I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Laurie Spiegel for this site. As preparation for the interview, I spent a lot of time rewatching Spiegel’s records over the past few weeks, especially expanding universeHis 1980 masterpiece that ultimately blends synth experimentalism with ambient music and early examples of algorithmic composition techniques. It’s a marvel that feels both nostalgic and cutting-edge at the same time.
Tracks like “Patchwork” and “A Folk Study” feature bouncy arpeggios that have drawn comparisons to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley”, while “Old Wave” and “East River Dawn” reflect early M83s or Boards of Canada. The palette she draws from is buzzing with life and timelessness, rarely dating itself as per her later (excellent) record unseen world Does, because it rings FM bells sometimes.
There are also slower forays into more typical ambient sounds like “Appalachian Grove II” or “The Unanswered Question”, whose melodies move at such a rapid pace that they can sometimes feel almost completely random. While tracks like this and “Music for Dance II” wouldn’t look out of place on a modern ambient Instagram or modular synth YouTube, these visuals clearly owe much to Spiegel’s pioneering work.
While most tracks lack percussion entirely, there are a few exceptions, most obviously the fast-paced and multi-rhythmic “Drums”. But most special to me is “Clockworks”, which ventures into the kind of proto-industrial grime and rattle you’d find on a Throbbing Gristle record or even a modern Trent Reznor score. The fact that it doesn’t appear to have been sampled (at least according to WhoSampled) and repurposed as the backbone of an underground hip-hop track is shocking to me.
Whereas expanding universe It doesn’t necessarily present a cohesive approach, yet it still feels like a singular expression of an artist at the top of his game. The 2012 reissue adds to Spiegel’s legacy by including over 100 minutes of additional material not included on the original release.
Although the idea of 70s experimental synth music may scare off casual listeners, there is something charming about a lot of the work. expanding universe. Sure, some tracks, like the one-two punch of “Kepler Harmony of the Worlds” and “Wandering in Our Times,” aren’t afraid to dwell for long periods of time in dissonance and clashing vocals, but for the most part, Spiegel’s compositions are tuneful and accessible.
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