James Gardner
Episode 4 - I Was Born To Synthesize
The early development of analogue synthesizers: the Moog, the Buchla and others – Raymond Scott – Eric Siday – the San Francisco Tape Music Center – Paul Beaver and Bernie Krause, the go-to guys for… Audio
Episode 5 - Load Your Program. I Am Yourself
Born of war and raised on mainframes, computer music comes of age in the 70s and hits the charts thanks to the sampler.
It all starts in 1950 or so with Sydney’s CSIRAC computer and its loudspeaker… Audio
Episode 6 - A Dance To The Music of Time
Synthesizer bands of the 70s: Kraftwerk, The Human League etc and their equipment - via hip-hop to house/techno/intelligent dance music and all the sub-, sub-sub-, and sub-sub-sub-genres of electronic… Audio
Outtake - Casey Listens to the Phonograph
Long before the advent of radio, the phonograph and gramophone were being used as creative media. Hear about the 'Descriptive' category of recordings from the 1890s, and one of its biggest stars… Audio
Outtake - Radiohead and the Ondes Martenot, and the Trautonium
The Theremin and the Ondes Martenot are still in use today - indeed the latter includes Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood amongst its players. The Trautonium, a contemporary of these early electronic… Audio
Outtake - SIGSALY
Bell Labs' Vocoder technology was at the heart of SISGALY, the Allies' wartime speech-encryption system. Audio
Outtake - The 'Crystal Palace'
Mark Ayres talks about the 'Crystal Palace' - a device built by Dave Young, renowned engineer at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Audio
Outtake - EMS’s VCS1
Before there was the VCS3, there was the VCS1 synthesiser! The first one was built by EMS at the request of Australian composer Don Banks, who took quite a shine to it... Audio
Outtake - Malcolm Clarke and 'The Sea Devils'
Mark Ayres talks about Malcolm Clarke's 'in-your-face' electronic score for the Dr Who series The Sea Devils from 1972, realised on the Delaware, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's huge Synthi 100… Audio
Outtake - Delia's tapes
Mark Ayres talks about Delia Derbyshire's archive of tapes - and the cataloguing problems it caused - and discusses her prescient use of a synthesised rhythm track on her Dance from 'Noah' from about… Audio
About These Hopeful Machines
Some background to the series which traces James Gardner's personal path through the evolving world of electronic music – and the people who made it happen.
Coming up
James Gardner
James looks back at Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' which was released 40 years ago this month. Audio
James Gardner
Auckland-based composer and author on his chapter contribution to academic volume on Frank Zappa being released shortly by UK based publisher Ashgate. Audio
James Gardner
Co-organiser of NZ Music Festival at Californian Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles reports on how things went. Audio
James Gardner
Co-organiser of NZ Music Festival taking place at the California institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. Audio
James GARDNER: Blessed Unrest
A 2007 performance by NZTrio: Sarah Watkins, Justine Cormack and Ashley Brown. Audio
James GARDNER: Blessed Unrest (introduction)
Kenneth Young introduces James Gardner's complex piano trio. Audio
James Gardner
Auckland based composer reviews NZTrio and other performers at the ISCM New World Music Days in Sydney. Audio
James Gardner
Music Director of Auckland based 175 East ensemble talks about upcoming Christchurch and Auckland concerts. Audio