Sweet Cucumber

Apparently there is something called “The Red Bull Music Academy” (in Canada), and I have no idea about the what/where/when whatsoever… Nevertheless, I stumbled onto a recent interview they did with one of their lecturers, a certain Don Buchla.

It’s a very long interview, and it takes some knowledge (about this particular scene), patience, and some inside information to get the most out of this. But oh boy, is it good ! There’s an overabundance on little known facts and teeny morsels of information which I never heard or read before, so even that alone would make this article a worthwhile read, certainly because Don Buchla is a very media-shy person, almost a recluse.

The weird - and slightly disturbing - thing about this interview, is that the interviewer apparently has no idea what this actually is about, nor does he really know who Don Buchla is or what he stands for. Needless to say, this give for some tasty snippets, as Don tries his best to explain things in as much as a straightforward way as humanly possible (of course, Don isn’t really human, so…). It’s almost funny sometimes, but I cringed on a few passages in the interview.

As I said, it’s a very long interview, and Don meanders off on few occasions, but it’s a great read. Especially towards the end, where things get really interesting when Don starts talking about animal control (in music making).

If you’re into synthesis, this article is a diamond. If you’re not, and you have no idea what a Music Easel, Thunder or Lightning is, then just move on…

Put your propellerhead on, and start reading here…

There’s also a movie clip of the interview available, accessible through the links at the top of the page.

Here’s a short passage from the interview - about the SalMar construction - of which I’m certain there’s only four or five people whom know what this is about… I am one of them… hehe… :

It weighed several hundred pounds. I remember, I knew Sal very well, we played on a concert in Europe in which the SalMar construction was imported, all 400 pounds of it were. It was in Belgium and the Belgian concerts are financed by a consortium, which France has half of, but they cut off the funds. One government cut off the funds, so we didn’t have enough to ship anything back so he ended up having to pay for the shipping of this monster himself and it was a long time getting it back into this country.

Enjoy.