The Apocalyptic Music of Tod Dockstader

Tonight on A Different Nature, we'll hear some of the music of Musique Concrète pioneer Tod Dockstader, who passed away late last February.

Tod Dockstader (March 20, 1932 – February 27, 2015) was an American composer of electronic music, and particularly musique concrète. Dockstader was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.  He studied painting and film while at the University of Minnesota, before moving to Hollywood in 1955, to become an apprentice film editor. He moved into work as a sound engineer in 1958, and apprenticed at Gotham Recording Studios, where he first started composing. Around this same time he also worked for Terrytoons along side Gene Deitch creating sound effects and writing stories for Tom and Jerry and other cartoons. Dockstader's first record, Eight Electronic Pieces, was released in 1960, and was later used as the soundtrack to Federico Fellini's Fellini Satyricon (1969). He continued to create music throughout the first half of that decade, working principally with tape manipulation effects. In 1966 Owl Records released four albums of his work from this period including what many consider to be Dockstader's masterpiece, Quatermass. He achieved modest recognition and radio play alongside the likes of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgard Varèse, and John Cage.

 

Dockstader was also a prolific writer, with several articles published by Electronic Music Review and The Musical Quarterly.