The planets is pure electronic apocalypse

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December 19, 2007 - posted by bearbaby 5


Isao Tomita is an electronic bad-ass. Tomita played moogs back when synth was a pain in the ass to play. But before he became interested in synthesized instruments Tomita had a formal education in music composition and orchestration. By the age of 23 he was a full time composer for Japanese televison. By the late 1960’s he had become intrigued by electronic music through being exposed to Wendy Carlos (who made the famous electronic album Switched-On Bach in 1968). He began building his own home studio comprised of many instruments, one being the Moog III synthesizer.

After arranging Snowflakes are Dancing by Claude DeBussy and Firebird by Igor Stravinsky he made his most famous arrangement of Holst’s The Planets. I found the Planets by chance when fiddling through a 50 cent record bin at Rasputin’s in Newark, California. It seemed interesting as I had heard of Tomita, but never had the opportunity to listen to it. The songs radiate along the walls of your room and you feel transported into a surreal head space. The quiet, but warm Moog harmonies are almost equivalent to a Disney movie lullaby. It’s not noticeably similar to the fierce electro that pumps through club speakers, but it’s electro’s recognized forefather. If you’ve ever heard the Clockwork Orange soundtrack you will notice some parts of Mercury sound like the theme by Wendy Carlos.


MP3: Tomita – Mars (Bringer of War)


MP3: Tomita – Mercury (The Winged Messenger)

My favorite!


MP3: Tomita – Jupiter (The Bringer of Jollity)

5 Comments

    • stephen falken
    • Dec 20, 2007, 6:21

    A great piece of synth history …. love those tracks….

    • RawheaD
    • Dec 20, 2007, 10:57

    >>who made the famous electronic album Straight-Time Bach in 1968

    I do believe you meant to say “Switched-On Bach”

    • bearbaby
    • Dec 20, 2007, 11:02

    Haha yeah, I did mean to say that. I could blame it on the flu, but who knows.

    Thanks!

    • Evil Timmy
    • Dec 20, 2007, 15:27

    And tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1976! And there’s acid and pot stacked on the living room table! And I just picked up this LP from this crazy Japanese guy! Let’s put it on the ‘table, crank up the hi-fi, and get wobbly!

    Listened to this when I was studying the early history of electronic music (musique concrete forward, really) and found it absolutely entrancing. Well worth a listen, whatever you’re in to.

  • wow – been listening the planets since i was a kid – this is so fresh! thanks

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