Taking Sides: Delia Derbyshire or Paddy Kingsland? (Radiophonic)

Tonight BBC4 21:00
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w6tr

"Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes

Docudrama portrait of Delia Derbyshire, the electronic sound pioneer behind the Doctor Who theme tune, that explores the idea that this extraordinary composer herself lived outside of time and space."

I watched this. It was really quite good. Started as a documentary, became a loose drama. Used recordings of DD and readings of things she'd said, as well as interviews with others, and fictional script.

Caroline Catz was quite good as DD so I was trebly impressed when I saw that she had also written and directed the film -- crikey, that's a staggering lot of creative responsibility!

The one thing I didn't much like was a droning current sound artist person driving around and talking about her imagined bond with DD.

Otherwise I would recommend anyone to watch. It was more exploratory about sound and ideas of sound than the vast majority of TV.

I love that 'Arena' has never updated the title sequence since its inception in 1975, wonder how much Eno has made over the years.

Annoyed that I missed this. Caroline Catz likes a lot of very interesting music btw.

I'm annoyed too. Iplayer tonight it shall be. Caroline Catz is a big Zamrock fan amongst other things.

The one thing I didn't much like was a droning current sound artist person driving around and talking about her imagined bond with DD.

Please tell me you don't mean Cosey there as she's a lot more than just a "current sound artist person".

She's had like a fifty year career as an artist across all kinds of media, and she was in fucking Throbbing Gristle!

There is also a shorter documentary by a different production team called 'The Delian Mode' which might cover the same ground.

Its available on YouTube, if my algorithm is correct.

It was interesting, if a little ponderous, but DD's bright, beautiful voice shines through all the imagery.

I kinda feel that we need a moratorium on certain aspects of sound art and field recording, walking around a city with a Zoom recorder tapping manhole covers so you can plug the samples into Kontakt or Khyma doesn't make you interesting as a sound artist, ambient/drone music is rife with field recordings of woodlands or rivers and they all sound exactly the same.

was Rund-Tutt singing the swooping oo-ee-oo bit of the doctor who theme based on anything factual? it felt like they were trying to (re)lessen delia's contribution there.

Koogs: I agree, that was a pretty big contribution, fictional or not.

I kinda feel that we need a moratorium on certain aspects of sound art and field recording, walking around a city with a Zoom recorder tapping manhole covers so you can plug the samples into Kontakt or Khyma doesn't make you interesting as a sound artist, ambient/drone music is rife with field recordings of woodlands or rivers and they all sound exactly the same.

CFT's output is much more interesting and diverse than that, though. It's hardly her fault if that's the way the film chooses to present her.

Enjoyed it. hadn't taken in that Catz directed as well as starred.

Really intrigued by Derbyshire now knowing the combination of maths and music and wondering if thsi was something that would have manifest in some other way if her education had been different. Glad we have some recorded legacy for the way things turned out anyway. Though I really should dig out my copies of whatever I do have.

Is Arena doing much these days or was this an isolated one off?

Also knew that Derbyshire and Vorhaus had worked together but wasn't aware they were an item. That first White noise is really good, seems to overlap in sound quite a bit with the United States of America lp . To the extent that I would regularly mistake the start of a track by one band for being the other when it turned up on my walkman for ages.

I kinda feel that we need a moratorium on certain aspects of sound art and field recording, walking around a city with a Zoom recorder tapping manhole covers so you can plug the samples into Kontakt or Khyma doesn't make you interesting as a sound artist, ambient/drone music is rife with field recordings of woodlands or rivers and they all sound exactly the same.

very much influenced by covid safe filming rules, where you are not going to get shots of people recording busy train stations, crowds, public gatherings.

but the recording of nature/city installations is very much a well worn sound designer trope.

it does fit in with the manipulation aspects of DDs work, where a slowed down spring against a wine bottle would make a backing pad for a composition.