Yoshio Machida – Music From The Synthi

YoshioMacida_WEB

CD – Baskaru

Underpinning this project is the cryptic premise that a machine created for the production of synthetic sounds may reject its age. The AKS Synthi was a portable analogue synthesizer produced in 1972 by Electronic Music Studios. It was famous for its use of small pins for signal routing. The remaining parts were based on a system similar to the VCS3, with three oscillators and a distinctive patch system. Housed in a briefcase and designed to be easily transported, this was the very first small size analogue synthesizer. This portability helped the synthesizer become a legend: at that time Moog-style keyboard synths weren’t yet available on the market. The Synthi is somehow akin to an analogue Max/MSP, a machine for generative music used by many artists, such as Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Phil Manzanera, Jean Michel Jarre and Pink Floyd. Concerning this recent album Machida said: “I simply recorded the repeating patterns and mixed 3 to 5 patterns per piece, without any editing or effects, I wanted to record rich obscure improvisations as performed by the Synthi. Every modulation, reverb, effects like delay, and glitch sound is produced inside the Synthi”. Machida performed 13 tracks for this release by Baskaru: the sound is wonderful and the artist, thanks to his free-improvisation approach, goes beyond a simple enumeration of technical options. He cares about the “conceptual” rigor of the project, but allows himself to be carried along by the seductive power of an eclectic and “joyful” experimentation.

 

町田良夫 Yoshio Machida plays SYNTHI AKS at CYBERFEST 2013

 

Yoshio Machida – SYNTHI n°23