Electronic Sound Magazine Issue 68 Back Issue

It was 1980, the year of the pixel. Pac-Man was launched and proceeded to eat everyone’s coins at around the same rate as the little yellow guy in the game. Released a week after Devo’s ‘Freedom Of Choice’ album, Pac-Man brought the promise of a world of computers and shiny graphics to the new decade. Its colourful pixels seemed to be telling us that the 80s were going to be clean, fun and efficient.
Devo understood that this version of reality was very far from how things were actually going to be – and ‘Freedom Of Choice’ positioned the Ohio band right in the centre of that cognitive dissonance. When the record came out, Devo’s satirical response to the dumbing down they saw around them in American life, particularly in politics, was timely. The USA was gearing up to vote a B-movie cowboy actor as its 40th president.
It was a decade of American political blowhards and nincompoops, but it was nothing compared to what would transpire 40 years later. But here we are, celebrating an album whose ironic electronic pop inspired a fresh generation of synth freaks and whose central message – that if we give in to stupidity we will lose our freedom – has come to pass. The pixel, then, is a metaphor for freedom from choice. How many can you spot in this month’s Electronic Sound?
Elsewhere in this issue, we talk to Talking Heads’ Chris Frantz about his autobiography, which is a total treat by the way, and jump back to 2005 for a highly entertaining interview with Alison Goldfrapp to celebrate the 15th anniversary reissue of ‘Supernature’. We also catch up with Kelly Lee Owens ahead of the release of her latest album, discuss all things Castles In Space with label boss Colin Morrison, and get a fascinating glimpse into the wild world of post-electronics. Rubber bands at the ready for that one. The usual good stuff is meanwhile lined up neatly in our front section and there’s an embarrassment of riches awaiting in our essential reviews pages.