Wendy Carlos's Switched-on Bach (33 1/3 Ser. 141) (33 1/3 Ser. #141)

By: Roshanak Kheshti

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Synopsis: So much, popular and scholarly, has been written about the synthesizer, Bob Moog, and his brand-name instrument-and even Wendy Carlos, the musician who made this instrument famous. No one, however, has examined the importance of spy technology, the Cold War, and gender to this critically important innovation. What is the relationship between synthesizers, electronic music, and world politics? These unlikely correlations form the backdrop to Roshanak Kheshti's inquiry into Wendy Carlos's award-winning album. Through a postcolonial, feminist science and technology studies perspective, Kheshti explores the importance of Carlos's first album to synthesizer technology, home studio design, and sound color orchestration. She further examines the jockeying among world powers for status within an electronic music race akin to the Space Race of the same era. By focusing on Switched-On Bach (the highest-selling classical music recording of all time), this book examines the gendering of sound over the course of the twentieth century. Roshanak Kheshi is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and affiliate faculty in the Critical Gender Studies Program at the University of California, San Diego, USA.

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