First published December 25, 2016 on newmusicusa.org
15 works from the private archives of electroacoustic master Tod Dockstader, who died Feb. 27, 2015, will premiere on a Starkland CD.
Best of the Year List
One of the best releases of 2016
One of the best composers in the field.
A major and important release
This CD will premiere some unexpected, buried treasures from Tod Dockstader, a highly regarded electroacoustic composer.
When Tod passed away on Feb. 27, 2015, it appeared that his 2006 CD (“Aerial 3”) would be his last public music. However, Tod’s daughter Tina encouraged a dedicated fan, Justin H Brierley, to examine Tod’s computer. Justin found over 4,200 sound files Tod had created from 2000 up to 2008, when he developed dementia and stopped composing. Most were samples, seeds for development, or remnants of earlier work. Still, there were hundreds of tracks possibly viable for public release. Justin sorted through these, sending over 50 promising tracks to Starkland.
Starkland’s Tom Steenland, who’d been in touch with Tod for over 35 years, during which he released and successfully promoted recordings of Tod’s music, carefully reduced these to 15 tracks that felt like completed (or nearly completed) works appropriate for public release.
These richly distinctive works reflect the imaginative, ever-exploring mind of this self-taught pioneer. The music ranges from the powerfully pulsating Super Choral, to the lulling rhythms of First Target, to Anat Loop’s spasmodic juxtapositions, shifting from electric arcing to a xylophone trapped in a hurricane. We also hear driving unnatural machines, organ clusters, meandering buzzes, a slowed-down animal roar, violent whooshes, some ominous German, and garbled, underwater murkiness.
The CD will present the most startling track as an Extra, because it’s unlike anything previously heard from Tod. A pulsing “noise” piece that could have emerged from Japanese noise composer Merzbow, Big Jig is what you might hear while being inexorably pulled into the Devil’s underworld.
The CD’s booklet will include comments from Tod’s daughter Tina; the archivist Brierley; and a noted new music authority. The CD will be released by Starkland, which has previously released 2 Dockstader recordings to outstanding acclaim, and will be distributed by Naxos (the world’s largest classical digital distributor).The album will be mastered by Grammy-winner Silas Brown. Funding will help with the final steps of graphic design, manufacturing, and promotion. In addition to paid advertising, about 150 promo CDs will be sent to top critics, publications, and radio stations.
Tod Dockstader is recognized as one of the great electroacoustic composers:
Tod Dockstader belongs in the select company of Varèse, Stockhausen, Luening, Schaeffer, Subotnick, and the other pioneers of electronic music or musique concrète. His achievement is on a par with the best in his field
The “highly imaginative pioneer” Tod Dockstader is “one of the giants in the field”
Along with Stockhausen, Henry and Varese, Tod Dockstader should be recognized, not merely regarded, as one of the great figures of musique concrete composition
A New Music Box article reviews Tod’s history: learning about sound while working on cartoons; creating his early masterpieces during off-hours at a New York studio; the rave reviews for his CDs; his transition into the digital world and the resulting Aerial CDs; and, finally, his deteriorating health.