Dick Raaijmakers - Complete Tape Music

Bleeps and bloops from Eindhoven

Under the pseudonym Kid Baltan, Raaijmakers scored a surprise hit in 1957 with Song Of The Second Moon, the first electronic pop song ever. His background, however, revealed a more serious approach to music. In the early 50s, Raaijmakers composed tape music for Philips. Like his colleagues, Tom Disseveld and Henk Badings, Raaijmakers spent his days cutting up tapes, creating wonderful electronic compositions for the light bulb company. Over the years, Raaijmakers has continued his work in the tape music field, ever developing his craft and making Eindhoven the unlikely tape music capitol of the world. His pieces are compiled on this most welcome reissue, which is identical to the earlier, now deleted, box set on Donemus records. The smartly-packed set includes a detailed book and compiles selections from 1959 to 1997. Whereas the earlier pieces tend to be shorter cut-up tape experiments, his later works are more refined and conceptual in their execution. Raaijmakers is currently a teacher of electronic music, and continues to perform live. Like last year’s elaborate Popular Music boxset, this is another essential musical history lesson brought to you by Basta.

Basta | 3091 562

Reviewed by Freek Kinkelaar
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