Fraunhofer Diffraction pt.3

WWC-028 Fraunhofer Diffraction pt.3

As mentioned in my last program, here is part three of Fraunhofer Diffraction. I chose to do a third part for a couple of reasons. First, to show the depth and variety of Stanislav Martensitov’s work, and second, because so far I haven’t covered any artists in the ‘ambient’ genre. In fact, aside from Martensitov I haven’t found any, although I’m sure there must be a few, tucked away in tiny studios somewhere.

Martensitov delves into the darker side of ambient in these tracks, evoking a sense of desolation and abandonment, which I tried to capture with the photos. I love this guy’s music, especially this side of it. I can do desolate and abandoned all day.

I was a fan of ambient music before Brian Eno popularized the genre in the early 70’s. Back then it was it called Kosmische Musik, a mainly German scene exemplified by Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream), Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel and Kraftwerk. Synthesizers were expensive and hard to program in those days, and even as the cost came down electronic music was still mostly a fringe scene.

That all changed when Roland introduced their TR-808 and TB-303 sequencers in 1980. Suddenly everyone could do what only a few could before, and the electronic dance scene took off with a vengeance. At that point electronic music passed from the experimental to the commercial phase, which for me was less interesting.

Fortunately the experimental thread that began in Germany didn’t disappear with the emergence of EDM but continued on its own path. It was around that time that I bought my first synth, a Yamaha CS-60, and began exploring along the same lines, working with 4 track tape. Later on I stumbled across the works of Richard James (Aphex Twin), Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin (Boards of Canada) who have been major inspirations ever since that early German scene first caught my attention.

I think Martensitov has captured the spirit of those early years, while at the same time adding his own unique style to the mix. There’s a haunting quality to much of his material, more in line with the contemporary mood of ambient music, so for me, Fraunhofer Diffraction combines the best of both worlds.