Like Max Richter?
Posted by: Nick Lees on 19 February 2007
If so, then there's a fair chance you might like this...
In 1971 they decommissioned Iceland's first IBM 1401 mainframe computer, but before they did so Johann Gunnarsson, the chief engineer on the site and also a musician, decided to do some experiments by programming the memory in a certain way then tuning a radio into the resultant electronic noise, which he then recorded.
Apart from telling you just how much fun there was to be had in the early 1970s in Iceland, it did lead to his son Johann Johannsson using those sounds to create a suite of music and the album, called IBM 1401, A User's Manual.
The album's mostly orchestral (City of Prague Philharmonic) with odd bits of electronics in the background and one track has excerpts from a 1401 instruction tape set to music. One track also has vocals.
This is not modern squeaky-door music but slow, stately and really rather beautiful and moving. Great late night music.
Check out his Myspace site if you're interested. At the top, the song "The Sky's Gone Dim" is the one from IBM 1401, and lower down the page the video of the lady writhing about on stage is representative of the music from the rest of the album.
Anyway, highly recommended. I've got another of his albums on order - Virthulegu Forsetar - which looking back I see Gianluigi's a fan of.
In 1971 they decommissioned Iceland's first IBM 1401 mainframe computer, but before they did so Johann Gunnarsson, the chief engineer on the site and also a musician, decided to do some experiments by programming the memory in a certain way then tuning a radio into the resultant electronic noise, which he then recorded.
Apart from telling you just how much fun there was to be had in the early 1970s in Iceland, it did lead to his son Johann Johannsson using those sounds to create a suite of music and the album, called IBM 1401, A User's Manual.
The album's mostly orchestral (City of Prague Philharmonic) with odd bits of electronics in the background and one track has excerpts from a 1401 instruction tape set to music. One track also has vocals.
This is not modern squeaky-door music but slow, stately and really rather beautiful and moving. Great late night music.
Check out his Myspace site if you're interested. At the top, the song "The Sky's Gone Dim" is the one from IBM 1401, and lower down the page the video of the lady writhing about on stage is representative of the music from the rest of the album.
Anyway, highly recommended. I've got another of his albums on order - Virthulegu Forsetar - which looking back I see Gianluigi's a fan of.