Electronic Music Entry

Kraftwerk is responsible for most of the electronic music we hear today. Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider were the primary songwriters and leaders of Kraftwerk. They started off making music using real instruments along with some electronic ones and they looked as if they were just another Krautrock band at the time. Later they began to use more electronic instruments and they decided they wanted to be robots so that’s what image they created which has been used by electronic artists ever since. The first three albums they came out with, Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2, and Ralf and Florian used real instruments. Then in 1974 they came out with the Autobahn, which is when they started using more synth instruments. It also is the first album that really put them on the map, reaching the top 40 in the UK and America. Then in 1975 Radio-Activity is when they started to get closer to the robot theme, with the theme of the album being nuclear energy. Then in 1977 they released Trans-Europe Express, which had a great influence on Hip Hop. A good example of this is Hip Hop artist Africa Bambaataa sampled the Kraftwerk song Numbers to make Planet Rock. In 1978 they released The Machine, this album has their most Pop sounding songs. From this album there are still songs being covered by artists today like Neon Lights, which is covered by U2. In 1981 the released Computer World. A song on this album, Computer Love’s melody was used in the Coldplay song Talk. Kreftwerk is one of the most influencing and sampled bands still to this day. As a listener and industry professional I am always impressed by something that is completely new and never done before. When it comes Kraftwerk, I am amazed how original there sound is and cannot believe how you can hear elements of this sound they created in every genre of music.

Electronic Music Innovations

David Bowie had a skill for perceiving different music trends and adapting his music to fit. Although he played many different styles of music over time, would almost switch genres completely, he had a major impact on electronic music. First major impact he made was by referencing Kreftwerk in his own album Station to Station. He calms the biggest influence for that album was the Kreftwerk, albums before their album Autobahn. One day he was returning to England from Los Angeles and when he got back to London he gave an awaiting crowd a Nazi salute. Many believe it was because of his drug addiction but either way it caused a lot of controversy. So, to escape, he moved to Berlin where he lived and worked with producer, Brian Eno. This is where he really became interested in German electronic music. He got away from his Glam Rock character and started to look even more like he was a member of Kraftwerk. Bowie with the help of his producer Eno put together his first electronic album Low. He also created a song V2 Schneider as a direct reference to Kreftwerk. All this work by Bowie helped bring electronic music to popular music. He help Kreftwerk get noticed my mentioning their work to his following and help popularize electronic music by making it him self. He continued to use elements of Electronica in his pop music later. You can see this in his songs such as “Let’s Dance” from his album Let’s Dance. This song became a Top Ten hit. Without Bowie, it is possible that Kreftwerk, which had the biggest impact on electronic music, would not have been as popular. That along with his own music had a great impact on electronic music. As an industry professional David Bowie inspires me to keep up with the times, not be afraid to switch up my style so that I can remain popular in the music industry over time, and to always keep my eyes open for something new.

Revolver

The Beatles, making the Album Revolver evolutionized how music would be made forever. The Beatles style before Revolver was more of an acoustic folk-rock, such as the album Rubber Soul. Then on their album, Revolver, they switched up their style to more of an electric sound and they had much more variety when it came to styles of songs that where on the album. Although The Beatles agreed not to be on LSD while in the studio, LSD was a major influence on the making of the album. They had full access to Abbey Road Studios and they took full advantage of that and used the studio as an instrument. Spending a lot of time experimenting with new ways of making effects, some never used before. The Beatles really started experimenting in the studio for this album not caring at all if it could be recreated live. They used backwards recording for the first time ever with the backwards guitar for the song “I’m Only Sleeping”. Also they used tape loops through out the album, which had never been done before in rock music. As an industry professional it makes me feel as if being the best at what already exists isn’t going to be good enough for me any more. After finding out about all the experimentation The Beatles did with this album it makes me want to do something extra extraordinary with the music I’m working with to give new techniques to the recording and mixing of music.

Pet Sounds

Brian Wilson was the songwriter, producer, and arranger for The Beach Boys who produced and arranged all the tracks on Pet Sounds. He also partnered up with Tony Asher to write the album. Brain either wrote or co-wrote every song on the album except for “Sloop John B.” At the time Brian was experimenting with LSD and other drugs so the songs he wrote, at first were a little to far out from what The Beach Boys were use to playing, so at first they didn't want to play them but they eventually came to an agreement. They were use to making a couple of hit songs and then filling in the rest of the album. They weren’t use to making an album that was one complete album all the way through. The Beatles’ had just came out with their album Rubber Soul, and its folk-rock feel is what influence Brian Wilson to write and record pet sounds. The unity of the songs, how they were a collection of original songs that seemed to fit together well and the fact that they were all good songs really impress Brian Wilson. Brian felt a need to make an album with all good songs, a good album all the way through with no songs just to fill in another track on the album. This was not like the other popular albums that were being released. Brain took this as a competition with the Beatles. Brain also had the singers all singing in harmony and recorded at once which was not ordinary for popular music at the time. As a professional in the industry it inspires me to strive for new idea that have not been seen before.

