Sisters With Transistors

[HelpfulBelle]

www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/23/sisters-with-transistors-review-lisa-rovner-documentary

I can't wait to see this film. The history and development of electronic music features so many female pioneers.

Delia Derbyshire's sad story often makes me wonder whether she was neurodivergent/had autism; I often wonder the same about Wendy Carlos. It seems a very niche area of interest to immerse yourself in, especially at the time.

I am no great expert on them, but I'm pretty sure Delia Derbyshire had serious problems with alcohol (maybe only later into the 70s or 80s) - maybe that was down to underlying mental health issues or simply being patronized by men day in day out I don't know. Wendy Carlos was born Walter in case you don't know.

As a man I would not wish to claim that Carlos has nothing to do with the history of women in electronic music... but neither would I wish to hold her up given her position was founded on male privilege.

I remember in the programme Synth Britannia, Phil Oakey (swoooon) had a bit of a moment where he theorised that perhaps Wendy had tried to go under the radar as a male alter-ego. Obviously this sort of reflection and conjecture is heresy nowadays

I've read quite a lot about Wendy, and it seems that she struggled terribly with gender dysphoria and is happy with her decision to transition. She's very low-key about the whole thing and quite matter-of-fact.

I know nothing about Carlos other than I hate the music, and her story is one that has no bearing on the history of the music I am interested in. Derbyshire, in contrast, worked briefly with my favourite musician of all time in the 1990s.

The review in The Times is not kind:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sisters-with-transistors-review-pioneering-music-is-low-level-tinnitus-6fpfgcr5w

and says the subject matter was handled better in a recent French film, The Shock of the Future:

In the meantime, there's some decent BBC Radio content:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rl2ky

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rcpn

Yes @nauticant despite the BBC closing down the Radiophonic Workshop (because it could all be done on a laptop or two), they do actually cherish its memory and there seems to be quite a bit of content available.

Shame that the film has poor reviews

Delia Derbyshire was a pioneer and deserves celebrating.

One of the reasons that Derbyshire left the BBC RW was that she despised synths and wanted to continue to create soundscapes using musique concrète techniques. She clearly had red lines!