Jorge Antunes – Savage Songs
Savage Songs is a collection of early electronic music from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1961, at age 19, Jorge Atunes attended a concert of electronic music by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gottfried Michael Koenig, which greatly influenced him to start making his own. So, he wasted no time setting up shop in his parents’ house with a couple of reel-to-reel tape recorders and a self-built saw tooth wave generator. The fact that Jorge had already taken a course in electronics and was engaged in freelance radio repair sure didn’t hinder these early efforts. By 1964, Jorge started splicing tape and employing random objects like cardboard boxes, plastic containers and small drums in his music. Theremin, tape head echo and reverb out the wazoo followed not long after, as did piano and sound effects records. By 1967, he moved operations out of the house to establish the Antunes Studio of Chromo-Musical Research in the Villa-Lobos Institute. As the decade drew to a close, Jorge even recorded his first piece in a professional studio at the Torcuato di Tella Institute.
Spanning from 1961-70, the 14 tracks on Savage Songs are packed full of precisely the kind of lo-fi, vintage analog tape manipulation that I love. They’re presented in chronological order, with 12 of them clocking in at the two- to five-minute range, and the last two sprawling out into the 15-minute neighborhood. “Short Piece For E Natural and Harmonics” is typical, with its low-pitched rumbles and high-pitched keens that convey the majestic grandeur of a vast bay. Many of the other tracks likewise brandish wave generators that sweep from rumbling lows to keening highs, layered with backward tape stabs, and electronic bloops and bleeps –all awash with plenty of nightmarish echo and reverb. Sound effects like dripping water, the “boing” cartoon sound effect, voices, corroded skipping records full of old time music, garbled radio dial chaos, urgent spoken word and a crowded parade also make an appearance. Hands down, this CD is essential listening for fans of vintage electronic music.
Label: Pogus Catalog Number: P21027-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 14 Total Time: 72:41 Country: United States Released: 2002 More: All Music, Discogs, Last.FM, Pogus
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