Synth Britannia
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Data:
16 October 2009 |
Documentary following a generation of
post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes
to the centre of the pop stage. In the late 1970s, small pockets of electronic artists including the Human League, Daniel Miller and Cabaret Volatire were inspired by Kraftwerk and JG Ballard and dreamt of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain. The crossover moment came in 1979 when Gary Numan's appearance on Top of the Pops with Tubeway Army's Are Friends Electric heralded the arrival of synthpop. Four lads from Basildon known as Depeche Mode would come to own the new sound whilst post-punk bands like Ultravox, Soft Cell, OMD and Yazoo took the synth out of the pages of the NME and onto the front page of Smash Hits. By 1983, acts like Pet Shop Boys and New Order were showing that the future of electronic music would lie in dance music. Part One: Alienated Synthesists 16 October 2009 Focusing on the development of British synth music throughout the 1970s, from the wide exposure that synthesizers gained from their use in prog rock and the groundbreaking Clockwork Orange soundtrack, through the development of affordable synth keyboards and subsequent emergence of the first post-punk and industrial synth bands made up of working-class youths influenced by krautrock and punk music and dystopian science fiction literature by such authors as J.G. Ballard, to the formation of Mute Records and breakthrough success of synthpop towards the end of the decade, specifically "Are Friends Electric?" and "Cars" in 1979. Spotlighting Walter Carlos, Kraftwerk, The Clash, The Normal, The Human League, Giorgio Moroder, Cabaret Voltaire, OMD, Joy Division, Ultravox, Throbbing Gristle and Gary Numan. "Part Two: Construction Time Again" 16 October 2009 Focusing on the commodification of synthpop in the early 1980s, from the focal shift away from experimental post-punk towards the mainstream pop market, through the new-found popularity of previously unsuccessful bands and emergence of newly formed pop duos that juxtaposed cold synth instruments with warm soulful vocals, to the development of samplers such as the Mellotron and the E-mu Emulator, culminating in the birth of electronic dance music, specifically beginning with "Blue Monday" in 1983. Spotlighting Depeche Mode, The Human League, Heaven 17, Cabaret Voltaire, Soft Cell, Yazoo, OMD, Eurythmics, Ultravox, Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys and New Order. |
Dodano: 22.3.2015
