Synthesis

The first time that I came across a synthesiser was at school in London in about 1975. It was during a music lesson, when our teacher switched on this strange looking black box with lots of flashing lights. He then played a simple tune and all sorts of weird noises came out. There was also a lot of plugs that he changed by unplugging them and putting them into other holes and some even stranger noises came out.

I was amazed about what it could do, and have been in love with such music ever since. The first musician that I got into was Jean Michel Jarre and his 1976 album Oxygene. Then came along Tangerine Dream, Mike Oldfield, Vangelis and Kraftwerk.

So I was excited to see this Moog Voyager synth at the studio in Mansfield yesterday. Sadly it wasn't used in the songs that were demoed by the Disco Prophets, although they do have a keyboard player in the band called Richard, who has a couple of keyboards himself, but neither of them are Moogs.

A Musical Interlude

I was intrigued by this little sticker that I spotted on a lamppost. I like synthesiser music, but had never heard of Swingrowers. So a visit to their website was needed.

Apparently they are an Italian group that have updated the old dance music of the 1930's and 40s by adding a modern disco beat in the background.

It seems that it is the "in thing" at the moment to live in the past. A friend of mine likes dressing up like she lives in the 1950s. I have another friend who is a mod, even though she wasn't born when there was all that trouble on Brighton beach.

If I could choose an era, I would go for the 1930s. All that art deco architecture and the development of the Leica camera.

Should you be curious about the music of the Swingrowers, they of course have a website, with the link being here.