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Episode 194 Angine de Poitrine Remixed: An Appreciation Playlist Parts of various songs including Fabienk, Sarniezz, Tohogd, and Sherpa from the first two Angine de Poitrine albums. Angine de Poitrine (which translates in English to “chest pain” as in a prelude to a heart attack) is a jazz-rock duo from Quebec that you have probably heard of even if you have tuned-in to this podcast for the first time. I don’t need to say more but encourage you to watch any number of videos that are playing on YouTube. The purpose of this episode is to show some appreciation for the band by remixing many of our favorite parts of their recordings into a kind of bizarre reflection of what they do so well. YouTube is now full of video reactions, first time listens, and critiques of Angine de Poitrine’s music, their stage presence, and how they do it. Every concert they perform is being streamed within hours by an adoring fan. The majority of these reactions think of Angine as some kind of alien entity making the strangest music they’ve ever heard. But listeners to this podcast have heard far stranger sounds, so let’s think a little about what makes their music so enjoyable. Because that is what it is. Unpretentious, pure joy in sound. Eric Sinkins, a dear friend in Toronto, turned us on to the band. My partner Anne Benkovitz and I have been listening to them A LOT. We observed some things worth noting. You will first note that the music is microtonal (quarter tones) which is not in itself unfamiliar to listeners of electronic music, however, it is played on a specially-constructed, double-neck lead and bass guitar. These guitar necks are built with frets between the standard frets, proving many more note possibilities for the guitarist that can be easily repeated. Note that a fretless bass can play microtones, but finding them is a trick. The drummer is super busy as the two of them often play in two or three differing rhythms at once. This is made possible by the guitarist”s use of a pedal board featuring a Boss looper. Three loops are usually devoted to the six-string guitar and three to the bass. Each has a separate output for amplification and the guitarist can control the separate volumes with his feet. Among the other pedal effects are a ring modulator which, when combined with some kind of audio processor creates the alien-sounding vocals. Both musicians appear to be wired for vocal sounds inside their masks. The drummer seems to be listening to a click track. We have speculated that they can also talk to each other from within their masks to make the signaling of musical changes easier. Because their music is microtonal, the first impression of most listeners is that it’s out of tune. But give it a chance and you begin to realize that they have setup conditions that are then perfectly fulfilled by every note and every drumbeat. By introducing purely microtonal passages, they shape the listener’s expectations for what will follow. The polyrhythms add a degree of complexity that train your ears to hear the unexpected. And they deliver marvelously. The music can be fast-paced, complex in a way that is, at first, difficult to grasp rhythmically. But it is full of expression, accents, and expressive moments. Saying that, I have asked myself, if the standard piano scale of 12 notes has moods associated with the choice of keys (for example, minor keys seem sad or introspective, major keys seem optimistic and joyful), what does this microtonal music present? I think this is one of the unexpected aspects of listening to Angine. You are not faced with familiar moods and keys, but with a kind of more detached objectivity that allows you to hear the music as if you haven’t heard music before. It reminds us of the joy of hearing an unfamiliar tune that speaks to us.    This remix combines several techniques used by electronic dance musicians to take in Angine’s music and reapply various loops and effects to create a similar but even more exaggerated audio experience. In essence, I used similar looping techniques to reconstruct their music using their patterns. Based on their polytonal rhythms, I sometimes found that the virtual turntables sped-up uncontrollably while syncing tracks.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears this Fall, I thought why not release a few additional episodes that have nothing to do with the book. I have a fairly large vault of original electronic works and figured that this might be a good time to share a smidgen of it. Each of these works comes from a place of experimentation. Most include vintage recordings as part of their overall texture. Many include original electronic sounds that I’ve composed for this purpose. In this episode, we will hear Jazz Drums Electric—Early 1970s. This was a live drumming session played by my friend John Scarpulla back around 1971. We recorded this in his room in Philadelphia. I then added some shortwave and Moog modular sounds as overdubs. John is a truly stellar jazz drummer and he is still active in multiple bands. A big thank you to John for agreeing to let me post this podcast. