The father of electronic music Tristram Cary has passed on at the age of 82.
The composer of haunting music from the seminal years of Doctor Who and co-inventor of the synthesizer used by Pink Floyd, The Who and Roxy Music, Cary was a pioneer and maverick of music. Without this wizard coming up with some of the strangest melodies and sounds ever heard, we would be a much quieter and saner planet… and we can’t have that.
When the young genius was serving his country as a naval officer during WWII, he conceived the idea of electronic ‘tape’ music, a concept that would develop into the unusual modern sounds that exploded onto the scene in the 1963 TV serial Doctor Who – The Dead Planet (today known as episode one of The Daleks).
The howling sounds mixed with strange twitterings and metallic scratching evoked the outcome of a thermonuclear war and the alien world that it had created. At the time it must have seemed nightmarish. Anyone hearing it today would think it the lost work of a band such as COIL or Nurse With Wound (he was that far ahead of his time). Sadly this level of musical genius associated with Doctor Who is long gone. Whereas it was once the birthplace of innovation, the program is now the home of bombastic music more at home accompanying Russian tumblers at the hyper active hands of Murray Gold. But all things change and as you know hope springs eternal. But we will never see the likes of Tristram Cary again in this world… and that’s okay.
He was unique and we benefited from his example.
To listen to some of his tracks and learn more about this incredible musician, visit his website.
Recommended:
Doctor Who: Devil’s Planets
Doctor Who: The Daleks’ Master Plan (BBC Radio Collection)
