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David Vorhaus and Dave Bradnum: “Video Games”
From the album Sound Conjurer (1983)
Sometimes the title says it all: this homage to the unique and evocative sound world of early video games is an exemplary musical miniature, showing what can be done with an imaginative treatment of limited sonic material. It’s a document from the heart of the so-called “Golden Age of Video Games”: 1983, a year after the release of the Commodore 64, and the year of the first incarnation of the Mario Brothers.
In 1968, David Vorhaus started the band White Noise with BBC Radiophonic Workshop alumnae Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson. Their first album, An Electric Storm, was a fusion of rock and experimental electronics which became an underground classic. After this debut Derbyshire and Hodgson left the band, and future White Noise albums were essentially Vorhaus solo projects.
In 1980, Vorhaus began releasing music under his own name on the KPM label. Described as “an imaginary trip into sounds real and unreal,” Sound Conjurer was made entirely on the Fairlight Computer Music Instrument, recently profiled on this blog. The predominant character of the music is one of rather ignorable electronic soundscapes; most of the album is mid-grade library music, but there are occasional flashes of brilliance.
Vorhaus can be seen showing off some of his equipment in an interview from the 1979 BBC documentary “The New Sound of Music.”
Played 90 time(s).
November 30, 2010, 9:02pm
