{"id":19373,"date":"2020-08-21T05:30:27","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T09:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19373"},"modified":"2020-08-05T13:19:27","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T17:19:27","slug":"dan-lacksman-the-electronic-system-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/21\/dan-lacksman-the-electronic-system-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Lacksman: The Electronic System Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

This feature appeared previously in Synth and Software<\/em>. — bk<\/span><\/p>\n

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This pioneering synthesist has worked with Bowie, Dolby, Deep Forest, and Kraftwerk\u2019s Florian Schneider on what could be his final project.<\/b><\/p>\n

Daniel Lacksman was one of the first musicians in Belgium to own a synthesizer; he bought an EMS VCS3 in 1970. As a studio engineer, he had an early fascination (and a corresponding aptitude) for the technical side of making music. Inspired by the pan-European hit \u201cPopcorn,\u201d it seemed that suddenly every musician wanted some synthesizer textures on their recordings. Lacksman found himself in demand. \u201cI went from studio to studio with my little VCS3 doing overdubs,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Lacksman made and a released a recording of his own, a track called \u201cCoconut.\u201d \u201cIt was a big hit in Spain,\u201d he says with a laugh. The profits from its sales allowed Lacksman to buy a Moog modular Model III. He released a string of albums, variously credited to Dan Lacksman, Electronic System, Electronic Butterflies, Electronic Hit Computer, and other variations. Real Gone Music has scheduled three of the rarest among those albums for reissue later this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bringing Technology to Pop<\/b>
\nStraddling and occasionally falling into the gap between innovation and novelty, Lacksman\u2019 albums of that era sometimes display a kitsch factor, placing him in a category that includes Dick Hyman (The Age of Electronicus<\/i>), Gil Trythall (Switched on Nashville\/Country Moog<\/i>), and Jean-Jacques Perrey (Moog Indigo<\/i>). But there\u2019s no denying the influence of a track like \u201cSkylab,\u201d a 17-minute instrumental from Electronic System\u2019s 1974 LP, Tchip Tchip (Vol. 3)<\/i>. It\u2019s a safe bet that Nicolas Godin and Jean-Beno\u00eet Dunckel of Air heard the track; it presages the French duo\u2019s sonic approach by more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Though some of the Electronic System albums featured synthesizer overdubs atop prerecorded tracks of a conventional pop band, by 1977 Lacksman had moved toward all-synthesizer recordings. \u201cOn the last album I did with Electronic System, Disco Machine<\/i> [1977], every sound, even the drums, is generated with the Moog,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

By the late \u201870s, Lacksman had formed a synthpop trio, Telex, with Marc Moulin and Michel Moers. Telex continued that synths-only ethos. The group combined humor and analog synthesis\u2014prominently featuring the Polymoog\u2014on tunes like a cover of Les Chats Sauvages\u2019 \u201cTwist \u00e0 St. Tropez\u201d and a deadpan, Dada reading of \u201cRock Around the Clock.\u201d Though the trio had a definite Eurodisco flavor, Telex exemplified the same mischievous, slightly warped aesthetic of kindred spirits Devo, the Flying Lizards, and Sparks. (Underscoring their creative alignment, Telex and Sparks teamed up on several occasions.)<\/p>\n

\"\"

Telex at the Eurovision Song Contest 1980. Lacksman at right. Photo by Hans van Dijk\/Anefo<\/p><\/div>\n

Busy in the Studio<\/b>
\nMIDI technology and user-friendly sequencers were still just over the horizon in the Telex days. That presented a challenge for the drummerless group. \u201cWe didn’t use click tracks, so the tempo [was] moving all the time,\u201d Lacksman says with a chuckle. \u201cWith Telex, we never measured a tempo.\u201d The rudimentary equivalent of a sequencer at the band\u2019s disposal was nothing more than a knob. \u201cYou turn the knob and there is no indication of the tempo,\u201d he says. \u201cSo we were just [setting] the tempo and saying, \u2018Okay, that’s good,\u2019 but not knowing if it was 130 or 125 bpm. We didn’t know!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Actually, he had a better grasp on things that that explanation might suggest. \u201cIn those pre-MIDI days,\u201d he says, \u201cI was usually using a 1\/8th-note audio click on one track, from which I was triggering the drums and the sequencers.\u201d Another prime example of Lacksman\u2019s facility with the technology available to him is the 1978 single \u201cBorn to Be Alive\u201d by Patrick Hernandez. The song was a huge hit of the disco era with 14 million copies sold \u201cI did the sequencer [part] when the drums was already recorded,\u201d Lacksman recalls. \u201cHappily, as in most disco tracks, the bass drum was playing every 1\/4 note, and the drummer was very regular!\u201d He used the bass drum to trigger the sequencer.<\/p>\n

Concurrent with his studio recording projects\u2014with rare exceptions, none of his bands played live\u2014Lacksman continued to produce and engineer, mostly at Synsound, his Brussels studio. He engineered Thomas Dolby\u2019s The Flat Earth<\/i> and has worked with artists as diverse as David Bowie, Deep Forest (with whom he scored a Grammy Award nomination), Plastic Bertrand, and Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk. Lacksman released a synthpop album, Electric Dreams<\/i>, in 2013. A catchy, dance-oriented set, that record prominently features Lacksman\u2019 modular Moog.<\/p>\n

A recent project involves Lacksman working once again with an old friend, Bertrand. \u201cFor his new album\u2014it will be his tenth\u2014he wanted [a sound] like in the \u201870s and \u201880s, to use the synthesizers,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo I did a lot of electronic sounds: vocals and [synthesizer] tom toms. I had fun doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kraftwerk Connection<\/b>
\nAnother of Lacksman\u2019 most intriguing and as yet unreleased projects results from an ongoing collaboration with Florian Schneider. Although the Kraftwerk founder\u2019s passing in April 2020 would seem to have spelled the end for the project, Lacksman says that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n

The pair had already worked on four or five music pieces, including one that was released in 2016, \u201cStop Plastic Pollution.\u201d \u201cWe had been working maybe since two or three years; he was very slow,\u201d says Lacksman. \u201cHe didn’t like to rush things.\u201d He says that he would hear from Schneider every few months.<\/p>\n

We had a project, not a complete album,\u201d Lacksman emphasizes. \u201cFlorian was really happy with it. He should’ve come to finish it, but he called me in February to say that he was really ill. He was speaking French, which he liked to do: \u2018Dan, I’m sorry\u2026I’ve discovered cancer, and I will go through a lot of medicine so I will not be able to come.\u2019\u201d But Schneider had a plan.<\/p>\n

He had already thought about it,\u201d Lacksman says. Schneider had arranged for a technician who worked with Kraftwerk to help Lacksman finish the recordings. \u201cIt’s very good, but it’s not Kraftwerk-like,\u201d he says. \u201cHe didn’t want to make \u2018new Kraftwerk.\u2019 Of course you can hear the influence, but it’s something different. And so I’m very happy and proud to know that we will finish this, because I think it’s great, and I think it will be a very good [tribute] for Florian. So there will be more stuff coming, but I don’t know when.\u201d<\/p>\n