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Sisters with Transistors (documentary)
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Has anyone seen this opus? I found it so enlightening. As they say in this documentary about women’s roles in the development of electronic music, hardware and software (from modular to everything you could perhaps not even imagine had existed), and of course the story of the artists, their music, and the way the instruments became such to each, every artist and instrument implementation is unique.
It spans England and Europe from the 1930’s and 40’s in the roots and origin of the concepts of synths and electronic music, and moves (much like the literary and artistic movement of Paris in the 20’s which is pointed out) to America (the Village) in the 50’s and 60’s, and finally meeting altogether in different places all over the world after the 70’s when people were then able to purchase their own modular units for home use [whereas in the earlier decades, using such machines was reserved for ultra wealthy, studios, and of course, where it all began, physics labs and research facilities like Bell]. With the ending showing some of the stories of how the artists and composers view the arching story of synths and electronic music.
I think most people here that love modular synthesis music creation would do themselves a disservice if they dont watch this. it completely changed my view on the subject. It was malleable to begin with, but this really showed me that those textural, ambient long sonic scapes of music composition are just a different form of music that is simply not traditionally heard because our world only invented the instruments on which they compose these ideas or emote into transposed sonic expression less than 100 years ago, really about 70 years were the inception, and then it took another 20 years before it was mainstream accessible. It gave me a fresh appreciation of synthesizers to the point I want to buy the MOOG bundle now, (Model 15 and Model D). I have SynthMaster and i dont think it gets much better than that, especially on sale for $12, but this made me want to learn the modular creation and perhaps get something out of it myself for my own music application.
It really is inspiring to see how women played such an integral and foundational role to the development and crystallization of electronic music and synthesizer instruments. Of course, this is pure “p0rn” for synth-heads. The modular guys would love to see stuff they recognize, and stuff you can’t even imagine existed. One synth, which was the most impressive to me like in a virtuosity sense as a traditional musician, played by a Russian violinist made me kind of entranced.
It is free if you have showtime. If not, find someway to see it if you are into electronic, synthesizers, and especially if you’re a woman, this will really inspire you to push the envelope of your art if you aren’t already doing so.
(Just disclosure, I don’t even listen to this music or know anything about it until I got an app accidentally and it made me seek out some answers, and based on the forum activity and watching/reading posts, I was very interested to see and hear more of the music and about it. Now I sort of feel like not getting the moog bundle would be a wasted opportunity to get something that I otherwise wouldn’t, that’s what this movie did for me 
)
If you’ve seen it, isn’t it superb?
Comments
@fearandloathing : Yes, I just watched it, and, yes, it was wonderful. I was eager to see it. I learnt much, and felt validated in my own sausage fingered beatless soundscaping experiments by the infinitely more skilled and pioneering work of the likes of Eliane Radigue. There was for me, one sour note though. Wendy Carlos was acknowledged - how could she not be? - but her contribution was dissed pretty comprehensively without a right of reply by other contributors, and it is notable that at the coda, all the living pioneers were pictured, and all the dead heard in voice over, with one notable exception - Wendy Carlos.
I don’t think it is just my own trans paranoia to imagine that the filmmakers behind this otherwise enlightening film are of that stripe of feminism, let us just say, not entirely comfortable with women of trans heritage. Sisters with transistors? Yes. But Trans sisters? Not so much.
It left a nagging undercurrent of unpleasantness for me in an otherwise very engaging piece, especially when you consider that significant contributions by trans women to the field continue to this day:
Just my two old English ha’pennies.
Side note: if you liked the theremin portion at the start of the film, check out the current mistress of the instrument, Carolina Eyck, who achieves amazing things with just her voice, a looper, and the theremin:
Not to diminish your feeling, but I think that was because some of the hardcore feminists involved in this music movement probably didn’t want to “go there” on camera because some of the women interviewed were up to like 80 in 2019 I think and most died. Also, this was about female women before trans even existed, so again, I think they didn’t want to even edge on political. And I dont want to be offensive to anyone so I can’t comment on that. I was just recommending the awesome content.
For all we know, the director/writer may have not felt inclusive in the broader sense of current definitions of gender. I don’t really care about politics or private lives of individuals, so that’s what I’m thinking. Who knows? Maybe they asked them in 2019 how they felt about Wendy Carlos and they had nothing good/nothing to say because of their older mindsets of what a woman is and the early feminist movement was for female women (not trans) etc….? Showtime is very inclusive, very LGBTQIA+ friendly, too, so they make up for it with a lot of other content
so it must’ve been the makers choice here…plus it was pretty long and in depth, so could’ve been a time thing.
