Happy birthday to the amazing electronic music pioneer *and* transgender trailblazer Wendy Carlos!
@magicalgrrrl mom can I have a giant wall-filling modular synthesizer for Capitalistmas pleeeeeeeeeeze??? 🥺
@magicalgrrrl what a legend! Happy birthday to her!✨
@magicalgrrrl her music is fantastic. I've got one of her first albums on LP
@magicalgrrrl @RobynGoodfellow ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF TRON SOUNDTRACKS. (I’d say “sorry, daft punk”, but maybe she was in one of the helmets when they did TRON 2’s soundtrack…)
@magicalgrrrl Such a cool birthday buddy... it's us, Bill Farmer and King Charles
@magicalgrrrl I listened to her music in high school in the 70's, when I discovered "Switched-On Bach" (which is ridiculously hard to find online but is still brilliant).
@bodhipaksa @magicalgrrrl there was also a part two LP as well!
@protofoxriley @magicalgrrrl I knew it existed, but I've never heard it. It's weird how her music is so hard to find on streaming services and Youtube. I wonder if it's because of the deadnaming issue?
@bodhipaksa @protofoxriley @magicalgrrrl She’s still alive and wants nothing to do with the streaming services thievery ^

@jena @protofoxriley @magicalgrrrl Yes, I was aware she's still alive.

I don't blame her for not playing the streaming ("please make a fortune off my music and pay me almost nothing") game. Very admirable.

@bodhipaksa @jena @protofoxriley @magicalgrrrl Yeah this makes sense, I just checked and you can buy Tron and some tracks from The Shining on iTunes but no SOB. So if you want a legal copy of that one you might need to buy and rip a CD.

I also discovered she has a delightful website that looks like it hasn't changed its design since 1996: https://www.wendycarlos.com/

Wendy Carlos HomePage

The Official Wendy Carlos HomePage. The definitive Web collection of information about the pioneer synthesist and composer (and solar eclipse photographer), including a "Write Wendy" Maildrop.

@Eliot_L @bodhipaksa @jena @protofoxriley
I recall reading that part of it (and also why most of her catalog is out of print and unavailable to buy new) is that the record label she was on from the 90s or early 2000s ended up closing. There’s apparently been contractual issues at play as well.
@Eliot_L @bodhipaksa @protofoxriley @magicalgrrrl I ended up buying all her records second hand and I’m very happy I did 💖
@jena @bodhipaksa @protofoxriley @magicalgrrrl Yeah my parents have a copy of SOB on CD, I'm sure they wouldn't mind me borrowing it to rip that one.
@protofoxriley @bodhipaksa @magicalgrrrl
"Trans electronic music productions"
aptly named
@magicalgrrrl There’s a wonderful episode of the This Is Love podcast about her and her work. Definitely worth a listen: https://thisislovepodcast.com/episode-93-switched-on/
Episode 93: Switched-On

The synthesizer was invented in the 1890s. But for people to really start using it, it took half a century, and a musician named Wendy Carlos.