Tod Dockstader

http://dockstader.info/interview.php

many basic oscillator & feedback sounds already suggest bird calls, insect drones, leading to the longstanding tradition of insect concrete: luc ferrari presque rien (both parts one and two); wendy carlos 'summer' from sonic seasonings are three of the earlier extended ones, many shorter ones (subtopic: classics of insect concrete S/D? destroy Graeme Revell)

but this new Dockstader / Myers piece is wonderful and calming me a great deal today

some of it is a bit backgroundy and some formal run-throughs of supposedly thorough materials seem dated, but the latest more high pitched stuff i love.

Bayle is very

he's very feely, maybe a bit too sensuous sometimes

and Omniphony only "quite good" ? i was looking forward to buying that and getting zapped just like i did by the two less recent reissued CDs which i love. just "quite good" ? anyone else ?

I agree with your words on Bayle.

I've also been listening a lot to the "concrete poetry" of Henri Chopin. Anyone else into that sort of stuff? I think it's fantastic.

Isidore Isou

Love Henri but never got round to doing a thread - among the sound poets he's the one who sounds least contemporary.

my expectations were high, and it exceeds them. I'm going to be spending a _lot_ of time with this music.

definite reference points in edward artemyev, edward splet, 80's industrial ambient but this absolutely marks its own territory -- it's intuitive, he doesn't sound influenced by any of these things. it's very removed from anything he's done before but it's got his sense of long form pacing, it's like a symphony and just keeps drawing you in deeper.

his collaboration with Myers last year did feature a few contemporary glitchy digital aliasing sounds, but in Aerial all the sounds are pure, the trick is in slight transformation, layering & symphonic pacing.

listened to this on a system with a subwoofer the other day, there's one track with the most unbelievable plunging drop note, I listened to it four times in a row

the Wire interview a few months ago was great too... the anecdote about him working with wire recorders and actually splicing with a constantly lit cigarette, fusing the two pieces... I sort of assumed splicing wasn't possible with wire, I wouldn't be suprised if most people other than Tod did too

much noisier than the first volume -- this one's not a sleep record, babbelling squalking non-voices screaming away, sustained feedback smeared into scales, some actual melodies, way back in there but enough to get caught up in

there's also another collaboration with Myers out called Bijou, a long collage of 80's horror movie soundtracks & sound effects. direct references; very recognizable, sounds like a searching-the-dark-room or running-from-murderess scene that goes on forever, turned into an extended symphony. it's so close that it puts me off a bit -- there is lots of sustained soundtrack cheese, directly lifted -- but fans of the horror genre will probably love this and Drew pointed out that this is the ultimate Holloween party record

just listening now and its incredible. is 3 out yet?

I discovered Tod's stuff in 1967. Record stores would actually put on music you asked them to, and when I saw the Owl discs I had to hear them. I was floored--I still remember what I was wearing when those sounds spilled out into the store. What's incredible is that the CD reissues prove that there's virtually no tape hiss on these recordings. With no noise reduction technology and many, many track bounces (he worked on 2-track), it's still clean as a whistle. What engineering! If you don't have these two CDs on Starkland, you are missing out Big Time. BTW, after 40+ years Tod has seen barely a dime from these releases. Shame!

Although Omniphony was the last release of the bunch, it was actually the reason there were any releases at all. Based on its production, Owl agreed to do the others. For me (and I think for Tod as well), it was a bit disappointing. As if the traditional instruments justified the other, "weird" sounds. I thought it watered down Tod's stuff.

Uh, to respond a bit.... "Destroy Graeme Revell"? Wow, thanks. He's come a long way since SPK, and doing so many movie soundtracks he must be loaded. If you didn't know, Tod's music was used by Fellini ("Satyricon", as I remember). He told me that his music was also used in a Spanish porn film!

Tod has certainly done a variety of material. He spent many years on Aerial, which is totally different from the Owl stuff, and he was very open about our working together. As an aside, we began Pond with the intention of doing it in surround. One piece was completed in this way, and it was great, but the difficulty became exhausting since we worked at a distance, and on totally different software and hardware.

Bijou is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. We are both film nuts and couldn't resist using soundtracks as a source. I think it's fun, and the notion of it being a Halloween record is agreeable. I wonder if anyone has identified any of the sources? But there's plenty of original sounds as well. One piece is entirely my feedback sounds, and I even played guitar on one track. Tod had some obscure Ukrainian software that totally destroyed some of the soundtrack sources, so that was in effect completely original material, too.

Expect Aerial disc three to be out before too long, maybe summer or fall? Sub Rosa has to fill out that box!

