Journey into Space
Label: Paradigm Discs
Format: CD digipack
Genre: Electronic
In stock
York University's music department houses one of the UK's first-ever
electronic music studios, and during the early '70s, it was a hotbed of
creative activity. Much of the released output from the studio at this
time revolved around the work of the dynamic composer Trevor Wishart. Journey Into Space
was his first release, composed between 1970 and 1972, and was
privately-pressed (shortly before the formation of YES records), as two
separate LPs in 1973. (The CD cover amalgamates the two original
designs). Along with other early private releases of experimental music
in the UK (i.e. the LP of sound poems by Cobbing/Jandl, or the LP of musique concrète by Desmond Leslie),
this record is also a total anomaly in the canon of British
experimental music and has little to do with the current, or even
subsequent work by Wishart. The vast length of this piece has many
different styles. There are acoustic sections, mostly of junk and toys
(bike bells, squeeze horns, bottles, metal tubes, combs, etc.) as well
as flute and brass sections that are used as raw material. There are
also sections of everyday field recordings, scraps of NASA Apollo
transmissions, as well as plenty of multitracking, editing, vocal
acrobatics and musique concrète. Among the 48 participants credited on
the original sleeve are a whole roster of York University alumni
including nearly all the artists who were showcased on the soon-to-be
released 3LP box set Electronic Music from York, along with other noteworthy students as diverse as Steve Beresford, Jonty Harrison, Roger Marsh, Dominic Muldowney, Bernard Rands and Jan Steele.
The co-operative spirit of York's music and drama departments, plus the
raw enthusiasm and open attitude of the participants involved in the
project gave this music an immediacy, similar to the later LAFMS scene.
Cat. number: PD 18
Year: 2002