Friday, June 21, 2013

FUTURE ELECTRONS : blows against the empire

1970's BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE by Jefferson Airplanes's Paul Kantner not only embraces the futurist step-up from "Airplane" to "Starship," but also utilizes electronics in an effort to provide what Kantner has termed "background landscaping." Though mainly used as embellishment, unlike the full-on electronic mini-opus of Jefferson Airplane's Chushingura found on 1967's Crown of Creation, tracks such as Home and XM use noise to effectively produce spacey sonics. Though inhabiting the scape-heap of the Airplane's secondary discography, these are nonetheless precursors to the use of electronics in, say, Hawkwind who are also primarily "folk" musicians steeped in futurist iconography.