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elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research, Inc.



Manhattan Research Inc. is a two-CD compilation of electronic music created by the musician, composer and inventor, Raymond Scott and his company, "Manhattan Research Inc." Posthumously released in 2000 by Basta Music of Holland, the album contains selected samples of Scott's work from the 1950s and 1960s for film soundtracks, commercials, and for his own technical and musical experiments. The synthesizers, sequencers, and drum-machines used were designed and constructed by Raymond Scott.

Scott would often describe Manhattan Research Inc. as "More than a think factory - a dream center where the excitement of tomorrow is made available today." The material, while never intended for commercial release, provides insight into Scott's work. Included among the tracks on the album are commercials for companies such as Ford Motor and IBM, a humorous "Audio Logo" collage entitled "Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night!", and various collaborations with Jim Henson (of Muppets fame). The album features a number of Scott's inventions including the Clavivox keyboard, Circle Machine, Bass Line Generator, Rhythm Modulator, Karloff, Bandito the Bongo Artist, and the auto-composing Electronium.

Much of the audio selections, as well as the images for the accompanying 144-page book, were culled from the University of Missouri Kansas City's extensive collection of Raymond Scott material. Album producers Gert-Jan Blom and Jeff Winner worked with several of the university's staff in choosing material for the project. During the process, the two producers were impressed by the quality and fidelity of the recordings, despite being some thirty to forty years old. Due to Scott's meticulous attention to detail, "They were so well recorded that almost no audio correction was necessary during the mastering" of the album." In the CD notes, Blom & Winner write, "Scott sought to master all aspects of sound capture and manipulation. His special interest in the technical aspects of recording, combined with the state-of-the-art facilities at his disposal, provided him with enormous hands-on experience as an engineer.

Year of Recording: 1953-1969
Year of Release: 2000
Label: Basta
Genre: Early Electronic, Experimental
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:

DISC 1
1. Manhattan Research, Inc. Copyright
2. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
3. Bendix "The Tomorrow People"
4. Lightworks
5. The Bass-Line Generator
6. Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night
7. B. C. 1675
8. Vim
9. Auto-Lite: Sta-Ful
10. Sprite "Melonball Bounce"
11. Sprite "Melonball Bounce"
12. Wheels That Go
13. Limbo: The Organized Mind
14. Portofino
15. County Fair
16. Lady Gaylord
17. Good Air
18. IBM MT/St : "The Paperwork Explosion"
19. Domino
20. Super Cheer
21. Cheer: Revision 3
22. Twilight In Turkey
23. Vicks: Medicated Cough Drops
24. Vicks: Formula 44
25. Auto-Lite: Spark Plugs
26. Nescafe
27. Awake
28. Backwards Overload
29. Bufferin: "Memories" (Original)
30. Bandito The Bongo Artist
31. Night And Day
32. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. "395"
33. K2r
34. IBM Probe
35. Gmgm 1a
36. The Rhythm Modulator

DISC 2
1. Ohio Plus
2. In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen
3. General Motors: Futurama
4. Portofino 2
5. The Wild Piece
6. Take Me To Your Violin Teacher
7. Ripples (Original Soundtrack)
8. Cyclic Bit
9. Ripples (Montage)
10. The Wing Thing
11. County Fair (Instrumental)
12. Cindy Electronium
13. Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night! (Instr.)
14. Hostess: Twinkies
15. Hostess: Twinkies (Instr.)
16. Ohio Bell: Thermo Fax
17. The Pygmy Taxi Corporation
18. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. (Announce Copy, Take 1)
19. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
20. Lightworks (Slow)
21. IBM Mt/St: "The Paperwork Explosion" (Instr.)
22. Auto-Lite: "Ford Family"
23. Auto-Lite: "Ford Family" (Instr.)
24. Auto-Lite: "Wheels"
25. Bufferin: "Memories" (Demo)
26. Space Mystery (Montage)
27. The Toy Trumpet
28. Backward Beeps
29. Auto-Lite: Sta-Ful
30. Lightworks (Instr. )
31. When Will It End?
32. Bendix 2: The Tomorrow People
33. Electronic Audio Logos, Inc.

Download: Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research, Inc. (Disc 1)
Download Size: 76MB

Download: Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research, Inc. (Disc 2)
Download Size: 81MB

2 comments:

Zer0_II said...

This was an extremely interesting listen. Thanks for the post.

Unknown said...

it is not fair to post this kind of music in 192 mp3s.. just not right