Morton Subotnick's Sidewinder

Part 1 : in four movements

Part 2: in three movements



Morton Subotnick's seminal 1971 electronic work Sidewinder performed live at Tool's studio in Hollywood CA on March 26th, 2023 by Jill Fraser, Shiro Fujioka, Peter Grenader and Thomas Klepper, at the invitation of Joan LaBarbara, in celebration of his 90th birthday.

The idea of an adaptation of Sidewinder has been on the radar of zZyzx Society's Jill Fraser and Peter Grenader - both CalArts alumni who worked with Subotnick, for years. The process began with an abridged orchestration drafted by Peter Grenader, where the quartet was encouraged to both replicate his soundscapes and develop more interpretative timbres for the individual parts. With that, two general rules applied:

1. Following the original gestalts using more interpretive timbres.

2. Closely replicating Mort's original timbres but taking the progression in our own direction.

The performance consisted primarily of modular synthesizers, plus previously recorded samples from those instruments triggered in realtime. Along with these electronic instruments, two stopwatches were fitted with contact mics to replicate Subotnick's original rattling timbre which begins Part 1 and Part 2.

The ensemble convened for a single 4 hour rehearsal on March 24th prior to taping two days later at Tool's studio in Hollywood CA. - a marvelous setting which afforded access to Danny Carey's 1975 vintage Buchla 200 and massive E-mu. It was recorded in multi-track through an API 2488 desk by Tim Dawson, Tool's primary technician and studio engineer. This console was originally owned by Rick James and used in the "Super Freak" sessions.

This event was filmed by K. David and available on youtube here:

youtu.be/LXWj5bV6U1Q



INSTRUMENTATION:

JILL FRASER: Prism Circuits Quasar Serge, Abelton Push II

SHIRO FUJIOKA: Eurorack Modular, E-mu Modular, Elektron Digitkat, Elektron Digitone

PETER GRENADER: Analog/Digital Eurorack Modular, Stopwatches

THOMAS KLEPPER: Buchla 200, Buchla Music Easel, Toolbox Modular


Produced, arranged and mixed by Peter Grenader



SPECIAL THANKS

Danny Carey

Skyler King/Prism Circuits

Aaron Higgins and Steve Joslin/1010 Music

Kyle Terborg

James Lewin/Synthopia

Matrixsynth

Elektron

Tim Dawson

Blair Blake

Hyejin Sunwoo

Kristi Pollard

Joan LaBarbara

Mort Subotnick: In profound appreciation for his historic contribution to art and music



LINKS:

Original Sidewinder technical notes/patch analysis by Morton Subotnick:

www.mortonsubotnick.com/pdfs/sidewinder.pdf

Bob Gluck's analysis of Sidewinder:

newmusicusa.org/nmbx/morton-subotnicks-sidewinder/

Essay on SIdewinder by Snows Ov Gethen:

snowsovgethen.com/journal/morton-subotnick-sidewinder-1971-cbs-masterworks

The Secrets of Control - Peter Grenader's paper on Subotnick's use of control tracks:

web.archive.org/web/20080929184757/http://www.buzzclick-music.com/mort_lore.html

Jeffrey Hanson's thesis on control tracks:

scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4861&context=etd_theses&httpsredir=1

Library of Congress listing of Morton Subotnick papers:

findingaids.loc.gov/exist_collections/ead3pdf/music/2022/mu022014.pdf

Morton Subotnick's official site:

www.mortonsubotnick.com

zZyzx Society official site (Jill Fraser/Peter Grenader):

www.zzyzxsociety.com

Shiro Fujioka's webspace:

www.instagram.com/voltagectrlr/?hl=en

Thomas Klepper's webspace:

www.facebook.com/musicbyThomasK/