In his liner notes for the 1977 album New Music For Electronic Media: Women In Electronic Music, producer and KPFA music director Charles Amirkhanian described how women composers were beginning to explore new territory at that time.
They left behind the expressionist and purely synthetic sounds that had characterised the avantgarde until the late 1960s and shaped the idea of intermedia art by mixing different types of sound material. This approach often related to human life or brought humour to a world previously known for its academic sobriety.
The 88-minute mix offers an expanded view of the development depicted by Amirkhanian, with a focus on different artists and an extended time frame.
Featured cover art: Tellus #9 – Music With Memory
Playlist
Christina Kubisch – Circles 1
One of the flute pieces for various combinations by the German composer, created while she lived in Italy. (1984, Melania Productions / Re: Tochnit Aleph)
Éliane Radigue – Σ = a = b = a + b
A mix featuring two 7-inch singles that can be played individually or simultaneously, synchronously or asynchronously, and at any speed. (1969, Povertech Industries)
Ruth White – Owls
Interpretation of the poem by Charles Baudelaire using a Moog synthesizer. (1969, Black Mass Rising)
Barbara T. Smith – Mass Meal
Soundtrack for a psychedelic happening in the artist’s studio in Santa Ana, California. (1969, Small World)
Brenda Hutchinson – Interlude from Voices of Reason
Computer-aided composition, based on language and stories. (1984, Tellus)
Ruth Anderson – SUM (State Of The Union Message)
Investigating the connection between television advertising and the situation of her compatriots. (1973, Opus One, RE: Arc Light Editions)
Suzanne Ciani – Second Voice: Sound of Heat
Sound sculpture in collaboration with the artist Harold Paris, partly based on Ciani’s early experimental work at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of Stanford University. (1970, Dead-Cert Home Entertainment)
Catherine Christer Hennix – Equal Temperament Fender Mix
Exploring the triangle of jazz, minimalism and electronic music. (1976, Empty Editions)
Frankie Mann – I Was A Hero (From ‘The Mayan Debutante Revue’)
A song about artist-scientists who feverishly believe that they were hatched from Einstein’s Egg. (1979, Lovely Music, Ltd.)
Ellen Fullman – Swingen
Rosin-coated fingers stroke a web of dozens of metal wires, up to 21 meters long, which make up the composer’s Long String Instrument. (1985, Superior Viaduct)
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