And if there's any aspiring artistes on the list, be warned that in Tod's nearly 50 years doing this music, and my 26, between us we haven't earned enough to cover a (very) used Volkswagen. Just so you know.

As noted on the list, Tod's fansite is

http://dockstader.info/

and you can find me at

http://pulsewidth.com

David Lee Myers

I know Dockstader isn't as keen on Omniphony as his solo stuff -- I'd agree with that -- it's definitely more a record of its time than his solo stuff which still sounds like it could have come out tomorrow. And the liner notes make it clear it was a very stressful collaboration. But it's still a great piece.

'Destroy Graham Revell' is board-specific lingo and not meant as harsh as it sounds, i.e. "search and destroy" -- I love that guy's early contributions in SPK. And you're right about Bijou saving the weirdest, most abstract moments for the last stretch of the record. I hope you guys are going for a trilogy.

have only listened twice, it's far more ruptured, more tracks, shorter sections, more turns. then coming together in the last third for a long slow burn.

still have to listen more, volume 1 still the one I listen to the most because I have a lot of time for the deepest drones in the world, but the violent scree on volume 2 grew on me, and volume 3 is different again still. yet is also clearly the overview ending stitching all of the strands together. definitely best to come to each disc in order for that reason. although each one feels like an independent, coherent piece.

many reviews online in places you usually trust to read about actual good music

http://www.woebot.com/2007/09/todd_spotted.html

catchin' up with my woebot posts

I wish I wouldn't have read the liner notes to Quatermass. Now whenever I hear "Water Music" I only feel stunned admiration that those are BALOONS. Hopefully this phase will pass with time.

I've got one of those "Aerial" albums - don't know which one - I must admit it didn't impress me much, bit bland I thought

OK, I checked, it's #3 I've got

scott's thread revival got me searching, and sure enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUreKrTBres

not that great a cartoon, but the stretch of sfx at 4:30, definitely him

Great thread... I should pick up those Aerial volumes before they disappear.

@ 6:08-6:18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLNaq-7x7Qc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfMfDJugUBI#

milton, thank you so much for the tom & jerry 'toons. i am a huge old school 'toon shorts fan. i love t&j, and i never knew dockstader did some of the sfx.
i need a good T&J dvd collection. the looney toons golden collections are some of the best stuff i've ever bought. the stuff just make me grin from ear to ear.

A big piece I wrote on Tod Dockstader (includes a rare interview with the man himself)

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/06/tod-dockstader

the man. great work.

that forthcoming documentary you linked to is fairly intense; the preview suggests that it is much more a documentary about living with alzheimers than anything else; Todd listening to a recent work of his that he has already completely forgotten. but reading the director's notes about 'late period works', it seems like the focus will be on how underneath the symptoms this isn't just your typical patient. plus: two unreleased post-Aerial works in the trailer alone, with apparently quite a lot more to come

http://unlockingdockstader.blogspot.com/

this new collection of his 1979 library music is one of the coolest reissues of the year:

http://www.surus.co.uk/Mordant-Music/Electronic-Vol1-19100.aspx

some of it is "hauntological" in the boards of canada sense -- i feel like that's a red herring tho. there's not much here that screams 1979 except for the technology. most of it feels like '60s synthpop records by mort garson or dick hyman, with the breeziness but without the middlebrow kitsch.

oooh sounds amazing!

Yeah amazing. Wish the samples worked for me.

the last track, "soft aurora," is an early favorite. breathable/unhurried spaghetti sci-fi.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/hezmiz

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/861205874/unlocking-dockstader

And then I got an iPad. I started bringing that along and showing Tod different music making apps. The result is amazing. He's particularly fond of the official John Cage Prepared Piano app and the amazing multi-touch synthesizer TC-11

love TC-11.

the approach of this documentary looks to be almost uncomfortably personal, but also remarkable.

Important has two releases due for next year, a synth piece from 1970 and some recent post-Aerial digital works.

RIP? :(

http://twitter.com/geetadayal/status/571472511658954752

Man today is not a good day. RIP

now confirmed:
https://twitter.com/TodDockstader/status/571485001998577664

Still dig water music/apocalypse a lot, as well as the later pond frog album. A true electronic music pioneer.

a giant

Listening to Aerial.

I always loved that he wasn't an academic dude, just a guy with practical tape editing and engineering experience and an interest in sound.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0972/4654/products/DOCK3_large.jpg?v=1578509137

Aerial is getting re-issued! Limited to 500 copies. Aerial 2 and 3 are to follow. I'm excited by this, never got to own it on vinyl before! It looks really pretty.