Independent Research

Velvet Underground & Nico

What was repulsive and scary to most people, were associated with power, grace and beauty in the album The Velvet Underground and Nico, which made it even more frightening and compelling to there audience. Instrumentation maybe considered being chaos to some and the gritty lyrics would give them a reputation of scum when it comes to social status. The primary songwriters of the group were Lou Reed and John Cale. John Cale was gifted piano and violinist who studied composition in college. He had the reputation as a prodigy child ever since he was young a played an original composition on BBC at eleven years old. He was experimenting in avant-garde music but later became more drawn to rock ‘n’ roll music. Mean while Lou Reed’s sex and drug experimentation lead him to rock ‘n’ roll at an earlier age. At a failed attempt to promote one of Reed’s singles, Reed and Cale met through the band that was put together to perform the song. The band separated but Reed and Cale continued working together later forming The Velvet Underground. Cale played multiple instruments including the viola, guitar, and bass while Reed was the singer, guitarist, and songwiter in the band. Andy Warhol liked what the band had going on and produced their album The Velvet Underground and Nico. He didn’t know much about music but he sat behind the boards while they recorded and added German model Nico as the lead singer of the band. The band would perform at Warhol’s performance art tour called Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Although the album had poor recording in a run down studio and didn’t sell many copies, it was considered one of the most important influences for many bands, including the Sex Pistols and U2. Also the first band to have the vibe of the punk/ new wave movement. As an industry professional I believe the album was annoying, like John Cale once claimed, all his music was ment to do was annoy people but I am also am impressed by how different it was from anything ever created from its time. You have to be very creative to do what they did and there music went on to inspire so many others.

What's Going On

Prior to the recording of What’s Going On Marvin Gaye’s music would normally be about love, falling in love, hanging onto love, or losing love. He usually wrote very romantic or sexual music. What’s Going On was not about love at all, or at least not in a romantic sense. Before he decided to put this album together he spent a long time away from his music after the death of his friend Tammi Terrell. While he was taking this time off he witnessed all the racial, political, and social problems going on in our country on the news. He readed letters from his brother, who was fighting in the Vietnam War, which said how his brother and other soldiers were confused on what they were even fighting for and why they were fighting for a country that didn’t except them because of there skin color. All this along with the loss of Terrell motivated him to get back to Motown. The first song he tried to release, as a single, was “What’s Going On”. His producer Berry Gordy refused to release it because it was too political and different from other Motown songs. He believed there was know way it would be a hit. Gaye refused to record any more songs until they released it. Of course later the song was released and it was a hit, the song song 100,000 copies the first day. For this album Gaye had complete control over the production. He hired producer Chet Forest, because of his experience with big bands. With his help he had large assortments of percussion, including woodblocks, congas, even a cardboard box that Gaye beat with drumsticks. This, along with using a choir instead of the usual three person back up vocals usually heard in Motown had added an element to Motown never heard before. This was the first Motown album that could not simply be classified as soul or R&B. Also it was the first Motown album to list the session musicians, for this album they were the Funk Brothers. I really like this album the instrumentation and lyrical value is very impressive.

Independent Research

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was the Wu-Tang Clan’s debut album. The album’s name was inspired by a kung-fu movie called The 36^th Chamber of Shaolin. The group was made up of nine rappers known as RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. The RZA, a founding member of the group, produced, arranged, mixed, and programmed the entire album. The only thing he didn’t do was master it, which he later had the album sent of to The Hit Factory for mastering. The group was only able to record in a small inexpensive studio in the Firehouse Studio, in New York, which was a tight fit for a group of nine artists. The way that RZA decided who would appear on which beat, was by having rappers rap battle each other for the right to rap on the beat. This method of competing for the beats led to the song “Meth vs. Chef”. This was a battle between Method Man and Raekwon. The song was not released on the album but it appeared later on Method Man’s debut, Tical. The beats consisted of samples from classic soul and martial arts movie clips. The beats reflected their gritty, urban surrounding and the aggressive lyrics complemented the tracks perfectly. At the time this style of rap wasn’t very popular, hip hop music mostly consisted of jazz-influenced styles and west coast gangster rap styles. This album went on to be very successful, it went platinum, peaked at number forty-one on the US Billboard 200 chart, and was ranked number 386 in Rolling Stones magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), kick started the Wu-Tang Clans career and made it possible for the artist to make more music as a group and also as solo artists. This album influenced many artist and brought east coast hip hop more to the mainstream. You can hear influences of Wu-Tang’s music in the music of Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, and Jay-Z. They continue to influence artists to this day including a hip hop group I work with known as the Black Chain Gang (BCG) and they have an influence on the music I make as well. I really enjoy listening to the Wu-Tang clan and many of the artists that they have inspired. Without the Wu-Tang Clan hip hop music would not be the same.

What's Going On

Welcome Entry

My name is Vince Tancredi and my main focus in the music industry is producing. I like all most all genres of music but my favorite would be hip/hop, rock, funk and jazz. Some instruments I play are guitar, bass, piano, and saxophone. I like making music and working with other people to make music thats why I'm focusing on producing.