Electronic Music for Babies
Description
Episode 122
Electronic Music for Babies
Playlist
Track Time
Start Time
Introduction –Thom Holmes
1. Raymond Scott, “Lullaby” (14:06 ) and “Sleepy Time” (4:25 ) from Soothing Sounds For Baby Volume I: 1 To 6 Months (1964 Epic). Monophonic recording. Mine includes the insert.
2. Raymond Scott, “Tempo Block” (3:15 ) and “The Happy Whistler” (10:45 ) from Soothing Sounds For Baby Volume II: 6 To 12 Months (1964 Epic). Monophonic recording. Mine includes the insert.
3. Raymond Scott, “Little Tin Soldier” (9:24 ) and “Little Miss Echo” (7:23 ) from Soothing Sounds For Baby Volume III: 12 To 18 Months (1964 Epic). Monophonic recording. Insert is missing.
4. Rosemary, “Undiscovered Island” from Rosemary And Little Andy, Lullaby From "Rosemary's Baby" (Sleep Safe And Warm) (45 RPM) (1968 Columbia). Written by, arranged and conducted by Stan Applebaum; Producer, Wally Gold. This single was not from the movie soundtrack to Rosemary’s Baby, but was inspired by the movie and featured an alternative version of the lullaby from the film. I found that track to be a little too unsettling for a podcast about music for babies, but I did find that the B side, “Undiscovered Island” had a much more calming effect. I believe the instrument heard is a Moog Modular keyboard with the glide feature. Wally Gold, who produced this album, is known to have use the Moog Modular on other recordings. Monophonic recording.
5. Steven Halpern, “Brahams Lullaby Part 3” from Lullabies & Sweet Dreams (1984 Halpern Sounds). Grand Piano, String Synthesizer, Steven Halpern; Violin, Daniel Kobialka. I couldn’t help but include a track from Steven Halpern, one of the founding fathers of new age music. As for electronics on this one, there is a string synthesizer.
6. Luke Slater, “Dreams of Children” from X-Tront Vol. 2 (1993 Peacefrog Records). This track is a little bit manic for relaxing babies, but it has a minimalist repetition that becomes trance-inducing. And one could find solace in that sound.
7. Howie B., “Music for Babies” from Music For Babies (1996 Polydor). Keyboards and treatments, Howie B.
8. N., Tracks 12, 19, 22, 23” from Memories From Before Being Born (2005 + Belligeranza). This is a solo work of one Davide Tozzoli, who lives in Italy. An unusual disc of glitch sounds, processed two empty tape recorders an echo machine, and minimal synthetic filters. I selected four of the more mesmerizing tracks and strung them together. “Two empty tape-recorders, one connected to the other, no sound if not the distortion produced by the tape-recorders themselves in play/rec. On this recording of Nothing the modulations of vintage analogic effects: emptied frequencies, prenatal sounds without any sonic grain, audio for a flat electroencephalogram. Memories from before being born," a possible conceptual-noize manifesto.”
9. Pete Namlook, Music for Babies (excerpt) from Music for Babies (2009 Fax +49-69/450464). On Christmas 2011 "Music For Babies" CD release without cover or catalog# was sent out as a give-away with orders directly from the label. All tracks written, mixed, and produced by Pete Namlook. We have hear prenatal heartbeats mixed with electronic music. Perfect!
10. Chris Kimbell, “Sleepwave” from Ultrasound / Sleep (2007 Pause). A mellow ambient tune but without any detectable prenatal ultrasounds, as the title might indicate to some.
11. Lee Rosevere, “Dreaming” from The Ambient Baby (2009 Kazoomzoom). Composed, performed, produced by Lee Rosevere. All original material designed specifically for infants from birth to about two years of age. “Little ones are engaged early on by rhythmic sounds at the start. The sounds then weave into a gentle and soothing environment to help babies fall asleep.”
12. Lullaby Movement, “Ru-Ru (Sleep Little Baby)” from David Holmes – LateNightTales (2016 LateNightTales). An eclectic mix of tracks from DJ David Holmes, includes this muted little lullaby with a haunting vocal.
13. Dana Falconberry, “Sea Stones” from Dreamland (Songs For Lulling) (2017 Not on label). Falconberry explains why she created the private recording: “Years ago, I made an album of lullabies for a friend of mine who had just had her first baby. She encouraged me to release a lullaby album to the public, since it helped her with her child so much, which was the main inspiration for this album (thanks Lisa!!). . . . People have been telling me for as long as I can remember that my voice puts them to sleep. Even more common has been fans approaching me at the merch table after a show and telling me that they use my albums to put their babies to sleep. Now, I can say that is a complicated thing for a songwriter to digest, but ok babies, I hear you, let's go. Here's a full album of songs to take you off to Dreamland.”
Opening background music: Pete Namlook, “Attracting Attention” and “The Womb” from Music for Babies (2009 Fax +49-69/450464). Excerpt (12:57 )
Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.
Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.
My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022.
See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.
For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.
United States
