Farewell, Dr. Moog

The BBC have reported that one of the fathers of electronic music, Dr Robert Moog, has died at the age of 71.

I grew up listening to music that Dr Moog helped create. My dad was a big fan of artists such as Wendy Carlos and Tomita, and I kind of inherited his interest.

Tomita used custom-made moog synths, and he made a point of listing all of the weird and wonderful technology that he used to make his sounds. I used to love reading the album sleeves as a kid. In fact, the whole Moog sound it redolent of the seventies for me. It takes me back to a time when computer technology was just starting to become part of every day life, but was still exciting and "sexy", and I listened to "Switched on Bach" while pouring over my dad's OMNI magazines. (I used to love that mag, does anyone else remember it?)

I still listen to my "Best of Tomita" CD from time to time, not so much because it's good music (it IS, despite what Sophie and Jessica might tell you), but mainly because it reminds me of my childhood.

Walter/Wendy

Thinking of "Switched on Bach" reminded me that it's musician, Wendy Carlos, was probably the first transgendered person I ever knew about.

As Walter Carlos, he made his name as a pioneer of electronic music, producing (among other things) the soundtrack to "A Clockwork Orange". After SRS in 1972, she went on to create a lot more work under the name Wendy Carlos, including the soundtrack to the film "Tron".

I remember my Dad had a collection of Carlos albums and I noticed one day that the name changed from "Walter" to "Wendy" on the later albums. I asked one of my parents about it and they explained that Walter had had a sex-change and was now a woman. I can't remember the exact conversation, of course, but I distinctly remember thinking "you can do that?" and finding the whole concept intriguing.

Wendy is still around today, and is a true polymath, working in all kinds of creative and scientific fields. She's done some fascinating work on colour theory, for example.