Wavemaker – Where Are We Captain?….
Complete Album Download
Wavemaker is the third synth-focused project associated with BBC Radiophonic alum Brian Hodgson that I’ve shared on this blog. The first was Eletrophon, who released a collection of classical covers performed on electronic instruments in 1973 called In A Convent Garden. The second was the amazing Zygoat album, which came out a year later. While Hodgson is not credited on that release, that album was recorded in his Eletrophon music studio, and I can only imagine that he played some role in its creation, even if it was minor.
Wavemaker is a proper Hodgson release, a collaboration between him and Eletrophon co-founder John Lewis. Their 1974 debut release Where Are We Captain?… feels like a counterpoint to Zygoat. While the latter was a synth-funk jam of the highest degree, pushing the boundaries not only of what synthesizers were capable of in the mid-70s, but what could be considered popular music as well, Wavemaker takes things down a more restrained road with their release. Where Are We Captain?… is a spacey, out-there record for sure, but it’s far more concerned with traditional song structures, hooks, and melodies than anything on Zygoat. The only time Wavemaker takes things entirely into the experimental and avant-garde is with their namesake track, which forsakes melodies and rhythm for eerie soundscapes and excursions into “let’s see how much we can make our instruments sound like spaceships” territory.
This album also is different than Zygoat in that it features a smattering of acoustic instrumentation as well. Much of the percussion here is performed on actual honest-to-goodness drums (and tympani). The drumming, which is loose and free-flowing, contribute an almost jazz-like feeling to the proceedings, almost reminiscent of synthesizer-heavy krautrock that was coming out at the time. Unlike krautrock like Harmonia and Can though, this all sounds much more organized and put-together. There might be a smidge of improvisation here, but most of this record sounds tightly-written and well put-together. These weren’t some Berlin School dudes high on acid experimenting with knobs and sprockets, these guys knew what the hell they were doing and it shows. It almost feels like Hodgson and Lewis were trying to re-invent classical music for the 20th century, especially with the first half of the album. You could probably re-work those tracks for a proper symphony and musically speaking, they would still sound strong.
While Where Are We Captian?… lacks the what-the-fuck-is-this insanity and intensity of Zygoat’s release, it still a tremendous album, and was no doubt a technological breakthrough when it was first released some 40+ years ago. A lot of the sounds on this record still sound out-of-this-world, I can’t imagine what they must’ve sounded like to people in 1975.