OFF: Lothar & Early Synth Stuff

[Craig Shipley]

RE: Lothar & The Hand People

"Lothar" was the Theremin (an early electronic device that was played by
waving ones' hands near two antennas. Still in production and fairly cheap
in kit form, under $300, I think. Bob Moog built 'em before getting into
synthesizers and his current company, Big Briar, still offers a Theremin
kit. There is a MIDI version in the works / available. The Theremin can be
heard on a number of new releases, J-M Jarres' new one and thEXCELLENT
new one from Djam Karet, "The Devouring".) L&tHP did use a Moog, if i remember
the LP credits correctly. I don't know if this has been released on CD yet.

Also, the T.O.N.T.O.'s Expanding Head Band release "Zero Time" was released
on CD last year, with almost a whole 'nother LP's worth of unreleased music.
T.O.N.T.O. was a big mofong-o polyphonic synth, but I think that it was all
custom modules, not a Moog project (I do realize that there are people who
use the term "Moog" & "synthesizer" interchangeably, but you wouldn't call a
Ford a Chevy now, woodja?) BTW, T.O.N.T.O. stands for The Original New
Timbral Orchestra (just found the CD!) and it was the first multi-timbral
polyphonic analogue synthesizer (and is still the largest!!) The synth was
built by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff. It was used by a number of
mainstream artists and was a great influence on black pop music via Stevie
Wonders' extensive use of the beastie. If you want a copy of the CD, here's
the poop:

TONTO's Expanding Head Band / TONTO RIDES AGAIN / Viceroy Vintage VIN6036.

While it is not as heavy as most HawkFans would like, I think that a number
of you would get a kick out of it, as it is quite spacey in places...

NP: heh, you guessed it.....


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