The history of electronic music in 476 titles (1937-2001)

Photo of Karlheinz Stockhausen by Kathinka Pasveer via Wikimedia Commons

You can hear the expression “electronic music” and think of the DJs of Dubstep Superstar in funny helmets during celebrity parties by the sea. Alternatively, you can think of the mercurial compositions of Karlheinz StockhausenConcrete music of Pierre Henryor the experimentalism of another world of François Bayle. If you are in this last Music Nerd camp, then this message can bring you very happy news. Ubuweb-This faithful repertoire of all that concerns the avant-garde avant-garde Extraordinary compilation: the 476 song History of electronic / electroacoustic musicOriginally a set of 62 cd. (Listen below “Kontact” from Stockhausen, “Astrology” of Henry and the “Shadow Theater” by Bayle below.)

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Extending over the years 1937-2001, the collection should particularly call on those who have an avant-garde or musicological pension. In fact, the original downloader of this archive of his experimental, Caio Barros, put these songs online in 2009 while he was a student in composition at the State University of Brazil of São Paulo. The “initiative” of Barros, as he writes to Ubuweb, “has become a kind of legend” among the musicophiles.

And yet, Ubuweb rests this phenomenal collection with a warning: “It is a clearly imperfect selection”, they write:

There are few women and almost no one works outside of Western tradition (where are the Japanese? Chinese? Etc.). However, as an effort, it is admirable and contains a ton of great things.

Take it with a grain of salt, or perhaps use it as provocation to organize a more intelligent, inclusive and complete selection

It is a fair criticism, although Barros stresses that exclusions mainly have to do with “the way our society and the tradition that this music represents” (sic). And yet, as the disciplinary borders develop all the time and the stories widen with them, this description no longer holds. It would be a fascinating exercise, for example, to listen to these pieces alongside the History of women in electronic music, 1938-2014 that we have published recently.

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In addition, there is clearly much more to electronic music than celebrity DJs or obscure avant-garde composers. Several hundred popular electronic composers and musicians – as Brian EnoKraftwerk, Bruce HaackOr Clara Rockmore—Feche somewhere between the worlds of pop / dance / performance and serious composition, and their contributions deserve a representation alongside more experimental or classic artists.

That said, however, there is no reason why you cannot organize your own reading list of the history of electronic music as you see it – by drawing the amazing wealth of the music available for free The story of electroacoustic music. Or consider this collection as a entirely immersive course in “traditional avant-garde electronic music” of “the region of Europe-American”, as Barros says. Like that, he succeeds admirably.

Note: a previous version of this article appeared on our site in 2016.

Related content:

Meet Clara Rockmore, the pioneering electronic musician who had the Theremin shaken in the early 1920s

What is electronic music ?: The electronic musician pioneer Daphne Oram explains (1969)

Listen to seven hours of women who do electronic music (1938-2014)

The History of Electronic Music, 1800–2015: Free Web Project Catalogs The Theremin, Fairlight and other instruments that have revolutionized music

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him to @jdmagness