Close to the Noise Floor: Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984

Liner Note Author: Dave Henderson.Recording information: Colin Potter's Studio, York.Unknown Performer Role: Richard Anderson .During the late '70s and early '80s, a crop of British experimentalists emerged with positions on conventional rock music that ranged from indifferent to hostile. Prompted by early electronic music and the advancements made by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Throbbing Gristle -- and eventually their peers -- they plied their trade on equipment with names like EMS Synthi A, EDP Wasp, Korg MS-10, and ARP Odyssey. For many of them, guitars and drum kits were obsolete. Synthesizers, drum machines, and tape delay units, many of them shrinking in size and cost, were the present and future way to sculpt jerking noises or strange pop songs. The fledgling musicians could record in bedrooms and release the results on cassette, or they could ally with independent labels and operate at studios like Blackwing, a haven for Mute and 4AD artists s