Synergy
"Remember, at this time (1974-75) there were no personal computers as we know them. Apple Computer didn't exist yet; Microsoft was two hackers selling tiny BASIC code for other experimenters. Synthesizers were mostly analog and usually restricted to playing one note at a time (no chords). MIDI was years away. And digital recording was still pretty much a development lab project, though a few early classical recordings were being made on specialized equipment." -- Larry Fast
Synergy is Larry Fast and was my first exposure to electronic music. I'd compare Synergy with early Tangerine Dream, but I liked Synergy better. It's the type of music that makes great laser light shows. I used to play Synergy on long drives, everything would fall into synch and seemed surreal (naturally). Fast has been involved most of the electronic developments at some point. He's best known for his work with Peter Gabriel and Nektar. Synergy is a personal project, much like the way Steve Wilson uses his projects outside of Porcupine Tree.
Fast has a good website with more information about equipment and links to interviews. www.eclipse.net/~synergy/introfaqs.html. There's also a page explaining why his earlier albums were out of print for so long.
UPDATE: Computer Experiments Vol. 1 can be found here.
Synergy 75Legacy
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Relay Breakdown
On Presuming to be Modern
Phobos
Deimos
Sketches of Mythical Beast
Disruption in World Communications
On Presuming to be Modern II
Small Collection of Chords
Full Moon Flier
Terra Incognita
Trellis
Orbit Five
Revolt at L-5
Terminal Hotel
Electric Blue
Ancestors
After the Earthquake
Falcons and Eagles
Fight of the Looking Glass
Shibolet
An End to History
FAST: "Actually, I see the opposite. The internet has democratized music creation and distribution. The major labels and, for that matter, the corporate entertainment megastructure have seen sales steadily slide. Big albums and movies don't have the sales they once did, yet independent releases seem to be spreading the same aggregate sales totals across a much greater number of artists. That's very healthy."
A short film,"Ride" using the song Disruption in World Communication, from the Chords album.
4 comments :
intriguing music, never really listened to larry fast either, thanks.. blackmarble
Cool! Now I don't have to transfer my copy of Synergy - Chords to mp3. I bought it new when it came out. I was about 17. It was just before my dive into punk rock. It's great groundbreaking music. It's a pity that it's obscure these days. My copy is on clear vinyl, I don't know if they all were clear. Thanks so much for posting these!
Based on what Fast has written, he's just recently gained access to his own back catalog from the label. Like so many others, it wasn't because of lack of demand that Synergy wasn't digitalized and became obscure.
thanks much here!
my first blog coment, re-chords-
i ran across this clear one in high school too, a friend told me to play it while reading genesis and just happenned to have some xerox copy from art history later in college. he was right, ti went right along with the album. being stoned and watching the grooves throught the clear vinyl probably helped too.
i purchased all three of these back then and notice a vast crossover of what you have here and i use to own,
thanks again for all this great stuff !!!
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