WELCOME TO MOJO’S COLLECTION OF ELECTRONICA. From the initial ‘60s/’70s pop experiments of The Gentle Rain and Sounds Of Tomorrow, through seminal artists such as Tangerine Dream, John Foxx, Farley Jackmaster Funk and
Gary Numan, and on to the latest crop of synth-adventurers that included The Knife, Matthew Dear and Fujiya & Miyagi, OK_Computer Highlights the evolution of computerised music throughout the last four decades, traversing genre, time and space itself.
Thirty years ago, famed British futurist JG Ballard remarked that domestic computer’s impact would lead to mass internalisation and self-reflection. “Reality is no longer going to be the stuff out there, but the stuff inside your head,” he observed. “It’s going to be commercial and nasty at the same time.” The 15 tracks collected here are proof of just how much of a reality Ballard’s comments have become...
“I happen to think that computers are the most
important thing to happen to musicians since the invention of cat-gut.”
SO SAID DR ROBERT MOOG, ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL
pioneers of electronic music whose inventions would help accelerate the quest for futurism in music. Moog’s comment has resonated throughout the
sonic evolution that followed the development of his first commercially available synthesizer in 1964. In that time, the liberating effect of electronic technology has been felt in almost every genre of music ranging from rock to dance and on to the very outer margins of sound.
This bespoke 15-track MOJO collection — whose title is a knowing nod to Radiohead’s landmark 1997 release, itself a synthesis of otherworldly sounds — celebrates just a few facets of electronic music made over the last four decades. While the emphasis is on a pop-orientated listening experience, every track is packed with a bold sense of adventure that has long reduced guitar-led rockist snobbery to obsolescence. OK computer, indeed.
PHIL ALEXANDER
Editor-In-Chief, MOJO Magazine
London, England. December 2007
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