In Memoriam: Kid Baltan...

When MusicThing was a going concern, before Tom Whitwell got his job with the Times, he had a regular feature called “Music Thing Heros,” which was a source of much awesomeness. I’ve never done that here, because it was Tom’s idea, and it’d look like a cheap rip if I did it. (The Venn diagram of Music Thing readers and Analog Industries readers was essentially a single circle.)

However, if I did do it, or something similar, there’s no scenario where Dick Raaymakers (better known as Kid Baltan) wouldn’t be on the list. Along with Tom Dissevelt, he was instrumental in creating the palette of sounds and methods of early electronic music, much of which is still used today, in various permutations. He passed away this week at the age of 83, and I thought I’d put up some of my favorite media.

This is a classic that I’ve posted before. It shows Kid Baltan (the one with the glasses) and Tom Dissevelt (the un-impressed chain smoker) working in the studio. The voice-over is in Dutch, but you can get the general gist of things pretty easily.

This track, Vibration, was on one of the four “Popular Electronics” 7” records released by Phillips in the mid-50s. It is basically a happy 1950s version of whatever the hell it is Autechre is doing this month. When you think about all the work they had to do to make this music (as witnessed in the above video, which was contemporary) your argument about workflow is invalid. Stop your whining.

Obviously, Mr. Raaymakers’ music isn’t for everyone, but credit where credit is due, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude.