Delia Derbyshire - Sculptress of Sound

[@felixdonnelly7449]

Fabulous PHILIPS reel-to-reel tape-recorders! Indestructible, in their magnificence. Delia was such a pioneer, it's absolutely true.

[@johnfkay8341]

Love the White Noise album. Delia must of been a real magician with that tape machine and razor blade. And her brain too of course. A true genius.

[@MrCamparisafari]

JUST LISTENED TO IT TONIGHT . MIND IN PIECES !!!! GENIUS FUCKING GENIUS!!!!

[@TheFlutecart]

I just love what Delia did for music. She broke ground that all the giants stood on. Why does it take so long to see it. Heartbreaking. I wish she knew how important she would be. But maybe she knew anyway. When your on the frontier, you know it.

[@neilcottom9780]

Anybody who works in electronic music and has a love of electronic music owes so much to Delia. For me the Dr Who theme in 1963 was my electronic ground zero.

[@guytunes1]

Delia was a true pioneer, undervalued and overlooked, but a genius. I live Delia too !

[@russellnixon9981]

So true, a artist in the purest sense.

[@Bananadiva1]

This was an amazing celebration of a musical genius. What I wouldn't have given to have been lucky enough to have catalogued all of those tapes of her phenomenal work.

[@d.c.8828]

What an absolutely legendary woman. The modern world of 21st-century popular music owes so much to her.

[@russellnixon9981]

A true artist in it's most pure sense,

[@JCDealy]

Just can't get enough of Delia.

[@wb3213]

Legend has it that if you play a I-IV-V-IV three chord progression on a Fairlight CMI you can see her ghost.

[@autumnmatthews3179]

The theme Delia created for Doctor Who is the ultimate piece of electronic music and never sounded better than this. A true pioneer and visionary

[@rexterrocks]

Someone has a faulty memory because it's well known that the Doctor Who single NEVER had Delia Derbyshire's name on it in the centre at all. It simply says 'The BBC Radiophonic Workshop'. Ron Grainer who composed the original music wanted to give Delia a writing credit but the BBC refused as they didn't consider her a composer. If she had got a writing credit she would have made a lot of money from it.

[@Sektion9]

She was the advanced guard of avant-garde.

[@GraveyardPoet]

Happy Birthday #DeliaDerbyshire (May 5) Genius of electronic music--I especially love her haunting, mysterious "Blue Veils and Golden Sands", her Inventions for Radio (Dreams and Amor Dei), her collaboration with White Noise, An Electric Storm ("The Visitation" and "Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell" are nightmarish, trippy--perfect for Halloween), and her collaboration with Brian Hodgson on the horror movie soundtrack Legend of Hell House.

[@fearisapreludetointerluded2739]

IMO there wouldn't be goa trance, house, deep d n b, psybeint/trance, glitch, dub and basically any electronic music branch off the way we know of them today without this remarkable woman.

[@turnipgoodness]

She is remarkable, no doubt at all. She's is a brilliant artist, musician and engineer. However, their are other important contributors from the Radiophonic Workshop, and it's vital that we don't become overly fixated on hero worship. Art is a collective, responsive and reflexive process.

[@TheJohnsofDoes]

Music Concrete came out of other parts of Europe first. Mainly Italy and Germany, or they are the most well known at least like Pierre Schaeffer. None of the shit the Radiophonic Workshop was doing would of happened without first knowing about that movement. Some of those genres of dance music you just reeled off have very different lineages as well so you are incredibly wrong. The only one i might agree with but you didn't list is early Detroit Techno and some of the Berlin School stuff that Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze are known for.DnB for instance has nothing to do with any of that stuff. Jungle has a Techno element sure, but its roots are mostly in Dub, Reggae and Funk music

[@wb3213]

@@turnipgoodness well said

[@grindelston5968]

Don't forget the Dutch..

[@Composer76]

This is fantastic! I am so glad you can view this documentary in its entirety.

[@DanLoFat]

Where, as this is the audio-only version?

[@dangerofdeath6855]

Yes I’m watching it too ,it’s great, I feel sorry for those people who aren’t getting the video!

[@grindelston5968]

Hahaha

[@klaxoncow]

38:37 This feels and sounds like the prototype for Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". The heartbeat. The interview voices. The ambience. The passage of time, the threat of death, perceptions, mental state - these are all the themes that Dark Side touches on. Hmm, Pink Floyd weren't listening to the radio when this was broadcast and were subconsciously influenced, maybe?

[@helugoconache]

i was looking for exactly that reference, its clear that roger and syd where aware of Delia's work, listen to bassline in the song "one of these days" it's even listed on a "who sampled who" website, also the song "on the run" it's clearly influenced

[@TheFlutecart]

Well there you go. Who, , in the UK would not be influenced by such trippy sounds?

[@d4fts0d]

I've searched for that section but can't find it titled in any of the Inventions for Radio series, did you have any luck? And it seems almost disappointing how similar the DSOTM material is, which at first seemed so original

[@JamesSpiller314159]

@@helugoconache I think it’s fitting that in the live PF concerts in the late 80s and 90s (at least in DSOTM) Rick Wright played a couple of bars of Doctor Who during One Of These Days.

[@synapticmemoryseepage4447]

She was amazing and so cool.

[@vomeinsamenmadchensophie]

Our lovely pioneer....♡♡♡.

[@kavepbr]

Discovered this woman today. What a joy!

