charles cohen: group motion

Morphine Records continues to unearth recordings from Philadelphia's synth pioneer, Charles Cohen. Two beautiful drone/ambient/jazz pieces on this one (recorded live in 1989), exposing the sonic genius and dexterity of Cohen alongside the astounding possibilities of that highly-desirable synthesizer of his. Group Motion is a dance theater in Philadelphia founded by Manfred Fischbeck with whom Cohen collaborated and performed. The "Group Motion Performance" is a live recording with the dance company made on the Buchla Music Easel and the Buchla 700 series; the latter, one of the rarest synthesizers on earth. "Generator" was performed and recorded at the Generator Sound Art Gallery, NYC, with the same instrument set-up. Apparently, these are the only known recordings using the Buchla 700 synthesizer to be formally released, making the Group Motion album the only living proof of this incredible-sounding machine.