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New Delia Derbyshire recordings discovered
By Simon James | July 18, 2008
Great news for fans of early electronic music. The BBC reports today on a discovery of music composed by the late Delia Derbyshire. Delia was the pioneering composer behind the mind blowing Dr Who theme and a catalogue of strange otherworldly music for BBC radio and TV dramas and documentaries.
The new recordings include a piece that sounds quite contemporary with phasing beats and electronic sounds. As Orbitals Phil Hartnol points out “That could be coming out next week on Warp Records,” . Its funny hearing Delia’s voice at the start of the recording dismissing it, “Forget about this,” she says, “it’s for interest only.” I wonder what Delia would make of the music her legacy has inspired. She is another artist who has crept in under the radar through TV and radio, infiltrating young minds who have since gone on to make their own electronic music. I should also mention her White Noise album which is well worth checking out. Love without Sound and Firebird are absolutely stunning tracks full of electronic wizardry (witchery) and tape manipulation. There is no doubt that Delia Derbyshire’s work has influenced me massively.
The BBC has sound files and the full story here. Thanks to Strange Attractor who first brought this to my attention.