Women in electronic/dance music

>Squarepusher doing practically EVERYTHING himself for >example, and i think it would be a really cool thing to see >someone that just so happens to be a woman working along >the same lines, making similar music

of course there are many women who do this. OF COURSE.

I do, Kevin Blechdom does, Peope Like Us does, there's plenty.

and of course when and if the world becomes a more enlightened place, there will be more women who do so. dude.

no one's opinion means anything!!!

Blevin Blectum

Um?

I highly recommend many of the names already mentioned too.

and yes i second Oliveros, K Hand, and both Blechdom and Blectum...did anyone mention Andrea Parker?

Blevin actually posted! I know nothing about her really, but that was funny.

New name: Migu (Yuko Araki, Cornelius' tour drummer)

What about Yoshimi P-We?

Mrs Wood (Jane Rolink)
DJ Rap (Charissa Saverio)
Sandra Collins

but I'm pretty sure whoever mentioned Meat Katie above was wrong about Mark Pember being a female, unless his run of successful tracks has finally afforded him with the cash flow to get that operation after all

Jessica Rylan builds the synthesizers and FX units she uses to make her horrible noises. wouldn't call her a "producer," but she's one of a kind.

Squab Teen's Dance America is like a goofier Squarepusher with a penchant for Technique-era Casio presets and a dose of Blevin & Kevin. so much better than that sounds or has any right to be. can provide via slsk if you're having trouble.

(both great German (micro)house producers)

in any case: women in electronic music 1950-1970, many of whom have already been ably spotted above... one of my dreams someday is compiling and releasing a 2 CD set overview with these composers, but it's beyond my means at the moment. the point is: women have been with electronic music since the very, very beginning.

johanna beyer
clara rockmore
bebe barron
pauline oliveros
daphne oram
delia derbyshire
cathy berberian
ruth white
alice shields
wendy carlos
eliane radigue
daria semegen
joan labarbara
annea lockwood
ruth anderson
maggi payne
maryanne amacher
laurie spiegel

two notes: bebe barron's 'heavenly menagerie', 1950, probably the first piece of electronic music composed in the united states.

daphne oram's 'still point' from 1950 is the first ensemble performance piece to involve real-time transformation of sounds using electronics. not stockhausen, as he claimed for 'mixtur' 14 years later.

milton- the ones below are the ones that I haven't heard. could you recommend a piece by each of 'em?

johanna beyer
clara rockmore
bebe barron
ruth white
alice shields
daria semegen
annea lockwood
ruth anderson
maggi payne

Lockwood:
http://www.lovely.com/bios/lockwood.html
I recommend 'Sound Map of the Hudson River', 'Glass World' and the 45 minute version of "World Rhythms" on 'Sinopah' -- which, when played on a system with a subwoofer in a dark room, can change your life

Ruth Anderson:
early cut-up TV channel-surf piece 'S.U.M.', 'points', 'I Come Out Of Your Sleep'

Daria Semegen:
'Electronic Music For Dance' released on Mimaroglu's Finnadar, plus various compilation tracks

Clara Rockmore:
http://www.maxiespages.com/Articles/Theremin_music/Clara_Rockmore_CD
I love this album.

Bebe Barron's own compositions drastically unavailable. There is no major single retrospective. How? In the meantime, Forbidden Planet soundtrack, great interview with her in the 3rd issue of the suddenly promising E|I magazine

Alice Shields was Ussachevsky's assistant, then collaborator, it's her voice on many of his pieces. my favorite's on CRI's classic Pioneers of Electronic Music.

Ruth White composed two truly brilliant records in 1969: 'Flowers of Evil' and 'Seven Trumps From The Tarot'. Vinyl rips finally turned up online earlier this year -- I hope someone like Locust can release these again. 'Flowers' is an all time favorite and 'Tarot' is completely unhinged.

Maggi Payne, I recommend Crystal

I might also mention the Angel (gad, I forgot her real name, she's out of NYC and also did the soundtrack music for the Boiler Room, I believe).

(scurries back behind the bassbin)

The problem with making a big deal of the fact that such-and-such a music artist is female is that you get people looking at that as if it's the most important thing about their work. The Nobel prize just went to Elfriede Jelinek, and some have said 'Oh, the Nobel committee wanted to give it to a woman this year, because there've been so few women recognised in the history of the prize'. Well, if I'd just been given the Nobel Prize, the last thing I would want to hear is that it was because of my gender.

I had a disagreement with Suzy last week about this. Suzy is putting together a new British art prize for women video artists. And my line is 'Look, women artists win major prizes with their video art (Gillian Wearing, Pippilotti Rist, etc etc). Why do we need a women only prize, as if it's Wimbledon and we need a separate Women's Tournament because the women just can't beat the men?'

and

Fe-Mail

and

Client (although they're not so good)

Who knew that 3 years after this post:

Making electronic music is often a lonely and anti-social process, no other band members, much less interaction with your audience. It's not just that it puts off a lot of women, but is does seem to attract a particular kind of boy (yes, boy, not man)

-- Anna (Fieldingann...), November 22nd, 2002 5:55 PM. (Anna)

Anna would be playing in an electronic band!

How prescient. And great that things have worked out that way.

Im glad ellen allien, barbara morgernstern were mentioned (add masha qrella to the list for the germans)
also tsuyuko aki & (my personal favorite) tujiko noriko.

it seems overall that specifically japan & germany (who seem to share many other unrelated similarities) embrace the idea of women in electronic music. I remember reading ellen allien dismissing the issue when questioned about it because for her it was a non-issue.

I dont know why things seem to be different in the states. I wish it were not the case. still I would rather see a few excellent female artists than a ton of really crappy-mediocre ones.
but maybe part of the reason this happens is because women have to work so much harder to make a name for themselves? this is the case in every male-dominated field, not just music.
I dont know.