Electronic Music

Matt Johnson has emerged as one of the most talented and prolific keyboard players of the last 20 years, mostly as part of the legendary Jamiroquai, in which he both writes and performs, and more recently as a YouTube channel host where he demonstrates this love of modern and vintage synths. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:37 - How did you get your first big break? 02:34 - Was joining Jamiroquai...

Describing herself as a composer, musician and robotic artist, Ivor Novello award winning artist Sarah Angliss talks to Caro C about her route into Electronic Music and how she utilises sub-frequencies, robotics and her own effects in her compositions and live performances. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - Classical And Folk Beginnings 00:00 - Discovering Electronic Music 07:52 - Studying Inf...

Zoë Blade and Nina Richards talk about their individual music careers and how they came together to create the Stepper Acid Eurorack Sequencer. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:18 - Composing For Patreon and YouTube 03:04 - Chiptunes 05:47 - Patreon Supporters 06:59 - Developing A Sound 11:00 - Working With Older Machines 13:39 - Expanding The Synth Collection 17:02 - Demosceners / Trackers 22:26...

J. Willgoose Esquire, founding member of alternative band Public Service Broadcasting, talks to Caro C about the origins of the band and the surprise success they've enjoyed. He details his recording methods, choice of equipment and the technical challenges of performing live. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:35 - How Public Service Broadcasting Began 03:48 - Sharing Voices From The Past 05:19 - M...

Synth Gems 1 is the first Bjooks publication to be authored by their Editor-in-Chief, Dr Mike Metlay, and sets out to document, both visually and in words, some of the most incredible keyboard synthesizers ever made. Using strict selection criteria, Mike, Kim Bjørn and the team have curated a collection of instruments that are pioneering and rare, influential and impactful and, above all, gorgeous...

In this podcast Rob Puricelli talks to Ian Boddy, who has been a fixture on the electronic music scene for over 40 years, as an artist, a sound designer and a label owner. His label, DiN, celebrates its 100th release this month with one of Ian’s own creations, ‘Nevermore’. Rob finds out more about this niche label, why and how it started and how it still remains a relevant and popular imprint to t...

Sam Battle, also known as Look Mum No Computer, chats to Caro C about his love of electronics, '80s music and re-using discarded technology in new ways to create a unique musical identity. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - Developing A Unique Sound 07:35 - Early Projects 08:29 - Analogue Noise 12:29 - Modular Synthesis 13:59 - Kosmo Modules 15:44 - This Museum Is Not Obsolete 17:53 - Interacti...

For decades, synth manufacturers and sound designers have strived to recreate the sounds of acoustic instruments, such as brass, woodwind and strings. Digital sampling was launched in 1979 but was unable to express the subtleties and nuances of acoustic instruments, until Physical Modelling came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s. David Bessell talks to Rob Puricelli about how he was inspired by...

Marshall Jefferson talks about his early years in the Chicago house music scene, his seminal 'Move Your Body’ track, the classic equipment he's worked with and how modern music technology allows anyone to create with ease. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:10 - The Early Years 05:42 - Rock Music Influence 08:52 - Ron Hardy, Trax Records & DJ Pierre 10:29 - Replacing Stolen Equipment 11:44 - Log...

Michelle Moog Koussa is the Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation, an organisation set up in her father’s memory to carry out educational work in the community and curate and display his extensive archive, and the many instruments he developed in his long career. In recent years, the BMF has increasingly touched the lives and minds of young people interested in electronic sounds, as well a...

Director Lisa Rovner and Sound Designer Marta Salogni chat to Caro C about their feature length documentary, Sisters With Transistors, exploring the role of women as pioneers of electronic music from the 1920s through to the 1980s. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:33 - Summary Of The Film 02:18 - Why Make The Documentary? 03:42 - Not Seeking Popularity 05:35 - Gathering Archive Footage 06:49 - Nar...

Musician and Technologist Tim Exile chats to Caro C about the creation of the Endlesss project and the benefits of immersive, collaborative music creation in real time. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:04 - Musical Background And The Endlesss Project 05:27 - Creating An Intuitive Software 08:23 - The Technical Challenges Of Endlesss 11:09 - Turning Music Creation Into A Social Event 13:39 - The Te...

