Dennis Young - Wave: Electronic Music 1984-1988 (2016)

Dennis Young is best known as the percussionist of the New York band LIQUID LIQUID, which is known for their piece "Cavern" from 1983, which in turn became very well known because Grandmaster Flash sampled it and used it as the basis for their hit "White Lines". But Young was not only a band member. In parallel he produced much of his own material, including three cassettes in the years 1985 to 1988, which are of particular interest for us. They are his tribute to the pioneers of electronic music. Those who don't know otherwise might guess that this music originated in the seventies. But let's allow Dennis Young to tell his story himself: "My love for electronic music goes back to the late 70's when I decided to buy my first synthesizer, a rare used vintage Davolisint made in Italy, after seeing Keith Emerson perform live with ELP. This lead to my discovery of more electronic music artists using synthesizers such as Klaus Schulze, Tim Blake, Larry Fast, Edgar Froese, Brian Eno, and Cluster just to name a few. My musical challenge was then to create my own electronic music using this instrument. After experimenting in the early 80's with live recordings using a reel to reel tape machine I purchased my first multi-track recording system in 1984. When Liquid Liquid was on hiatus I was able to devote full time to this music and do professional recordings at my home studio in Edison, New Jersey. I added more synthesizers to include a Korg Mono/Poly, a Korg Poly Six, a Moog Rogue, and later the Korg M1. Every track was put through various delay and reverb units and I added vocal parts and along with guitar where I felt it was needed. The music resulted in three now out of print cassette only recordings entitled 'Concepts' (1985), 'Reflections' (1987), and 'Quest' (1988). They were all mixed at Gabriel Farm studios in Princeton, New Jersey, with the help of Andrew Gomory who owned the studio and who himself was a keyboardist. Thanks to Bureau B I have been able to go back in time to put together what I feel are the best songs from that era for you the listener to enjoy." - Dennis Young