This history is incredible, and I doubt I would use the Model 15 or Model D, but it made me want to get them. Are there any Moogs in the movie? (I couldn’t tell)
@fearandloathing : hi, I certainly don’t want to start any kind of political mess here, or derail your enthusiasm for the movie, which, with qualification, I share. You may well be right about the attitudes of the older generations pictured.
As I said, I liked the film, chose to seek it out and watch it, just, as a trans woman myself, was disappointed that the contribution of another trans woman, Wendy Carlos, was treated so… awkwardly?
The choice of what to include, and responsibility for the framing commentary around it, lies entirely with the film makers. They could have made other choices about how to deal with that. Her choice of using synths to rework classical music was yoked, pretty concretely, to the women pioneers reacting to a Dead White Males trope, the subtext being that Wendy fit right in with the DWM crowd, because obviously, and it was the other (‘real’?) women who were doing the actual experimental, worthwhile stuff.
Notable too that an opportunity to rectify such prejudices of earlier generations, and to be inclusive by soliciting contributions from inter alia, contemporary trans women artists of distinction was notably not taken.
Consider the contribution of Emilie Gillet of Mutable Instruments fame, for example.
That lack of generosity and inclusivity toward the whole breadth of female (both cis and trans) involvement in the field, it remaining unspoken that this was effectively a cis women thing only, when trans women have been such an ongoing element in the more experimental kinds of electronic music? Well, that stayed with me from a film I’d been looking forward to a lot, and that felt just kind of sad.
Also, as a point of order, trans people have always been around, though the cultural framings of that experiencing have obviously altered. 17th Century English Molly Houses, some of the old Roman emperors, twin spirit people, Berdache, ladyboys, and so on…
Yeah, and Moogs in the movie? That’d be yer gal Wendy. Standing in front of a whole roomful of them…
@Svetlovska oh good call on the theremin! Thank u
Nonsense – they didn’t even have sex before the 20th century!
…oh wait, yes Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece
As you were
I went on a binge recently, watching all these docu-movies. This one as well as I dream of wires, and suzanne ciani’s a life in waves.
I loved them all, very inspirational!
@pedro awesome, gotta check that out, Ciani was the favorite one to me, i really liked her style and background
Yeah, Ciani’s was my favorite too. Have you read her buchla cookbook? I love her ideas, I just wish I learned about them earlier… but better late than never
>
Thanks for bringing up Carolina Eyck. Quite the artist with the theremin.
I could listen to Delia Derbyshire's voice for hours. And seeing her start those tape machines and immediately this lovely soundscape emerges... Made it look effortless. Just to hear, it took her 40 days to create the Dr Who theme, a moment later.
Yeah, Delia and Eliane Radigue were my personal faves! I'm just personally so damn glad I don't have to faff around with actual tape to approximate these kinds of sounds now lol
Holy shit, what sorcery is this??!!
This is what director Lisa Rovner has to say about that. It’s an excerpt from an interview on the jezebel.com site.
https://jezebel.com/sisters-with-transistors-explores-the-avant-garde-histo-1846750964
I reached out to Wendy at the beginning of the film process and Suzanne knows her very well and Laurie. We really wanted her to be part of the film, but she didn’t want to do an interview with me. And it was quite clear, from what I gather, that she just would rather not be in the film. I did find that archive of Wendy really enlightening, because what it means to me is that Switched-On Bach was this moment when all of a sudden electronic music became pop and became just as popular as the Beatles. That album is so important in the history of electronic music.
And I totally get the juxtaposition and personally I think it’s being misinterpreted as a kind of diss when that was not at all the point. It’s actually quite interesting because most of the people I interviewed in the film from that time talk about that album as being problematic for electronic music in general, because all of a sudden that became what people wanted when they were asking for electronic music. So I feel really bad about how people are interpreting that, it was not at all in any way meant to be like an attack. I just thought it was really one of the most interesting things that kind of kept coming up, and I felt like it was an important thing to talk about.
On the arte website you can watch a free 53 minute version of the documentary.
English parts are with French subtitles. French parts on the other hand are not subtitled.
Great doc @fearandloathing!
