Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan (As The Electrosoniks) / Electronic Music (Vinyl LP)

Description

2018 reissue – Limited to 500 hand-numbered copies

The Electrosoniks were the joint-project of Dick Raaijmakers (a.k.a. Kid Baltan) & Tom Dissevelt.

1962-Netherlands

Format: Vinyl LP

#Ref: OME-1004

Release date: 2018

Release notes

Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of The Electrosoniks’s Electronic Music, an LP by Tom Dissevelt and Dick Raaijmakers (aka Kid Baltan) originally released in 1962. Tom Dissevelt and Dick Raaijmakers were both Dutch composers and electronic music pioneers. Both musicians began their studies at Royal Conservatory of The Hague on trombone and piano respectively, and later discovered the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Anton Webern. In the mid-50s Raaijmakers began working at the Philips NatLab (the Dutch research division of the Philips company). Dissevelt was recruited by the NatLab soon after, and this is where they met, working on Philips stereo equipment and electronics, and eventually composing electronic music and musique concrète pieces together.

Their first recordings in 1959 together, The Fascinating World Of Electronic Music, set the tone of experimental synthesizer space odysseys that would be perfected with their 1962 LP, Electronic Music, released as The Electrosoniks. Cited by David Bowie as one of his favorite albums of all-time, Electronic Music is a forward-thinking collection of bubbling synths and space-age atmospherics that is well ahead of its time. Since Dissevelt and Kid Baltan were employed by a research lab to compose and record electronic music, one might assume that the music would be soulless and restrained, but the reality is quite the opposite this is joyous and haunting and soulful music created by two undercelebrated Dutch pioneers who are finally getting the credit they deserve. Essential pioneering electronic music brought back to life by Fantôme Phonographique. Edition of 500 (hand-numbered).

Tracklisting

A1 Song Of The Second Moon 2:49 / A2 Moon Maid 3:12 / A3 The Ray Makers 7:22 / A4 The Visitor From Inner Space 3:07
B1 Sonik Re-Entry 2:35 / B2 Orbit Aurora 3:00 / B3 Twilight Orbit 5:25 / B4 Pianoforte 5:05