Twenty haunting tracks have been produced at the NeoKitsch studio for the Science Fiction genre. 

Each track describes a different landscape or scene inspired by science fiction stories and films. The musical influences come from both a modern and vintage interpretation of futuristic sounds and ideas. Modern science fiction film scores such as Cliff Martinez’s music to the remake of Solaris with George Clooney has been the direction Danny Hahn has been going with for this album at the studio. As a complete contrast, Danny developed this musical style with influences from earlier film scores, such as Bernard Herrmann’s music to The Day The Earth Stood Still in 1951, and even dipping into the 80′s, with Vangelis in Blade Runner. Other influences come from the futuristic, experimental, glitch/electronica music by the group Autechre.

To achieve these styles, Danny used many modern and vintage instruments. For that 21st century sound, Danny turned to Autechre. After hearing Autechre live using the Swedish made synthesizer, the Elektron Monomachine, and its partner in crime, the Machinedrum, the NeoKitsch studio added these instruments to the collection. The Elektron synths helped produce a wide range of sounds, which span across many different eras of music.

To achieve the vintage, 50′s feel of science fiction, the Moog Etherwave Theremin was used in many of the tracks. After Danny played the Theremin to the public with Lydia Kavina at the Royal Festival Hall in London, many new ideas to produce the ‘Etherwaves’ album came about after the collaboration. Lydia Kavina had played the Theremin for many film scores including Tim Burton’s ‘Ed Wood’ and ‘The Machinist’ starring Christian Bale, and these contrasting styles, both serious, psychological interpretations, and ‘Neo-Kitsch’, nostalgic older styles, were a starting point for Danny to work with his interpretation of the genre.  

To achieve the 80′s feel to science fiction music, many Roland synths and early Korg vocoders were used. Arpeggiators, vocoders and samplers from 30 year old synthesizers can be heard in the collection, including the Moog Rogue, Korg MS2000B, Roland TB-303, Yamaha CS10, and many others.

The Etherwaves album can be heard from the link below, where it is published for film producers on the networking site, Humtoo, and it can also be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon mp3, Rhapsody and Napster, as well as on CD, which can be purchased from the NeoKitsch online store from the tab at the header of this site.




Danny Hahn from the NeoKitsch studio recently performed to the public at the Royal Festival Hall for an entire day of Theremin delights. Gordon Charlton, a theremin expert, organised for NeoKitsch and 20 thereminists from across the globe, including the world famous Lydia Kavina, to perform a huge line up of compositions, ranging from the avant garde to classical performances. The event ended with a blast, as 20 thereminists performed all together with a piece entitled ‘Icelandic Volcano’. The public were invited to try out the theremins for themselves at the end of the event.

Incase you ever wondered what a graphical musical score for the Theremin looks like, here are a couple of examples:


Here are a few photos Danny has taken of the event:










The event starts, for the public, at 13:00 on Saturday the 17th of April in the Clore Ballroom of the Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre, London.

There will be solo performances by:

Lydia Kavina, http://www.lydiakavina.com/
Chris Conway, http://www.chrisconway.org/
Alexander Thomas http://www.myspace.com/alexanderthomasmusic
Beat Frequency http://www.youtube.com/GordonCharlton
and a Theremin Cello duet.

This will be followed by a talk and master class from Lydia Kavina and then a workshop – an opportunity for members of the public to try out NeoKitsch’s and other performers theremins, and talk to us about the instrument.

The Theremin Circle is the Grand Finale. It will start at 17:20 and end at 18:00. NeoKitsch will perform with twenty thereminists.

There will also be an interactive theremin installation, consisting of sixteen custom built units designed by Fred Mundell of Fundamental Designs Ltd. http://www.fundamental-designs.com/

The interactive theremin installation will remain in use for the week of the Ether Festival, both for the public to interact with, and for various electronic musicians to connect their effects and synths to during the week.

Here is a two part documentary on the Ether Festival in 2007 to give you an idea of what kind of treats are in store:




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