There were synth pioneers who took avant-garde music to a whole new experimental level. There were also artists who carved a home for synth-driven electronic music in the mainstream, hitting pop charts and paving a new path for pop stars and underground trendsetters alike to follow. And then there were those who straddled and blurred the lines between both worlds. Here's a look at just a few of the artists and groups who influenced the sounds included in this pack.
Tangerine Dream released more than one hundred albums. Their early "Pink Years" albums had a pivotal role in the development of krautrock. Their "Virgin Years" albums helped define what became known as the Berlin School of electronic music. These and later albums were influential in the development of electronic dance music.
Although the group released numerous studio and live recordings, a substantial number of their fans were introduced to Tangerine Dream by their film soundtracks, which include Sorcerer, Thief, Risky Business, The Keep, Firestarter, Legend, Near Dark, Shy People, and Miracle Mile. The band's influence can be felt in ambient artists such as The Future Sound of London and Global Communication, as well as rock, pop, and dance artists such as Radiohead, M83, DJ Shadow, Cut Copy, and Kasabian. The band also clearly influenced 1990s and 2000s trance music, where lush soundscapes and synth pads are used along with repetitive synth sequences.
The New York Times proclaimed seven-time Grammy nominee Tangerine Dream 'the best synth band in the world'. They most recently composed the original score for the video game Grand Theft Auto V.
In this pack, you'll especially hear hints of the 1982 album White Eagle and its 1983 successor, Hyperborea.
Jean-Michel Jarre is a French composer, performer, and record producer. He's also a pioneer in electronic, ambient, and new-age music, and is known for organizing outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanied by vast laser displays, large projections, and fireworks.
From an early age, Jarre was introduced to a variety of art forms, including street performers, jazz musicians, and the artist Pierre Soulages, a pioneer of musique concrète who most heavily influenced Jarre's musical styles.
Jarre broke down boundaries of composing and production, paving the path for what has become the most popular genre of music of all time. With over 80 million albums sold worldwide to date, musicians and contemporary DJs often refer to his influence and innovation, not only for his music but also for his singular vision and creation of outdoor concerts experience.
In this pack, you'll hear glimmers of his 1988 album, Revolutions.
Long before "Don't You Want Me Baby", the Human League was prolific in the 1980s. Synth pop's first international superstars, they were among the earliest and most innovative bands to break into the pop mainstream on a wave of synthesizers and electronic rhythms. Their marriage of infectious melodies and state-of-the-art technology proved enormously influential on countless acts following in their wake.
The group was formed in Sheffield, England in 1977 by synth players Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh, who'd previously teamed as the duo Dead Daughters. Following a brief tenure as the Future, a period during which they added and lost synthesizer player Adi Newton and enlisted vocalist Philip Oakey, they rechristened themselves the Human League.
After a 1979 EP, the instrumental The Dignity of Labour, the group released its first full-length effort, Reproduction, a dark, dense work influenced largely by Kraftwerk. Travelogue followed the next year and reached the U.K. Top 20. Still, internal tensions forced Ware and Marsh to quit the group in late 1980, at which time they formed Heaven 17. Their departure forced Wright to learn to play the synthesizer; at the same time, Oakey recruited bassist Ian Burden as well as a pair of teenagers, Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall, to handle additional vocal duties.
You'll hear nods to Travelogue all over this pack.
Then there is Kraftwerk who trailblazed an entirely new electronic music scene, swapping influence with minimalist electronic composers like Eno and Reich. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, synthetic sounds, and voices combined with computerized rhythms, had a major musical influence on electro, hip hop, techno, and synthpop. In their hi-tech live performances, Kraftwerk – Ralf Hütter, Henning Schmitz, Fritz Hilpert, Falk Grieffenhagen – illustrate their belief in the respective contributions of both man and machine.
You'll get a pretty heavy dose of Kraftwerk inspiration in this pack.
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