Feature: The Manitou - Let's Build Mecha! (2010)

Every so often here on Synthspotter I'll be featuring noteworthy (synthworthy?) independent releases. I'm kicking things off with an e.p. by The Manitou (otherwise known as yours truly).

"Let's Build Mecha!" features seven tracks, most of which were composed for Brokensea Audio Productions' "Doctor Who: Mechalution." It is of course the very same Doctor Who made famous by the BBC, in this case produced and written by and for fans who just can't get enough of the show.

There are a couple of moody experimental pieces on this release, but the rest is techno-pop with an industrial edge. The songs are crafted using sampled circuit-bent gear (such as a modified Texas Instruments Speak & Spell), synthesized & sampled percussion, a Novation K-Station analog-modelling synth, and a Crumar Performer string synthesizer.

Doctor Who: Mechalution, in a nutshell, is about a planet where robotic lifeforms are evolving out of the entropy left by its former inhabitants. The Manitou's music has investigated similar themes in the past, so it was fun to do an entire e.p. in that vein.

Best of all, the podcast episode is available for free at the Brokensea link above, and the e.p. is also free at www.manitouslair.com. To further entice you, here's a video promo:


The Manitou - Let's Build Mecha (Promo), courtesy of wireslave.

Enjoy!

The Doctor Who Theme

It would be remiss of me to start this blog without mentioning one of the most important pieces of electronic music in popular culture: the theme to Doctor Who. It's certainly what introduced me to the concept of synthesizers at an early age. Technically, it was created before synthesizers (as we know them today) existed; but nearly all elements of the tune were created by tone and white noise generators (oscillators, in effect), then processed and sequenced on tape machines. Composed by Ron Grainer and realized in 1963 by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, it's a piece of music that still sounds fresh and haunting today. Indeed, elements of Delia's original are used in Murray Gold's current version of the theme.

Mark Ayres, former composer of incidental music for the show, curator of the Radiophonic Workshop archives, and the man in charge of audio-restoration for DVD releases of the classic series, has written an extensive article on the history of the Doctor Who Theme which is well worth a read.

Exhibit 1: The original theme, 1963. Courtesy of TheDoctor001

A classic clip of Delia Derbyshire at work. Courtesy of radioshaolin

Exhibit 2: Peter Howell's version, 1980. Courtesy of timelord726

Synths: Yamaha CS80, ARP Odyssey, EMS Vocoder, and Roland Jupiter 4. 

The making of Peter Howell's version. Courtesy of thegreenman42

Exhibit 3: Dominic Glynn's version, 1986. Courtesy of timelord726

Synths: Roland Juno-6, Yamaha DX21, Korg 770. 

Exhibit 4: Keff McCulloch's version, 1987. Courtesy of timelord726

Synths: Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. 

These are by no means all versions of the Doctor Who theme. The original went through many subtle changes during the ten years it was used on the show, and there was even an aborted version Delia Derbyshire created on an EMS Synthi-100 (known as the "Delaware" version). Countless others have been produced throughout the years for audio-adventure releases, specials, etc... Not to mention the hundreds of fan-produced versions found at whomix.