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears in August, I thought why not release a few additional episodes that have nothing to do with the book. I have a fairly large vault of original electronic works and figured that this might be a good time to share a smidgen of it. Each of these works comes from a place of experimentation. Most include vintage recordings as part of their overall texture. Many include original electronic sounds that I’ve composed for this purpose. In this episode, we will hear Shortwave Crickets 2.0. I will let the music speak for itself. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears in August, I thought why not release a few additional episodes that have nothing to do with the book. I have a fairly large vault of original electronic works and figured that this might be a good time to share a smidgen of it. Each of these works comes from a place of experimentation. Most include vintage recordings as part of their overall texture. Many include original electronic sounds that I’ve composed for this purpose. In this episode, we will hear April Shortwave. I will let the music speak for itself. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears in August, I thought why not release a few additional episodes that have nothing to do with the book. I have a fairly large vault of original electronic works and figured that this might be a good time to share a smidgen of it. Each of these works comes from a place of experimentation. Most include vintage recordings as part of their overall texture. Many include original electronic sounds that I’ve composed for this purpose. In this episode, we will hear The Seam 9.0. I will let the music speak for itself. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears in August, I have been releasing a few select experiments of my own in electronic sound. This episode is loosely connected to the book. I put together a series of sound experiments using AudioMulch and source material from the famous Stockhausen lectures in the early 1970s. This is one of the experiments. This piece is called EcoStockhausen.  Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears in August, I thought why not release a few additional episodes that have nothing to do with the book. I have a fairly large vault of original electronic works and figured that this might be a good time to share a smidgen of it. Each of these works comes from a place of experimentation. Most include vintage recordings as part of their overall texture. Many include original electronic sounds that I’ve composed for this purpose. In this episode, we will hear Cybelle. I will let the music speak for itself. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears in August, I thought why not release a few additional episodes that have nothing to do with the book. I have a fairly large vault of original electronic works and figured that this might be a good time to share a smidgen of it. Each of these works comes from a place of experimentation. Most include vintage recordings as part of their overall texture. Many include original electronic sounds that I’ve composed for this purpose. In this episode, we will hear Clouds. I will let the music speak for itself. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears in August, I thought why not release a few additional episodes that have nothing to do with the book. I have a fairly large vault of original electronic works and figured that this might be a good time to share a smidgen of it. Each of these works comes from a place of experimentation. Most include vintage recordings as part of their overall texture. Many include original electronic sounds that I’ve composed for this purpose. In this episode, we will hear Frizzle. I will let the music speak for itself. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Welcome to the podcast and thanks for listening. As I prepare a large batch of episodes to drop when the revision of my book Electronic and Experimental Music appears in August, I thought why not release a few additional episodes that have nothing to do with the book. I have a fairly large vault of original electronic works and figured that this might be a good time to share a smidgen of it. Each of these works comes from a place of experimentation. Most include vintage recordings as part of their overall texture. Many include original electronic sounds that I’ve composed for this purpose. In this episode, we will hear Elite Beats. I will let the music speak for itself. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Episode 183 The BBC Shipping Forecast Soundscape, No. 2, for 2026 Playlist This soundscape consists of selections of BBC Shipping Forecasts from the past two years, bits of other broadcasts from the BBC and others, plus electronic sounds and audio treatments that I’ve created. BBC Shipping Forecasts are ©copyright BBC and located at the BBC Radio 4 Website.  Here is a rundown of the various recordings I’ve included in this version of the soundscape: BBC Shipping Forecasts—Individual episodes featuring both men and women readers. The final section of the podcast includes an elaborate five-track remix of five female readers (and one male), stuttered and jogged in various patterns to create a soothing, if nonsensical conclusion to this edition. These forecasts are from 2024-25. BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2024 Jane Barbe voice clips from the archives of AT&T. Barbe was the “voice of the operator” during much of the 1960s and 1970s. Miscellaneous Shortwave Broadcasts—These were retrieved from the wonderful The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, which I highly recommend. Radio Canada Shortwave Club (1973). Radio+Gjirokaster (Albania) (1988). Shortwave Stations Eastern Europe (circa 1980s). Shortwave Stations Western Europe (circa 1980s). Voice of America (Skylab Re-entry Coverage)--July 11, 1979. Republic of Yemen Radio--February 15/April 9, 2025. Short clips from Seoul, South Korea, Japan, and the Voice of Armenia. Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz. Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Links for The BBC Shipping Forecast: Website from BBC Radio 4 for clips of The Shipping Forecast. From the BBC: What does the Shipping Forecast Mean? Script Guidelines for the Shipping Forecast from the Met Office

Episode 182   Merry Moog 2025  A Soundscape of Vintage Holiday Synthesizer Music   Thanks for your patience while I’ve been producing podcast episodes for my book, the seventh edition of which will be released next year. I produced 62 of them and it diverted me from the regular episodes. However, a friend asked me if I was preparing the holiday episode and that’s exactly what I’ve done. This is my annual holiday podcast. The purpose of which is to play synthesizer-based holiday tunes from the ages—from 1967 to the present day. This edition will be a little different than previous holiday episodes. Rather than play a set of individual, synthesizer-based tunes on the holiday theme, I decided to put together a soundscape that integrates the holiday music, mostly in short excerpts and mixed in various ways, along with an audio environment made up of shortwave radio sounds and broadcasts. There is something about the global appeal of holiday music that fits with the theme of universal shortwave sounds, sounds that know no borders. If you listen carefully, you will hear many of the holiday tunes that I usually stack up in these editions. I try to garner the most representative themes from each yet provide a soundscape that you can sit back and relax to while doing other things this holiday season. There are literally dozens of tracks represented in this episode, each with its own distinctive sound imprint. Jean Jacques Perrey, Douglas Leedy, Hans Wurman, Joseph Byrd, The Moog Machine, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Greg Lake, Taeko Onuki, the Joy Electric, Bernie Krause, The Star Wars Christmas album, The Smurfs Christmas album, the Romantic Synthesizer, Armen Ra, Don Voegeli, The Roots, and Paul Tanner. Among others. I also threw in a decidedly not electronic track by Ron Sexsmith, one of my favorite songwriters. It is lurking the mix, too. So have a happy holiday and I wish you healthy and wondrous listening for the new year. Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz. Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Episode 181 Artificial Intelligence and Electronic Music Playlist Time Track Time Start Introduction 05:42 00.00 1.     Cornelius Cardew, “Treatise: String Orchestra (2025). The first of three AI interpretations of a piece by Cardew composed between 1963 and 1967. The work was written as a graphic score. Produced by the team of Professor Shlomo Dubnov of the University of California at San Diego, they used as the basis for an improvisation Cardew’s graphical musical score comprising 193 pages of lines, symbols, and various geometric or abstract shapes that largely stray from conventional musical notation (pages 1 to 33 were used). The recordings from Dubnov’s team interpreted this graphic score with the help of Open AI’s ChatGPT 40 and a program they developed themselves called Music Latent Diffusion Model (MusicLDM), an AI-like algorithm. The recordings show how AI can transform visual stimuli into sound and expand on their interpretation in an experimental music composition. This version is arranged for digital string orchestra. 11:23 05:54 2.     Cornelius Cardew, “Treatise” Sinewave” (2025). This version from Dubrov’s lab was arranged for sinewave generator. 11:15 17:10 3.     Cornelius Cardew, “Treatise: Experimental” (2025). This version from Dubrov’s lab was arranged for a mix of instruments defined as “experimental” by the team. 11:32 28:24 4.     Valérie Philippin, “Extraits de recherche” (2024). Vocal interaction experiment conducted with vocalist Valérie Philippin while she was in artistic residence at European Research Council REACH project (ERC) at IRCAM. AI interaction in real-time using the Somax2 program. Voice: Valérie Philippin, Somax2 & electronics: Mikhail Malt. 03:52 39:48 5.     Horse Lords and The Who/Men, “Zero Degree Machine” (2023). Horse Lords Concert at ERC REACH. Music using Somax2 to interact with the performers and add new parts and instruments in real time. If you hear something other than a guitar, drums, bass, and sax, then it was created by Somax2. You might detect loops of instruments (e.g., saxophone) as well because Somax2 adds to the mix. Horse Lords (Max Eilbacher bass/electronics, Sam Haberman percussion, Owen Gardner guitar, Andrew Bernstein percussion/saxophone). The Who/Men: Gérard Assayag, Mikhail Malt, Reach interactive AI: Somax2; Marco Fiorini, Reach interactive AI: Somax2 and electric guitar; Manuel Poletti, computer music production at IRCAM). The Who/Men are providing guidance for Somax2 in real-time, operating different instances of the program on their laptops. 