oranchak.com

When I was a kid, I spent a fair amount of time recording songs off the radio. That was back in the cassette tape days, when the only music piracy you could enjoy was whatever you could rip off the airwaves onto your hissy little boom boxes. The ones that would occasionally eat your tapes, chewing up the precious magnetic strips of musical goodness. You’d spend hours rolling the tape back into its plastic housing, unfolding the Gordian knot as you went, eager to preserve the now warbly-sounding once-glorious musical treat.

One night, some time in the late 80s, the local public radio station in Fayetteville was airing some so-called “space music”, which intrigued me, so I busted out ol’ Tape Eater and perched over the record button, ready to capture whatever spacey sounds came out of the radio. What came out was a synthesized song that began my long-standing infatuation with electronic music:

powered by ODEO

If the above Flash player doesn’t work, try this direct link.

I’m dying to know the name of the artist who composed this song. Does anyone have any guesses? It’s been bugging me for many years now. The song sounds a bit dated and cheesy today, but I credit that song for diversifying the dominant influences of metal and skate punk on my early teenaged musical interests. Metallica, Anthrax, and Suicidal Tendencies began to make room in my stereo to co-exist with artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Kitaro, and Wendy (formerly Walter) Carlos. Nowadays I listen to large swath of musical styles, including many genres and sub-genres of electronic music.

The second “space music” tune I recorded that day follows:

powered by ODEO

(direct link)

I’ve never stopped enjoying the discovery of new music. Life would be pretty drab without it!