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Jon AppletonContes de la MémoireBack to the record
CMJ (College Media Journal)

“Jon Appleton has been composing and constructing electronic music since the early ’60s, and a professor at Dartmouth for nearly as long.”

Robin Edgerton, Douglas Wolk

Jon Appleton has been composing and constructing electronic music since the early ’60s, and a professor at Dartmouth for nearly as long. This career retrospective begins in 1966, with a few abstract tape pieces typical of the period (layered machine sounds, Moog cascades punctuated by sharp points). But he quickly turned a humorist’s ear to the world of sound — his Chef d’œuvre mixes amplified and distorted cooking noises with the overlapping, stretched and pinched voices of the Andrews Sisters singing a Chef Boy-Ar-Dee commercial. Times Square Times Ten peruses the elaborate soundscape of the New York landmark, then messes with it: sidewalks seemingly breathe and twist, subway and truck rumbles become overpowering, the whole area becomes taken over by a giant wind chime, then by elfin voices from a wax cylinder.

Originally published by CMJ (College Media Journal).Read the full review on CMJ (College Media Journal)

10 other reviews

Sonomu

“A startling piece of digital composition and yet another example of Appleton’s warmth and irrepressible humanness…”

Earwaves

“… a beautiful recording of computer music…”

Splendid E-Zine

“Jon Appleton has been a central figure in electroacoustic music for close to 3 decades now. Contes de la mémoire is sort of like his “Greatest Hits” compilation — a collection of ten electronic pieces from throughout his career.”

Option

“The popularity of computer music being what it is, even a distinguished electronic musician/composer like Appleton is heard largely on compilations or in retrospectives like this one, with selections spanning 30 years of artistic labor.”

Outsight

“This CD begins and ends with random street interviews on computer generated music. The techniques employed are varied as the answers of the interview participants.”

Village Voice

“The guru of the synclavier has released a couple of new works, but mostly old pieces that hadn’t been available in decades.”

The War Against Silence

“Jon Appleton’s Contes de la mémoire, takes a much less abrasive approach to electroacoustic music. Until a giant, sadistic, gong-playing praying mantis infiltrates the album toward the very end, carrying a frazzled television set, most of these pieces sound like Eno, Dr.”

Musicworks

“American Jon Appleton and Brit Jonty Harrison are pioneers of electroacoustic music, and the pivotal moments of their enterprising work are marvellously captured on these two retrospectives issued by the empreintes DIGITALes label.”

Artefakt

“Jon Appletons Lebenslauf wirkt mächtig. Er wird als Mitglied einer Gruppe Forscher, die das Synclavier hervorbrachten und aufgrund seines weltweiten Engagements um die Elektroakustik gewürdigt.”

Computer Music Journal

“Contes de la mémoire (Memory’s tales): a very appropriate title, considering the eclectic content of this compilation of tape works by Jon Appleton.”