Program Me
Song by Bruce Haack
“Yes, Program Me by Bruce Haack starts in mono. ”
Nowadays, we immediately think there must be a problem with our headphones, but you can hear the Moog Synth Bass after a few seconds. Invented only six years before this recording, his intriguing melody starts on the "right channel." Before computers, sound engineers and musicians had to deal with the lack of space on tape and with a limited number of tracks to use.
The best way to understand what that meant is listening to The Beatles with only one side of your headphones. For example, you could listen to one guitar and vocals on the left headphone, and on the right headphone, you'll have bass and drums and so on.
It's 1970, and being an electronic musician back then had a completely different meaning. You had to find a way to balance what technology could offer with your classical background and, of course, learn how to use it.
Bruce Haack was a Canadian composer who moved to NYC in 1954. He became famous for the invention of much of his gear. Such as the analog Synths "Peopleodian" used to play tones and pitches of people. "Mr. C" is in the form of a robot and programmed to play music for live audiences. And "The Musical Computer" was a home-built digital/analog synthesizer which was also a digital sampler, a Theremin, and something similar to The Clapper®, encased in a suitcase.
“The Electric Lucifer, released in 1970, is considered one of the first electronic albums, still influenced by the psychedelic attitude present in many bands worldwide. ”
Acid rock's gregarious nature was an ideal match for Haack's style. The new release was a concept album about the earth being sandwiched between a massive feud between heaven and hell. The Electric Lucifer featured a big, dynamic sound complete with Moog synthesizer, Chris Kachulis, singing, and Haack's homegrown electronics.
While listening to the album I chose to talk about, Program Me, it's impossible not to think about what was happening in England with bands like Pink Floyd (the Syd Barrett era) and Soft Machine.
If you pay attention to the right channel keyboard, you'll recognize the identical keyboards melodies you'll find listening to The Doors. This is why it's hard to consider it a seminal electronic Dance Music album.
“Still, historically, it represents one of the first examples in which electronic sounds were the most critical element of a record.”
Bruce Haack played all instruments and used one of his last inventions, the "Farad," a motion-controlled vocoder, named after Michael Faraday, an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism.
In this track, though, vocals are by Jon St. John. If you are curious, you can hear the Farad sound in "Electric to Me Turn," "Incantation," and "Word Game."
I chose Program Me because of its modernity. The abstract guitar at the center of the mix reminds me of Thom Yorke's The clock (2006). At the song's beginning, the distorted drum beat and the Synth bass melody can be found in any Portishead album 30 years later.
