Inquietude by Electronic Art Ensemble

This album is not a multi-track studio construction, but a live performance, done in the studio. Inquietude contains the same structured compositions EAE frequently performed in concert, just as you hear them here. Turn up your stereo and enjoy. . .

Robert Moog’s original Liner Notes:

How does electronic music stack up against traditional acoustic music? Does it combine sonic beauty and intense communication to the same extent as traditional music? Does it also demand much of the musician, and reward the attentive listener with uplifting enjoyment? Or is it all dehumanizing, machine-made plastic sound that will put musicians out of business? Does the medium of electronic music offer both the resources and the challenge of other ‘serious’ musical media, or does it restrict and discourage good, old-fashioned musicianship? These questions are being asked daily by music-oriented wordsmiths. And, just as frequently, answers are being supplied by the increasing legion of musicians who have elected to go beyond the clichés of electronic musical instruments that fall out almost as soon as the power switch is turned on, to develop their own techniques for harnessing the elusive resources of the electronic music medium, and to work steadfastly to make honest-to-goodness music for their audiences.

Inquietude is a powerful, compelling answer to those who question the viability of the electronic music medium. The Electronic Art Ensemble, whose performances you hear on this album, have developed and mastered a spectrum of techniques for placing electronically generated and processed sound under musical control, and have gone through much effort to collect, modify, and arrange the equipment necessary to achieve consistently clean, crisp, listenable sound. The selections on this album are studio-realized versions of the music that the Ensemble normally performs live. The instruments they play are all electronic (or electroacoustic), and include standard electronic organs, two Buchla modular synthesizers, a drum computer, a host of studio-quality sound processors, electric guitar, and microphones. No prerecorded tapes are used, and sequences and patterns are set up and modified as part of each performance.

Robert Moog's Track notes appear on the individual tracks. He explains:

Of course, these descriptions are very brief. They do not convey the obvious skill and care with which the sounds are shaped, the listenability of the sounds themselves, the complexity of the sonic relationships, and the convincing feeling of a well-balanced ensemble. These factors cannot be described in terms of the melody, harmony, and tone of traditional acoustic music, because the pieces on this album are concerned primarily with sonic textures and contours. Members of the Electronic Art Ensemble use the electronic music medium to create a large pallet of interesting and attractive tone colors, and then organize the material in time with a degree of flexibility and control that is simply not possible in traditional acoustic music. They are virtuoso sonic sculptors; their music is an emphatic affirmation of the value of the electronic music medium.

electronicartensemble.com
eaemusic.com