Electronic Sound Magazine Issue 56 Back Issue

This month we celebrate the 50th anniversary of EMS (London) Limited, the synthesiser company founded by Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell in 1969. What started as a vehicle to fund Zinovieff’s studio became a decade-long adventure in synthesis with a peculiarly British sense of innovation about it. Some EMS synths, like the VCS 3 and the Synthi AKS, were responsible for probably the most widely heard examples of electronic music of the early 1970s.

Never mind Brian Eno manipulating a VCS 3 in his gold gloves for his wild solo on ‘Ladytron’, as spectacular as that was. We’re talking millions of young minds being warped by the sonic barrage of the music and sound effects of ‘Doctor Who’ as provided by heavy EMS users the Radiophonic Workshop, and Pink Floyd’s Synthi AKS sequencing stylings for ‘On The Run’ on ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’, an album that has sold 45 million copies since its release in 1972, 67,000 of those just last year on vinyl.
EMS collapsed in 1979, but looking at its legacy now it’s clear that the ideas
that fuelled it – among them computer control of electronic music devices and composition, digital sequencing and digital communications technology – was trailblazing stuff. EMS lacked the financial muscle and business smarts to make the most of the brilliance of Zinovieff’s visionary thinking, but the story of this most British endeavour is inspiring.

Also gathered to our pulsing analogue bosom this month are Haiku Salut, who tell us all about their adventures in live soundtracking, the impressive neo-acid outfit Paranoid London, the mighty Jah Wobble and Bill Laswell, and the legend of Manuncian electronica that is Eric Random. You may also enjoy our chat with Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter at last month’s Bluedot festival.