My Podcast: The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music
My blog for the Bob Moog Foundation.
This episode is a continuation of our exploration of Trance music origins. Maybe a more fitting title would be Pete Namlook and his many collaborators, for all of this music springs from him in one way or another. We will hear how each of his collaborators adds a different element of musicality to this work. We’ll hear works he did with bassist Bill Laswell, synthesist Klaus Schulze, and ambient electronic musician Tetsu Inoue. But we will first hear a solo work from Namlook called Namlook IV: Power Supply. The music for this disc was created spontaneously and dedicated to the various pieces of broken equipment that were used to generate the sounds, perhaps never possible to repeat.
I was fortunate to have known Tetsu Inoue while he was in New York for several years. I would visit him at this home studio on north Broadway, which was on a second floor and had a large set of windows overlooking the street below. During my first visit, we were talking about his music and changing styles and how he derived his unique sound. To my astonishment, he humbled me by producing a copy of an early edition of my book about the history of electronic music. He said that he enjoyed reading about music made by others and felt inspired to craft distinctive music of his own. This was so amazing to me because when I first wrote the book, some twenty years before, I had an idea that it was for people who grew up like myself with little access to concerts or experimental music activity. I was raised in Michigan. My goal was to benefit others by explaining the various interesting practices in electronic music with the hope of inspiring other artists to create their own. This idea somehow came full-circle when Tetsu explained that he had enjoyed the book for that reason. Since that time, Namlook has passed and no one has heard from Tetsu since he and his wife returned to Japan in 2010. The last email I received from them was in September, 2010. But despite my efforts, that email addresses no longer works and many people have assumed that Tetsu has also passed, but I have no evidence of this. Some say his disappearance was related to the earthquake and tsunami that enveloped the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March of 2011. But I still hold out hope of once again hearing from him and rekindling the friendship.
What we have instead, is the inspiring electronic music of Pete Namlook and his collaborators including one Tetsu Inoue.
Episode 125
Trippy Trance Music Origins, Part 2
Playlist
| Track Time | Start Time |
Introduction –Thom Holmes | 05:01 | 00:00 |
1. Pete Namlook, “Power Supply II” from Namlook IV (1994 Fax +49-69/450464). “The music originated instinctively whilst being played live. There was no concept for the composition before, only a kaleidoscope of sounds stemming from the given instruments. The music of this CD is “dedicated” to the missing 220V power supply, the broken EMS Synthi which I dropped during the setting-up of my equipment, the SE-1 which instantly created its own sounds during the live recording and the Studio 440 with 2 faulty pads and a disk drive which had to be convinced to cooperate.” | 5:00 | 05:16 |
2. Pete Namlook, “Power Supply III” from Namlook IV (1994 Fax +49-69/450464). See explanation for part II above. | 5:00 | 10:15 |
3. Pete Namlook, “Power Supply IV” from Namlook IV (1994 Fax +49-69/450464). See explanation for part II above. | 5:00 | 15:16 |
4. Bill Laswell and Pete Namlook, “Psychic And UFO Revelations In The Last Days” from Psychonavigation (1994 Subharmonic). Written, arranged, and played by Bill Laswell, Pete Namlook; Axiom ambient, Bill Murphy, Peter Wetherbee; Material, Inc., Tracy McKnight; Subharmonic, Robert Soares. | 38:46 | 20:13 |
5. Pete Namlook, Klaus Schulze and Bill Laswell, “Obscured by Klaus, Part III” from The Dark Side Of The Moog 7 (1998 Fax +49-69/450464). Performers, Bill Laswell, Klaus Schulze, Pete Namlook; Written-by Bill Laswell . | 19:01 | 58:54 |
6. Pete Namlook, Klaus Schulze and Bill Laswell, “Obscured by Klaus, Part IV” from The Dark Side Of The Moog 7 (1998 Fax +49-69/450464). Written and performed by Bill Laswell, Klaus Schulze, Pete Namlook. | 06:37 | 01:17:54 |
7. Tetsu Inoue and Pete Namlook (2350 Broadway), “Ethereal Being” from 2350 Broadway 4 (2007 Fax +49-69/450464). Produced by Peter Kuhlmann (Pete Namlook); written and performed by Tetsu Inoue and Pete Nambook. Recorded at Bretton Hall, New York and Klanglobor Hödeshof, Germany. Linited to 500 discs. | 7:00 | 01:24:28 |
8. Tetsu Inoue and Pete Namlook (2350 Broadway), “Sustained Energy” from 2350 Broadway 4 (2007 Fax +49-69/450464). Produced by Peter Kuhlmann (Pete Namlook); written and performed by Tetsu Inoue and Pete Nambook. Recorded at Bretton Hall, New York and Klanglobor Hödeshof, Germany. Linited to 500 discs. | 9:35 | 01:31:21 |
Opening background music: Bill Laswell and Pete Namlook, “Black Dawn” from Psychonavigation (1994 Subharmonic). Written, arranged, and played by Bill Laswell, Pete Namlook; Axiom ambient, Bill Murphy, Peter Wetherbee; Material, Inc., Tracy McKnight; Subharmonic, Robert Soares. (21:22)
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
Comments