via this auction
"'music to wash dishes by' (BATHING, chicago, IL, 1982). legendary chicago rarity here, as the story goes, copies have been absolutely impossible, even for locals. here's a perfect example in the shrink, opened and played twice. clearly from the album title, dude has a sense of humor but this is no novelty LP, more of an art meets pop outing and the driving ambient pieces stand out with a soothing sounds-era raymond scott meets dr. philter banx sound. really quite original. some dark, moody synth soundscape stuff on her as well. most sounds like it was recorded 10 years earlier than its release date. back cover pic here is an all time great! see below. see my other auctions for a very fun list of obscure indie & private label LPs and please visit my websites companion records and showandtellmusic for more of the same." If anyone knows more about this one, feel free to comment or shoot me an email.
This gem spotted by Brian Kehew of The MOOG CookbookAnyone know what that is to the left of the EMLs?
EML 400 Sequencer
EML 401 Synthesizer
EML 101 Semi-modular
You can find more info on EML via the label at the bottom of this post, and the three here in this post.
Update via Marco Monte in the comments:"My name is Tom Cameron and I would like to explain what is going on in the picture on the back cover of my old album "Music To Wash Dishes By". I was pleasantly surprised to see the album profiled and transcribed in the Matrixsynth Blog. The synthesizers (EML 101, EML 4004/401) and the Shure Vocal Master powered mixer were correctly identified as was the location of the performance.
What I think might be of most interest is what I was doing in the performance and how I was controlling the synthesizers. There is a white headband that I am wearing which contains three electrodes which are monitoring my brain waves using a biofeedback machine. This biofeedback monitor would register a small voltage pulse each time that I could successfully maintain a relatively steady alpha state. The brain biofeedback monitor is then connected to an optical interface. This allows me to use the feedback voltage to control the synthesizers without the risk of a ground loop frying my brain. The control voltage of about five volts was then used to control the pitch and filters of the EML 101 and also advance step by step the sequencer on the EML 4004/401. The result was that I could control and play the synthesizers with brain waves alone.
OK, so I couldn't play "Mary Had A Little Lamb" but I did create synthesizer sounds by just thinking about them. I thought that this was pretty cool but not many people understood it at the time. They were two young kids that did get it. They bought a few balloons and sneaked up behind my lawn chair and popped the balloons. As I have a slow shock response nothing happened but about ten minutes later a yellow jacket (I hate yellow jackets) came buzzing around my head and the synthesizers went crazy.
At the time I thought I'd come up with a pretty original demonstration. But later I found out that Alvin Lucier had done a similar demonstration ten years earlier. He obviously did not use synthesizers at that time but he did use biofeedback to control solenoid operated percussion instruments. And currently Tod Machover is pursuing mind-music connections in a similar vein but with much more sophisticated equipment.
I also painted the cover art."
i posted this record on my old record blog Curved-Air, now defunct. you can still find the LP here for download: http://lix.in/cfec68
ReplyDeletei'd rate this LP a 6 out of 10. there's a two really nice cuts but nothing off the charts.
if you're older pioneering electronics and experimental stuff you can still catch all my old stuff here: http://reader.feedshow.com/show_items-feed=4cb01d97dd442b198c7b3b3fb6f301fd?page=0
That thing to the left of the 101 is probably a small powered mixer. That's how they used to package them in the '60s.
ReplyDeleteYeah that is a mixer. I actually have that exact one, I got it off ebay for $40 about a year ago.
ReplyDeleteIt's a Shure VocalMaster Head. Not sure about the speaker cabs - not the standard Shure cabs of the time.
ReplyDeleteI played a few times with Tom in the 80s. He ran a cool leather shop in Oak Park, Illinois, just west of Chicago, and also was the first in the area to sell Electro Harmonix, Chapman Sticks and Electrocomp. He had a great studio in the basement of the leather store.
This photo was from "A Day in the Village", an Oak Park summer festival. Oak Park is famous for Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.
What that wierd hairy wirey stuff comming out of everything and going into nothing in the pictures?
ReplyDeleteZamise,
ReplyDeleteIt's the reflection of the light on the shrink wrap from the camera.
Ah ok heh. It was freaking me out like an optical illusion or something I thought I was seeing in the pictures.
ReplyDeleteThanks actuel! I updated the post with streams of the tracks.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Tom Cameron and I would like to explain what is going on in the picture on the back cover of my old album "Music To Wash Dishes By". I was pleasantly surprised to see the album profiled and transcribed in the Matrixsynth Blog. The synthesizers (EML 101, EML 4004/401) and the Shure Vocal Master powered mixer were correctly identified as was the location of the performance.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think might be of most interest is what I was doing in the performance and how I was controlling the synthesizers. There is a white headband that I am wearing which contains three electrodes which are monitoring my brain waves using a biofeedback machine. This biofeedback monitor would register a small voltage pulse each time that I could successfully maintain a relatively steady alpha state. The brain biofeedback monitor is then connected to an optical interface. This allows me to use the feedback voltage to control the synthesizers without the risk of a ground loop frying my brain. The control voltage of about five volts was then used to control the pitch and filters of the EML 101 and also advance step by step the sequencer on the EML 4004/401. The result was that I could control and play the synthesizers with brain waves alone.
OK, so I couldn't play "Mary Had A Little Lamb" but I did create synthesizer sounds by just thinking about them. I thought that this was pretty cool but not many people understood it at the time. They were two young kids that did get it. They bought a few balloons and sneaked up behind my lawn chair and popped the balloons. As I have a slow shock response nothing happened but about ten minutes later a yellow jacket (I hate yellow jackets) came buzzing around my head and the synthesizers went crazy.
At the time I thought I'd come up with a pretty original demonstration. But later I found out that Alvin Lucier had done a similar demonstration ten years earlier. He obviously did not use synthesizers at that time but he did use biofeedback to control solenoid operated percussion instruments. And currently Tod Machover is pursuing mind-music connections in a similar vein but with much more sophisticated equipment.
I also painted the cover art.
@Tom: The fellow who was pretty famous for controlling synths with brain waves was David Rosenboom. He re-released some of his earlier work in 2006 under the title "Brainwave Music". The compositions were from 1971, 1972, 1974, and 2001 (on the new release).
ReplyDelete@Michael: David Rosenboom's "Systems of Judgment" has long been one of my favorite electronic CDs. I was unaware of the depth of his brainwave work. Thanks for the information. I now have a research project for today on the interenet: David Rosenboom
ReplyDeletei have an original copy of this album.
ReplyDeletealways loved the track 'balsa'!
there is a live performance by tom cameron here:
http://www.archive.org/details/NMA_1982_07_06
it was part of New Music America 1982 in chicago.
In case my other comment didnt publish can someone out in the world please send me this record? One of my favorites and I no longer have the computer which contained it. Thanks!
ReplyDeletegood
ReplyDeleteHello Marco Monte. If you see this, please let me know. Thank you, Mike (mmckee@wttw.com)
ReplyDelete