18:45 43:42 6.     PintoCreation “AI-generated Sci-Fi Sci-Fi and Visual Storytelling” (2025). This is just an example of how task-specific AI is being used to generate videos with electronic music soundtracks. This is an excerpt from one of the soundtracks for the many videos they have generated for their YouTube channel. 07:54 01:02:26 7.     Artificial Intelligence Music, “Melodic Techno” (2025). Excerpt of AI-generated techno music found on this YouTube site. They explain that the music found here “was composed by an AI, meticulously trained on the nuances of this captivating genre.’ I have no idea what AI engine was used, but this is just one example of how many music producers are getting onto the AI train. 06:51 01:10:17 8.     Atmoscapia, “Calm Ambient” (2025). This is a purpose-built generative ambient music creator for “Films, Games, YouTube, and Creative Projects.” Billed as an “Instant Ambient Music Generator For Content Creators,” you use it by selecting styles and lengths up to an hour long. In this case, I chose the style “Calm, Meditative, Dreamy.” Two other categories are also provided for “Cinematic, Dramatic, Emotional” and “Dark, Horror, Suspense.” Those are the extent of the current choices in the free version. It delivers a soundtrack that you can download. 10:00 01:17:08 9.     Thom Holmes, “Thom DeepAI Noise Music” (2025). In an attempt to generate something more experimental using an AI system, I turned to DeepAI and gave it the following instructions: “Experimental, noise sounds. No melody, no harmony, no rhythm. Randomized intervals of silence. Randomized mood swings.” It was short as I was not using the premium version, but it came closer than some other AI programs to creating a work that was more closely aligned with experimental.   1:45 01:41:49                                                                                                                                                                                                             Opening background music: Ambient music generated by the Atmoscapia AI system using the “Dark, Horror, Suspense” setting (excerpt). Introduction to the podcast voiced by Anne Benkovitz. Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Episode 180 The 2025 US Open Sound Experiment Playlist The sounds for this episode are a collage many things including recorded sounds from the US Open, spectators, tennis players, chair umpires, and the general ambience of the grounds. Mixed in are modifications of various pop tunes plus my own sequnces of electronic sound. All intended to capture the rhythms, beats, and atmosphere of being at the US Open. Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp. Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.

Episode 179 Chapter 38, Eurorack. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music  Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes. This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text. The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings. There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast. Let’s get started with the listening guide to Chapter 38, Eurorack from my book Electronic and Experimental music.   Playlist: EURORACK SYNTHESIS   Time Track Time Start Introduction –Thom Holmes 01:26 00:00 1.     Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, “Abstractions” (2018) from Electronic Series: Vol. 1 – Abstractions. Written, recorded and mixed by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Inspired by Harry Everett Smith's "Early Abstractions" films. 21:49 01:36 2.     Alessandro Cortini & Lawrence English, “Immediate Horizon, Part 1 (2018) from Immediate Horizon. Recorded live at Berlin Atonal, Kraftwerk 2015. 04:59 23:24 3.     Lukas Hermann, “Amphibious” (2022). Improvisation for a Eurorack modular synthesizer. From Tone Science Module No. 6 (Protons And Neutrons). 05:51 28:24 4.     James Bernard, “Prisms” (2022) from Tone Science Module No. 6 (Protons And Neutrons). Composed by James Bernard. Live performance recorded in one take using a small Eurorack modular system. 08:10 34:12 5.     Elin Piel, “Vänta” (2022) Tone Science Module No. 6 (Protons And Neutrons).  Composed by Elin Piel. Recorded live with Lyra 8, a small Eurorack system and Analog Heat. 06:59 42:18 6.     Field Lines Cartographer, “Eddy Currents” (2022). Tone Science Module No. 6 (Protons And Neutrons). Composed by Field Lines Cartographer. Realised on ARP 2600 and Eurorack modular synths. 08:54 49:12 7.     Elinch, “Upward” (2022). Tone Science Module No. 6 (Protons And Neutrons). Composed by Elinch. A live composition with a small modular system (Strega, TTMC, Disting Ex for Loops) and Buchla Easel Command. 07:28 57:58 8.     Steve Roach, “Random Possibilities” (2022). Composed by Steve Roach. Performed and recorded in real time on Large Format Analog and Eurorack Modulars. 06:29 01:05:22 9.     Ewa Justka, “for the gatekeepers” (2023) from don't you want followers? For “handmade synthesisers and contingent rabbit holes.” 07:22 01:11:44 10.   Tunegirl, “Push the Button” (2023) from Eurorack Ruhr: Compilation # 2. Trance music with a Eurorack system. 06:19 01:19:04   Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.