[@HerwarthSturm]

iconic artist

[@gavinkaufmanworld]

Extremely inspiring!! 😀

[@mandy2533]

Thank you so much for posting this. I love Delia too.

[@chuckturnher4986]

Great post... Great documentary... Thank YOU!

[@TerryOnTuesday]

Some texbook signs of ADHD by the sound of it. (No pun intended.) I do many of the things that Delia did in her approach to work and problem solving, but at that time, it wasn't as widely understood, so you can see how she's described as 'genius', 'distracted', 'hyperfocused', and more. It's clearly obvious that her peers saw these signs in her so long ago.

[@afimearts]

Respect for sharing this my life make so much sense! can relate to her.

[@TheoGregoire]

Absolutely brilliant!

[@dasneonlicht]

"I've turned you into a fish!"

[@horrorlostplaces]

Very extrem good sound

[@lazychemistry]

Cheers Delia 🤠🍷

[@johncrab67]

Really enjoyed this.

[@Adibarum]

t is interesting that the Psychedelic LP Delia made with David Vorhaus and Brian Hodgson in 1968 "White Noise-An Electric Storm" for Island records was not even mentioned... apart from that they played "Firebird" from side 1 of the LP as the ending Music... maybe because it doesn't fit in with the image of Delia that most people have.... because she may have used LSD and been inspired to help create an Album for people to listen to whilst under the influence of LSD or other hallucinatory Drugs..which lets be honest was big business in the mid to late 60's even though it was made illegal in the uk in 1966......and by the way it is actually an extremely good Record... especially side 1..the band literally create completely unique Music..and don't forgert it was release on Island recxords so actually sold really quite well..so its not like people don't know about this records..so why it is ignored in all documentaries I have seen about Delia or the radiophonic workshop is a mystery to me...if you enjoy Delia's soundscapes and Music it is essential listening.

[@brettbutler8235]

Yes agreed. It is an amazing album. Black Mass (Electric Storm In Hell) in stunning. And that track was made when they started running out of funds!

[@redcassette]

they played some of Love Without Sound too

[@iainclark8695]

Thanks for switching me on to that

[@heggy_69]

25:13

[@KeithCollyer]

Were you on something when you listened to this? There was a lot of mention of White Noise, even David Vorhaus talking about writing it with Delia

[@yugentear]

The way they describe her behavior, habits, perspective and abilities - I suspect she was on the spectrum. Based on my own experience, I can relate a lot to her relationship to her interests and how that looks on the outside to others with the results she achieves.

[@gergatron7000]

My thoughts exactly.. both of my kids are on the spectrum, so I often have my radar on for others who may show behaviours that meet such criteria. Her quirkiness, mood swings, ultra-focus on specific interest, and later depression all point to someone who just could not relate to their world. I wish she had gotten the deserved recognition and support from the start.

[@croiners4166]

Thanks

[@RMoribayashi]

She was at the vanguard of the first generation of electronic music. creating sounds and manipulating them note by note with razor blades and glue. Each succeeding generation of technology has increased the distance between the composer and the sound. Today's machines reproduce, not create and buyers only care how close is it to the "real thing".

[@Lifeformed]

+RMoribayashi By that logic, she's already far from "real" music, since she's just manipulating magnetic records of "real" sounds. Today's music is 100% identical to music from thousands of years ago: someone vibrates air in a pattern that's pleasing to their brains. The tools are different, but the output is the same. Succeeding generations of technology don't widen the gap between composer and sound; it reveals more room for the composer to explore.

[@RMoribayashi]

Lifeformed But do the majority of users of today's technology take advantage of that increased room or just use it to save the money of hiring a string section. Programmers respond to demand and the devices in demand are little more than glorified organs, while the same technology with a different control system can create unique and entertaining music. Which sells more? The glorified organs.

[@Icefire72]

wauw! a genius...

[@uwelucas8190]

One of the greatest Artist ever, remind me a little of Laurie Anderson, but Delia was the first great "Electronic Pioneer "👍

[@ScunnyBoy1972]

The stuff with Bary Blamaunge was kind of like what 'Scanner' (Robin Rimbaud) kind of did so i wonder if he was inspired by Delia Debryshire

[@trespire]

18:16 " ... hey what are you doing to my voice Miss Darbyshire ?" DD "I've turned you into a Tripod Master"

[@avantlanuit]

hmmmmm quel bonheur d'entendre toutes ces jolies musiques

[@NOWtheband]

She's a good lass 🙂

[@claudiocardoneOK]

thanks!

[@BernardWilkinson]

Delia was a hacker, in the true sense, a tinkerer.

[@shanewright2772]

She was to ambient music as Lee Perry was to Reggae. Think about it....

[@therestorationofdrwho1865]

31:29 what I need ;)

[@PAULLONDEN]

📽 Fascinating! It seems all that laborious incessant tape wrangling and splicing could only have been done by a woman , even if that might sound stereo typing . I was an admirer since the 70's when I discovered the Radio Phonic Workshop.

[@darling_danke_schoen]

Oooooh!!! So this craziness I've been listening to on my iTunes was done by a chick? That makes it sooooooo much more awesome! Piero Umiliani, Raymond scott, Esqueval, etc... all have a female counterpart! very cool.

[@christdolphin69]

they let a woman in the workplace and she ends up being a psychotic control freak with random mood swings? rip