If, like me, you have any interest in electronic music, synthesizers, or classic technology, you must visit this site. In particular, check out the history page, which features many interesting links and drool-worthy pictures of old many-knobbed analog synthesizers haloed in patch cords.

This company's best-known synthesizer was the VCS3, used by Pink Floyd on many of their early albums (highlighted most famously in "On the Run" from The Dark Side of the Moon).

The reason I found this site? A delightful posting by Chan today regarding the Doctor Who theme and the until-recently-uncredited contribution of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire to that theme.

What can I say? Like Chan, I enjoy being a geek.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I fired up iTunes tonight to listen to the latest installment of Lileks' Diner, and left it running while blogging that novella I just put up about shopping centers. As usual, it is set on shuffle, and here are the ten songs that have come up:

1. Aerosmith - Rare live version of Sweet Emotion
2. New Christy Minstrels - A Travelin' Man
3. Ronald Reagan - Operation Coffee Cup (I didn't listen to more than the first few minutes before scanning to the next)
4. Pat Boone - Metallica's Enter the Sandman
5. Red Army Choir - Moscow Nights (a beautiful folk song)
6. Van Halen - The Cradle Will Rock
7. Bad Company - Feel Like Makin' Love
8. Mel Carter - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
9. Neil Diamond - Cracklin' Rosie
10. Fear Factory/Gary Numan - Cars Remix

Weird. I wonder how my coworkers (or you) would judge me by my iTunes playlist? (Via GeekPress).

Posted by: JohnL at 12:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Via Gravity Lens, a great article in The Grauniad about the dinosaurs that everyone loves (or at least loved) to hate: prog rockers.

I used to be very heavily into Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes (in all its sundry incarnations), Genesis (especially the obscure early stuff), the Moody Blues, and early King Crimson. I credit prog (especially and almost exclusively Emerson Lake and Palmer) with stimulating in me a deep appreciation for both classical and jazz music. I first learned of Bartok, Ginastera, Copland, and Janacek from Keith Emerson's arrangements of their pieces.

If you like progressive rock or want to sample some, there is a cool web radio station named Aural Moon. You can pick up a stream at their site, and they are listed under the Radio section of iTunes, too.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:45 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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