Robert Moog, Toolmaker, 1934-2005
Yesterday's news of Robert Moog's death at the age of 71 was sobering, to say the least. My musical tastes have been at least partially indebted to his synthesizer since I purchased Wendy Carlos' Switched On Bach at the age of ten and insisted my music teacher play the tape during class (my classmates didn't get it). I had the good fortune of meeting Bob Moog when he gave a short lecture at my school on the history of the theremin--a lecture that quickly turned into a Q & A on the history of the Moog synthesizer. He only reluctantly acknowledged his influence as a pioneer of electronic music, seeing himself instead as an engineer devoted to musicians. To him, the Moog wasn't a revolution--it was a tool. In light of that, this paragraph in today's NYT coverage of Moog's life and work really resonated with me:
"Artist feedback drove all my development work," Mr. Moog said in an interview with the online magazine Salon in 2000. "The first synthesizers I made were in response to what [composer] Herb Deutsch wanted. The now-famous Moog filter was suggested by several musicians... The point is that I don't design stuff for myself. I'm a toolmaker. I design things that other people want to use."
If you've ever played with a Moog, you know why people so loved using them; tweaking the knobs of an analog modular synthesizer is among the most gratifying things you'll ever do with a circuit. Musicians have accomplished so much with the Moog (and its numerous successors) because it's such an addictive tool--one of the most transformative to the arts in the last century. What Bob Moog did right in building his synthesizer is not much different from what we try to do as toolmakers today; he built a simple, gratifying tool and let its use dictate its design. To properly honor Robert Moog's achievements, you have to see him not only for his influence on music, but also for his devotion to the craft of user interface design. In fact, to anybody whose work involves the creation of tools--analog, digital, mechanical, whatever--I would say, simply: consider Robert Moog.
electronic music-ish , geek-ish , interface-ish , music-ish by tangentialist at 07:36 PM on 22 Aug 05 | Perm-a-link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Resolved: Teany To-Go Seems Awfully Redundant
Moby's music is like a lot of memories I have of early rave culture, in that I remember it feeling really good, but that the buzz wore off quickly, and now I wonder why I ever consumed it at all. That having been said, he is by all accounts a nice guy, and he bears the unquestionable mark of the Old School Producer. I'm just a little sad that he's one of just a few producers from that time to achieve a lasting commercial success, if you accept "threatened by Eminem" as commercial success. (Not long after the debacle I passed Moby talking to an admirer who had expressed his concern; Moby responded, "I just don't understand why he was so angry".)
Fortunately, Moby also moonlights as a Wise Investor Of Record Loot. His Lower East Side teany storefront has done remarkably well for itself in its two and a half years of business. It's a pleasant, low-ceilinged sort of place, with very-good-if-overpriced tea and an assortment of cakes and scones, and is a good cafe in its own right. What makes teany remarkable, though, is the Moby Effect; this tea house, located off the well-beaten path of LES foot traffic, has outperformed and outlasted most other coffeeshops in the neighborhood, and not because of the slow service (Moby is a very attentive server, I should point out, when he works there). His name is nowhere on the storefront, or the menu, but seemingly by mere association, the place has raked it in.
All this is really just to explain my astonishment that partners Moby and Kelly have rented out the storefront next door as a teany to go, which will be devoted to the radical notion of tea in paper cups. It opens this Friday, a mere two blocks from Sugar Sweet Sunshine, who also sell a very fine cup of tea, if somewhat less mysterious, and not brewed by Eminem's erstwhile mortal enemy.
Your reward for reading this far shall be a picture I once took of Moby and DB that was published in the National Enquirer:
Lower East Side-ish , electronic music-ish , food-ish , moby-ish by tangentialist at 08:11 PM on 11 Jan 05 | Perm-a-link | TrackBack (0)