Amazing! This is one
of the coolest CDs we've seen in years – and everything about it is fantastic, from the package right down to the double-length set
of music! The set features rare unreleased recordings from Raymond Scott's legendary Manhattan Research electronic music studios – originally set up in 1946, and home to some
of Scott's landmark early work on non-acoustic music during the 50s and 60s. Far from being the sort
of turgid, dark knob-twiddling that computer music later became in the academy, Scott's early experiments are filled with a sense
of whimsy and
joy – exported directly from his early cartoon-based work, and applied in a fantastic way to his evolving musical inventions! Plus, the whole thing's packaged in this super-cool hardcover book, with a whopping 140 pages
of notes, photographs, old advertisements, and interviews – all done in a brilliant graphic style that complements the package even further! Don't forget the music, though – because it's totally fantastic – and kind
of reminds us
of bits
of Jon Appleton's Syntonic Menagerie, Pierre Henry's early Musique Concrete, and later punk-era DIY electronics. That doesn't even come close to pinning it down, though – and with 2 CDs worth
of material, the scope
of the work is amazing!
(Out Sound, Now Sound)