@Silvertip : that is enlightening, thank you. I am relieved it’s not just me that felt that way about it, and of course must take the director’s explanation at face value. Nobody’s perfect. But as a former magazine editor myself, I’m also aware how editorial shapes an argument, through what it chooses to include or exclude, or how things are framed. I stand by my observation that there was a missed opportunity to address the balance of the archive through expanding the diversity of contemporary voices she chose to include. For that reason, to my mind the maker must accept at least some responsibility for creating a work amenable to such misinterpretation, if that is what it is.
Whatever, it was still a valuable piece of reclamation for the value of all the artists featured, and for that, I’m grateful.
Thanks I have lean and discover many interesting views on electronic music in this documentary. Actually how many women’s and trans do electronic music and research ? How many are composer and have access to the public.
It is strange to say but most of the women and transgenders I meet in electronic music are DJ from EDM to deep house working on sound design too. Not many doing pure electro jams or concerts.
Off topic from the documentary, but on topic for historical representation of women in music is the 'NOTEable' podcast.
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/noteable
'
Important women in music history need to be recognized. Michelle Martin has been teaching music for over 25 years, and has noticed a lack of repertoire from women composers. Women composers seem to be historically missing from the repertoire, and this series is a way to illustrate the lives of these important and influential women.
'
It’s really helpful to read the thoughts of a transgender member. Most people really need exposure to this view of the world. There’s so much hatred for anyone that breaks free of traditional sex roles that exposure to the humanity of this life choice is crucial to break the patterns of abuse and rejection.
Wendy Carlos was probably the most famous transgender artist of my generation and it helped create space for the idea that gender can be a choice and not a fact of biology. That’s quite a radical idea for most people and yet it’s got to be empowering for so many that can sense that the world sees them not as they are but as they wish them to be based on some arbitrary characteristics.
So, please keep sharing and teaching. It’s working.
I recall the time I casually threw out a Monty Python quote and you shared how it made you feel. It takes a lot of those events to change people to be more aware of people around them that are hurt
by using the culture of 20-50 years ago as if it’s still funny when it’s just not.
@McD 💯👍👍
@fearandloathing It’s an amazing documentary. I recorded it when it was broadcast here in the UK, though didn’t watch it until a while later. Oddly, about a week after discovering Eliane Radigue, and really listening properly to Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire for the first time. The film helped add a lot of context, plus more avenues to follow up.
@Svetlovska I didn’t pick up on that subtext re Wendy Carlos, so thanks for pointing it out.
I’m inclined to believe the film maker, as I’ve always wondered what the point was in doing versions of classical music with synths (and others did similar stuff, I suspect off the back of Carlos’s success). I’ve never heard Switched On Bach for that reason - it’s not on streaming services, and I am not moved to put in much effort. It was a two edged sword, in that it made electronic music high profile, but for kind of the wrong reason: essentially it became a novelty record, seemingly aimed at not frightening the horses and trying to impress a group of people who are innately hostile to electronic music. Which is not to detract from Wendy Carlos’s obvious talent, her influence on Bob Moog’s development of things like keyboards etc, or to detract from her later work, which is what I’m interested in hearing, particularly the microtonal stuff. Pity none of it is easy to find, except on very expensive CDs.
It strikes me that there are two ways of looking at and using synths, which aren’t mutually exclusive, nor am I making a value judgement. One way is using them as organs with extra bells and whistles, which is perhaps more common, where they are another tool in a keyboard player’s arsenal. The other is the more experimental approach, making other worldly and previously unheard sounds and music. I find the latter more inspiring for my own practice, but enjoy the products of both approaches.
I looked into the BBC interview and what not, and Wendy is a fantastic and inspiring musician; and despite my suspicion as the reasons why (I was partially correct in my guess if you recall), it is weird not to mention Clockwork orange. And yes Wendy is a moog player for sure, definitely made me more interested in the apps, still on the fence because I am totally foreign to modular stuff.
It’s a rabbit hole, but a rather interesting one. The nice thing about iOS is you can dip your toes in the waters without spending huge amounts of cash. As well as Model 15, other apps in this area are MiRack and Branches.
It was TOTALLY worth it for the bundle. I always wanted them, after seeing MiRack, but not knowing what the hell to do with it, and also wanting the Model D, but I couldn’t pay half let alone full price, so for $17.50 after tax, this was a no brainer now that I see what you get! The reviews online really are true, it’s like one of the few synth pieces i think are super essential for a synth player. Oddly enough it was Wendy Carlos, the one artist not in the film from my OP, that made me totally want to get it. Anyway, this is enough of a peek down the rabbit hole to keep me from going crazy, as this is a lot to learn and take in, especially the model 15.wow!