Buried Treasure

"Of the various musical guises assumed by David Baker and Simon Leonard, it was arguably their first – I Start Counting – which saw them at their most multifarious"

Say what you will about the rise of algorithms, but on occasion they do get it right.

When searching for pioneers of electronic futurism, how many of us would consider the golden age of Ethiopian jazz-funk to be an obvious port of call?

Not long after Wendy Carlos officially ‘Switched-On’ the world, Bob Moog and a collection of electronic music pioneers gathered in the gardens of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City to stage the first live performance of the Moog synthesiser

I was introduced to the music of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark when I was 15. By the time I was 17, I was besotted with the band and had become the local OMD expert

As someone who writes about a lot of weird music, I can get desensitised to it. The soundtrack to an imaginary film about school dinners? Meh.

Generally speaking, listening to a self-aggrandising peer saying, “You like [influential band]? Well, you should really listen to [obscure band]” tends more towards an act of generosity and patience than an educational experience.

“Long, long ago, far into the distant future and after the seventh war, there is a civilisation called System 605. Where the diseases of love and emotion no longer exist to complicate our busy lives…”