Contemporary Modular Synthesizer Compositions: Structures and Forces beautifully shifts from conceptual electronic experimentations to ambient galactic sounds around modular synthesis. A pleasant intellectual meditation on analogue soundwaves.
With his new sub-label and compilation project Ian Boddy (80s pioneer electronic sound artist and founder / leader of the DiN laboratory since 1999) aspires to launch a handful of creative works around the analogue technologies and classical modular synthesizers. Ian Boddy already made a name as a true specialist of the technical, creative alchemy you can extract from those electronic gears, this around fundamental principles and a capacity to join art with programming science.
The idea behind the Tone Science imprint is also motivated by his album of the same name (reviewed here.) In this inaugural album, Ian Boddy is surrounded by a handful of other specialists in the field of modular synth and technological innovations in music: Paul Lawler and Nigel Mullaney, Chris Carter (Throbbing Gristle, CTI), Scanner, DivKid and Matthew Shaw, Lyonel Baucher, Richard Scott. This is one ambitious project we have a lot to expect from, in terms of documentation and sonic experimentation. The music collected here features a wide range of styles derived from the ambient and electro-acoustic musical universe. The opening theme by DivKid (“Natural Minor Sines”) introduces the listener in a soothing and diaphanous ambient environment full of enveloping spacey synth textures and micro-details. Ian Boddy’s “Tone6” features astral synth moves and diverse sound manipulations. I love Lyonel Bauchet’s “Un coq à Esculape” with its bizarre, rhythmic and efficient retro-ish sci-fi romanticism. Scanner’s “If Wishes Came True” is an ethereal, cerebral and moving hypnotic track for repetitive guitar patterns, eerie drones and echoing ghostly vocals—a nocturnal and tripped out musical adventure with a feeling of being lost. Matthew Shaw’s “Harmonograph” closes the album with pure drones, concise electronic vibes which develop a rather catchy sinister mood.
Structures and Forces beautifully shifts from conceptual electronic experimentations to ambient galactic sounds around modular synthesis. A pleasant intellectual meditation on analogue soundwaves.
Tone Science No.1 – Structure and Forces is available on Tone Science.
