Cluster and the Cars

I've been listening to some early experimental electronic music from 1972 by Cluster.  The album is called "II," and is filled with cycling, rolling, loops of electric sound, wave upon wave, minute after minute.  While it's not the kind of thing I'd throw on a turntable at a party, it is the kind of thing I'd listen to and think about the kinds of sonic imagery that can be created with electronic devices in music.  I can imagine moments of this album serving as a springboard for more accessible works - it's the kind of thing that might inspire other musicians to push their boundaries a bit in this direction, and add pieces of this crazy landscape to their music.  Maybe.

Oddly enough, this makes me think of the first Cars album.  It's full of great power pop classics.  At the time, people used to joke with the band that they should have named their first album "The Cars Greatest Hits" because so many of the songs were huge hits.  What's cool about the album was that the band loved to experiment with new technology and equipment on their songs.  They'd find some new thing and just start fiddling with it, and add some new sounds to the song they were working on.  So no, they didn't make anything like Cluster, but they're a good example I think of a more mainstream band using experimentation in their work to push their own boundaries and expand the abilities of their fans to listen to new sounds.

Listen to the first moments of "Let The Good Times Roll."  Or the whole song of "I'm In Touch With Your World."  I love that song - so zany.  The guitar and drum are just a backdrop to an endless array of weird things they must have found lying around the recording studio.  That's what I imagine anyway.