronic music growth for decades, from studio engineering to electronic composition to sound collage to synthesizer technology.

I came across this album in a dilapidated Leeds (UK) record shop for just a couple quid and have held onto it for dear life — BBC Radiophonic Workshop on vinyl doesn’t sell cheap. The standout track for me is easily Vespucci, a funky saunter with a very sampleable cool synth melody. The abstract cover from this 1973 release looks quite a bit like a CD exploding, perhaps another ahead-of-their-time move from these old-timers. And finally, this great closing line from the liner notes:

“The specially created stereo is not an attempt at realism, but is used as a sound object in its own right.”

Artwork:

Pascal: The Sixth Ear

sluggo — Sat, 06 May 2006 19:33:48 +0000

Nik “Pascal” Raicevic’s chief claim to fame is as a session percussionist for two tracks on the Rolling Stones’ Goat’s Head Soup, but in the early 1970s he released several pioneering electronic instrumental albums under various names.

His first release, in 1970, was an eponymous album under the name “Head”; it was released by Buddah Records and contained tracks with names like “Cannabis Sativa” and “Methedrine”. Buddah had second thoughts fairly quickly and Raicevic was soon on his own. He released four albums on his own label (keeping the drug theme by naming it “Narco Records and Tapes”) before selling all his equipment to Steve Roach and dying of an overdose or finding Jesus or something.

This is The Sixth Ear, from 1972, with great spacey Moog sounds. For you DJs out there, this makes a fantastic music bed for back-announcing. Raicevic credits himself under three different pseudonyms on the involved musicians list on the back cover. The engineer is listed as “William Elder”, but I don’t think it’s the Mad/Playboy artist.

I have this on LP, but I’d really like to find the 8-track, which has a great warning on the cover: “DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS TAPE IF YOU ARE STONED”. It’s unclear what would happen if you were to ignore the warning, or why it wasn’t on the cover of the LP.