ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW

Trumansburg, NY: Independent Electronic Music Center, 1968. First editions. Very good.. Complete seven-issue run of this essential journal dedicated to electronic music and founded by synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog, from the library of composer Douglas Leedy. Growing out of Robert Moog's legendary 1965 Electronic Music Seminar, which brought together many of the most important figures in the field for the first time, ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW had a brief life (just seven issues in two years), but was essential in helping to establish the nascent genre. Founded by Moog and composer and video artist Reynold Weidenaar, EMR provided a forum to exchange ideas, learn the latest techniques and technology, and perhaps most importantly establish connections among electronic musicians and composers. As Weidenaar later recalled: "I told Bob I would like [...] to start a magazine on electronic music. He offered office space and technical advice. Coming from a family of publishers, I felt I could handle the editorial and production work (or get answers from qualified people when I couldn't). We set up the Independent Electronic Music Center as a non-profit entity and 2 years later Electronic Music Review appeared." Contributors included some of the leading avant-garde artists, educators, writers, and engineers of the period including Luciano Berio, Frederic Rzewski, Tod Dockstader, Henri Pousseur, Alvin Lucier, Jon Appleton, Wendy Carlos, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Roger Reynolds, Gordon Mumma, Hugh Davies, Ray Dolby, and Moog himself, as well as other leading figures of the time.

Notably, these were composer Douglas Leedy's copies, who has signed his name to the front or inside cover of all issues. Leedy was heavily involved with the West Coast avant-garde music scene (performing, for example, with John Cage on occasion) and taught music at Reed College and UCLA, where he founded their electronic music studio. He was one of the first musicians to be specifically commissioned to compose on the Moog Synthesizer, and his albums ELECTRONIC ZODIAC (1969) and ENTROPICAL PARADISE (1971) were arguably the first recordings of explicitly ambient music. ENTROPICAL also featured synthesizer patches that, once set, would play without further intervention by the performer - a facet that anticipated similar work by artists like Brian Eno.

While the field of electronic music began in the worlds of science and experimental composition, and the technical focus of EMR reflect this, it has gone to be an indispensable part of just about every musical genre that has followed: from disco to hip-hop, house to synthpop, ambient to EDM. A vivid portrait of a burgeoning community and an invaluable document of the early years of the field. Given its rather small and insular initial audience, a challenging set now to assemble, and this with exceptional provenance. Original color pictorial wraps. Seven issues in six volumes. The combined Issue Nos. 2/3 (The International Electronic Music Catalog) is in French and English. Some rubbing and bumps, dog ears to top right corners of a couple issues; occasional creasing and soil. Leedy has signed his name in pen to the front cover or inside cover of all issues. Overall bright and sound.