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The Silk Mill Session

by Mark Automaton/391

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richardrandomk
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1.
Death in the Victorian Family 06:14
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2.
Scheele's Green 03:53
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3.
The House on Neibolt Street 04:15
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4.
Infinite Bandwidth 04:05
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5.
The Spark Of Intelligence In Your Eyes Is Not Unlike The Glow From The Teeth Of An Electrocuted Axe-Murderess 05:20
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6.
Daisy Bell 01:58
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about

In 2017 a gig was arranged at the Silk Mill Studios in Frome, Somerset to promote the release of the Cherry Red CD box-set "Close To The Noise Floor: Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984". As the collection included a track by the Automatons, I was one of the acts scheduled to perform. Unfortunately, due to some undisclosed reason, the gig was cancelled. Recently I rediscovered the skeleton tracks and sound samples that were going to form the basis of my performance and decided that the time was right to finish them off and release them into the wild.

In recognition of the vintage electronics of the period covered by the CD collection, all the tracks use emulations of iconic synths from the 70s and 80s – the ARP 2600 and Odyssey, Roland Jupiter-8, modular Moog and Minimoog, Prophet-5, and Korg MS-20, M1, Polysix and Wavestation. There is also an emulation of the Transcendent 2000, the synth that Protag built from a kit and which featured on several Automatons tracks. The emulator faithfully reproduces the original's woozy slipping-out-of-tune sound that was a result of the oscillators warming up after a period of extended use.

Historical note: A recording made in 1961 at Bell Labs in New Jersey on an IBM 7094 mainframe is the earliest known example of a computer-synthesized voice singing a song. The song was "Daisy Bell". The recording was programmed by John L. Kelly Jr., and Carol Lockbaum, and featured musical accompaniment written by computer music pioneer Max Mathews.

Arthur C. Clarke incorporated the 7094's musical performance in the 1968 novel "2001: A Space Odyssey", and the script for the 1968 film.

credits

released January 2, 2021

Death in the Victorian Family:
- ARP 2600
- Roland Jupiter-8
- ARP Odyssey

Scheele's Green:
- Korg MS-20
- Prophet-5

The House on Neibolt Street:
- Korg Wavestation
- Roland Jupiter-8

Infinite Bandwidth:
- Modular Moog
- Korg M1
- Minimoog

The Spark Of Intelligence In Your Eyes Is Not Unlike The Glow From The Teeth Of An Electrocuted Axe-Murderess:
- Korg Polysix
- Modular Moog

Daisy Bell:
- Korg M1
- Korg Wavestation
- Transcendent 2000

All tracks by Mark Automaton, except:
Daisy Bell - words & music by Harry Dacre.

Recorded at Waterden Studios, Falkirk
Produced by Mark Automaton
Artwork by Mark Automaton

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Mark Automaton UK

Mark Automaton came to prominence as a founding member of the seminal “cassette culture” band the Instant Automatons, who were instrumental in spearheading the UK DIY music scene of the late 70s and early 80s.
Since then, Mark has been active as a producer, musical collaborator and solo artist, releasing music under his own name and also as 391 and randomk/automata. ... more

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