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Jan 31, 2005 18:11

I was watching the movie "Forbidden Planet" the other night. It's a sci fi movie from 1957 starring a very young Leslie Neilsen, long before his "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" days. It's better than most 50's sci fi movies as it's not quite as cheezy. If I remember right, it's a sci fi adaptation of something by Shakespeare...."The Tempest" maybe? However the best thing about it is the music by Louis and Bebe Barron. So far ahead of it's time. Alien soundscapes that are so much better than the typical 50's sci fi soundtracks which were usually dependent on (over)using theremin. Even by modern standards, it still sounds great. I need to track the soundtrack down, preferably on vinyl. Of course no one remembers who they are nowadays. Yet millions know who Ashlee Simpson is...

Here's a little on the Barrons:

"Louis and Bebe Barron are two of the early pioneers in electro-acoustic music. They began their work together shortly after getting married in 1948, experimenting with musique concrete as well as electronic sources. In 1949, they established one of the earliest electroacoustic music studios in New York. It contained both disc and tape equipment, with various oscillators, mixers, and filters. Influenced by Norbert Weiner and his work in cybernetics, the Barrons created their own circuitry and recorded the results on tape. Their first fully-realized work was "Heavenly Menagerie" (1951-52).

During 1952 and 1953 the Barrons' studio was used by John Cage for the preparation of his first tape work "Williams Mix"; the studio also served as the focal point for Cage's Project of Music for Magnetic Tape which involved several other composers, including Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, and David Tudor. The Barrons composed several film scores in the 1950s, including Ian Hugo's "Bells of Atlantis". In 1956 they composed the score for "Forbidden Planet"; it was the first electronic score for a commercial film and because of its wide dissemination it has had a considerable impact on the development of electronic music.

In 1962, the Barrons moved to Los Angeles, where, although divorced in 1970, they continued to collaborate on compositional projects until Louis Barrons' death in 1989. Bebe Barron continues to be active in new music, and she was the first Secretary of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States from 1985 to 1987." - Barry Schrader


You scored as Pissed at the World Cat. And here we have the next serial killer. Try having some cotton candy, it'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, Psycho.

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