As one third of the second incarnation of Scritti Politti, David Gamson was the man behind the polished, groove-laden sound of the band’s second album Cupid & Psyche ’85 and their third album, Provision. Gamson went on to write and produce for the likes of Chaka Khan, Meshell Ndegeocello, George Benson and Luther Vandross, and more recently with the likes of Kesha, Charli XCX, Jessie J and Kel...

Imogen Heap chats to Caro C about her music tech projects, including MiMU Gloves, Glover Software, interacting through VR plus The Creative Passport Project for tracking music usage and royalties. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:24 - The Round House 04:25 - Software 05:33 - Izotope, Antares & The Box Of Tricks 07:05 - The MiMU Gloves and Glover 15:05 - Tech For Live Performance 19:39 - VR &am...

Olivier Alary & Johannes Malfatti have been collaborating on music projects for the past twenty years. Here, Olivier and Johannes go behind the scenes on the techniques that they used to create their latest collaborative album 'u,i', featuring the use of VoIP technology to process sound. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:34 - Greetings  01:22 - An Introduction To The Project 02:29 - The First S...

A special podcast in honour of the 100th birthday of the unique "invisible" electronic musical instrument invented, by accident, by physicist Leon Theremin. Starring Cyril Lance (Chief Engineer, Moog), Dorit Chrysler (composer/New York Theremin Society), Bruce Woolley (songwriter/Radio Science Orchestra) and Katia Isakoff (singer/songwriter and producer) and the music of Clara Rockmore (theremin v...

Don Lewis began his musical career as a church organist and ended up touring with the Beach Boys, as well as playing studio sessions for Quincy Jones & Michael Jackson. Frustrated by the limitations of music technology of the time, Don used his engineering skills to create LEO, the Live Electronic Orchestra, where he managed to get disparate instruments to “talk” to each other and be completel...

Nainita Desai chats to Caro C about her distinguished career, from her beginnings as a foley artist right through to becoming a busy and successful award-winning composer. Recent projects include the feature film "American Murder" for Netflix and a 360 degree score for "The Reason I Jump", which won World Cinema Documentary Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival 2020. Chapters 00:00 - Introducti...

Dr Manny Fernandez has been heavily involved in development & programming for Yamaha and is best known for his FM and Physical Modelling work through their glory years of new synthesis technologies in the DX7II, SY77/99, VL1, VP1, EX5, AN1x and FS1R. More recently he has been working with the Reface DX, Montage and MODX. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:50 - Manny’s history 01:29 - Before the...

Life beyond the computer screen. Robin Rimbaud, AKA Scanner, takes us on an autobiographical sonic journey as he talks about his early fascination with tape recorders, to life beyond the computer screen and his studio filled with modular and table-top synths. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:32 - Personal History and storing memories 01:28 - Tape recorders capturing birthdays and school trips 02:5...

Alex Ball has built a reputation as one of the most informative and interesting synth historian’s of the YouTube age. Starting with short videos about specific instruments, his work began to grow into more in-depth and elaborate explorations of the companies behind the instruments and the people who used them. Over the last year or so, Alex has been busy producing one of the most detailed examinat...

David Vorhaus of White Noise chats with Rob Puricelli about his early involvement with the Fairlight CMI and his Kaleidophon ribbon controller and Maniac sequencer inventions. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:31 - Peter Vogel and the Fairlight CMI 01:51 - First Fairlight in the UK 03:25 - That Fairlight sound 05:32 - Stravinsky Firebird Suite, London Philharmonia 06:38 - The KPM albums 08:25 - Wor...

In this first episode, join composer and electronic musician Caro C in conversation with Suzanne Ciani, a synthesizer and electronic music legend who has been active since the 1960's. Suzanne provided futuristic sound design for advertising in the 1970’s such as that iconic Coca-Cola bottle opening sound that many of us will be familiar with. She’s also composed the soundtrack for a Hollywood movi...