Morotn Subotnick, Until Spring (side A)

The current explosion of modular synth performers has left Subotnick's music sounding slightly less surprising, if no less impressive, on return listens.  On 1975's Until Spring, he created a constantly evolving piece out of a generally narrow palette.   The primary textural element is a series of pulses created by an LFO, which fade out of space and back in.  Until Spring is very dynamic, and it has long stretches of quiet or even silence.  Sometimes, a tonal and slightly distorted sound interweaves with the pulses, where other times the simple pulsing sounds define the piece.  While this palette has grown common with current electronic music, Subotnick's austerity and compositional vision remain impressive when listening anew.  It's also interesting hearing analog circuits in the recording process losing so much high-end and transient detail — this signal path gives Until Spring a weirdly retro feel, which I doubt Subotnick would have intended.  The cover painting, with flowers growing out of Subotnick's modular synth, also would not fit a current electronic record, and it doesn't entirely make sense on this one.