I found out about this movie on a late night wonder at this year Glastonbury Festival in UK. I saw it for the first time with no sound; it was just a 30 minutes short displaying vintage computers and synthesisers interrupted by a bunch of old granddads being interviewed. It looked so interesting I waited till the end credits to write down the title intending to revisit when back in London. This is what I discovered: “What The Future Sounded Like” is a lively Australian short film, funded partly by the AFF, directed by , and concerns the electronic music movement that began after World War 2 and reached its peak in the 1970s, before the advent of home computers and improved technology. The film features musician Tristram Cary from the UK who developed a synthesized music score for Dr Who. Amusing anecdotes and good examples of this electronic music used by various groups and musicians are scattered throughout this enjoyable documentary”.
The result is a very pleasing half hour original video of “prehistoric” machines. Huge computers/calculators taking a all room of space, oddly shaped “cardboard boxes” emitting the strangest sounds, monitors featured in star trek episodes and lots of curiosities (ever wondered what Roger Waters used to play “On The Run” on Pink Floyd’s Dark side?). The documentary is being screened around the world in various music events, you can find all about it in the dedicated website “What The Future Sounded Like”
We are big fans of old analog gear, even though, being so expensive, we don’t own much (just a few weeks ago Mike and I spent hours fiddling with some at a showcase in the shop “Rough Trade” in Brick Lane. In our last release “Seb Marx – My Boots (aLLriGhT Remix)” out from 4th of July on UK label “Gush Records”
Seb Marx – My Boots (aLLriGhT RmX) by aLLriGhT we make some good use of an old Korg sound unit “Electribe EA-1” , a small mono analog synth very basic but that still produces really great fat sounds. Listen to the track and see if you can spot it!
Here is the film in 3 parts, “Peter Zinovieff” and “Tristram Cary” will give you the best insight on how it all started, in a feature where the word first comes about many times.
Hope you enjoy as much as we did aLLriGhT!
Luke aLLriGhT