Over the last year I have had a resurgence in listening to classic electronic music. It has been what has spurred me on to get back involved with analogue synthesis again. If we talk about classic electronic music one name always crops up, Kraftwerk. These guys are the people that got me into electronic music first time around. I first heard Autobahn when I was seven on a tape cassette my Dad had, and that started me on my love for electronic music! So, I’m going back to the beginning with the music and revisiting that lovely stripped back minimalism of Kraftwerk to produce art too. I'm looking to produce a more considered graphical style with this small experimental collection. Not much throwing of paint, more cut out minimal colour fields, I think. Again it is all experimentation so I’m not sure where this will take me, but I would like to investigate the concept.
Going back to Kraftwerk has rekindled my love for analogue synthesis and analogue synthesizers. When I was a kid (13) I bought Human League’s The Dignity Of Labour Pts. 1-4, I think it was in that year (1980) I really fell in love with electronic music. Man Machine had been released in 78, I purchased my first analogue synthesizer in 1980, The Cassio VL1! By the time The Model hit No1 in 1981 I was on my way to owning two Cassio VL-1’s, an MT40, a phase shifter, and a Yamaha CS-5, the latter being in my eyes at the time, ‘a real synth’. That was the starting of my analogue journey, and it was partly because of Kraftwerk and the emerging British electronic synth music scene.
My first analogue equipment set up as a teenager- 2 x Cassio VL-1, Cassio MT40, Yamaha CS5 and a Small Stone phase shifter! Happy days! :)
I lost this love for sound experimentation when I changed to digital equipment back in the 90s, and I never really got back to the pleasure of pure sound experimentation until now. When I was a kid I used to have pictures of analogue modular systems and Hi-Fi systems on my bedroom wall, and dreamed of owning them one day. I want to get back to those childhood dreams and passions of plugging in wires, turning actual knobs, and creating sound with heat, heart and connection! This was the seed for the ‘Back to the Analogue’ project!
I have just purchased the limited edition vinyl rerelease of Autobahn, to give me that warm creamy sound whilst getting inspired for the coming work. I really can't wait to crank it out on my decks and see what happens. Vinyl on, sit back and relax, listen, and then see where this project takes me. I think that sounds a good strategy!