David Tudor - Three Works For Live Electronics (1996 compi, orig LP rel. 1984)

Circuit-frying explorations by John Cage's major collaborator David Tudor (1926-1996), from a time when Tudor was moving away from the prepared piano in favour of prepared electronics.  This collection comprises Tudor's 1984 LP on Lovely Music, which was simply called Pulsers/Untitled, plus an extra piece.

Gordon Mumma was the original designer of the modulator system used in Pulsers, then developed further by Tudor.  All it does is trigger phase-shifted feedback into endless throbbing rhythms, which sound a bit like someone's left an LP of Zero Set out in the sun too long.  After a few minutes, this is joined by an equally warped-sounding electric violin part by Takehisa Koshugi, and the end result is endlessly enjoyable.

Untitled was originally conceived in 1972 for Cage's voice; in this 1982 version, Koshugi supplies the vocalisations whilst much wilder electronics are set off in a long chain of manipulation from the original vocal input.  Lastly, the 31-minute Phonemes is just pure electronics, chopped into tiny fragments and further sorted and modified into a bubbling soup of sound; it was given a speech-related title purely because that's what the end result made Tudor think of.  All three electronic explorations are highly recommended.

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David Behrman - Leapday Night (1991 compi of works 1983-90)

The second album by US composer David Behrman continued the computer-music experiments of his first, On The Other Ocean.  The hardware and software had been upgdraded, now coming with a colour graphic monitor and pitch sensors to interact with each musician's semi-improvised performance.  Two suites of this nature were released on LP in 1987, the running order of which corresponds to tracks 6, 7, 1, 2, 3 respectively in this expanded CD edition.

Following the CD programming, we're first given the title suite in its three 'Scenes'.  Supported by Rhys Chatham, the main instrumentalist is Ben Neill, inventor of the electroacoustic 'mutantrumpet' which was designed to easily produce quarter tones and wider sonoritiy and was then further modified by Robert Moog. 

The two parts of A Traveller's Dream Journal that come next are the work new to the CD, and were recorded in Berlin in 1988 and finished in New York in 1990.  As well as the bouncing, twisting electronics, percussion and further keyboards flesh this one out into the most engrossing part of the collection.  Lastly, violinist Takehisa Kosugi fronts Inrerspcies Smalltalk, a commission for a dance piece by John Cage & Merce Cunningham, with some gorgeous playing.  Listening to the whole collection is like a window into some futuristic recording studio with tiny AIs bouncing around the instruments and mixing desk, like zero-gravity balls of liquid.  Highly recommended.

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