Bruce Haack
Encyclopedia
Bruce Clinton Haack was a musician
, composer
, and pioneer of electronic music
. He was born in Alberta
, Canada
.
. The Swing Tones were a popular local band based out of Edmonton, Alberta, and they played in venues in the city and surrounding area. The band played primarily modern and old-time music, and they introduced him to Eastern musical motifs and themes, as they played quite a bit of Ukrainian folk music. While with The Swing Tones, Bruce Haack was known for his uncanny ability to hear music and then play it back immediately from memory, and he could compose innovative riffs while the band was on break during a job. His talent was legendary, and he owned a tremendous record collection of music from around the world prior to moving to New York. In later years, Haack's painting of St. Basil likely is reminiscent of his earlier years with The Swing Tones in Edmonton.
Haack was also invited by Native Americans to participate in their pow-wows, experimenting with Peyote
, which influenced his music for years to come. His upbringing in the isolated mining town of Rocky Mountain House in Alberta
, Canada
, gave him plenty of time to develop his musical talents.
Seeking formal training to hone his ability, Haack applied to the University of Alberta's music program. Though that school rejected him because of his poor notation skills, at Edmonton University he wrote and recorded music for campus theater productions, hosted a radio show, and played in a band. He received a degree in psychology from the university; this influence was felt later in songs that dealt with body language and the computer-like ways children absorb information.
New York City's Juilliard School
offered Haack the opportunity to study with composer Vincent Persichetti
; thanks to a scholarship from the Canadian government, he headed to New York upon graduating from Edmonton
in 1954. At Juilliard, Haack met a like-minded student, Ted "Praxiteles" Pandel, with whom he developed a lifelong friendship. However, his studies proved less sympathetic, and he dropped out of Juilliard just eight months later, rejecting the school's restrictive approach.
Throughout the rest of his career, Haack rejected restrictions of any kind, often writing several different kinds of music at one time. He spent the rest of the 1950s scoring dance and theater productions, as well as writing pop songs for record labels like Dot Records
and Coral Records
. Haack's early scores, like 1955's Les Etapes, suggested the futuristic themes and experimental techniques Haack developed in his later works. Originally commissioned for a Belgian ballet, Les Etapes mixed tape samples, electronics, soprano, and violin; the following year, he finished a musique concrète
piece called "Lullaby for a Cat."
As the 1960s began, the public's interest in electronic music and synthesizers increased, and so did Haack's notoriety. Along with songwriting and scoring, Haack appeared on TV shows like I've Got a Secret
and The Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson
, usually with Pandel in tow. The duo often played the Dermatron, a touch- and heat-sensitive synthesizer built by Haack, on the foreheads of guests; 1966's appearance on I've Got a Secret featured them playing 12 "chromatically pitched" young women.
Meanwhile, Haack wrote serious compositions as well, such as 1962's "Mass for Solo Piano," which Pandel performed at Carnegie Hall
, and a song for Rocky Mountain House's 50th anniversary. One of his most futuristic pieces, 1963's "Garden of Delights," mixed Gregorian chant
s and electronic music. This work was never broadcast or released in its complete form.
The otherworldly quality of Haack's music was emphasized by the instruments and recording techniques he developed with the Dance, Sing, & Listen series. Though he had little formal training in electronics, he made synthesizers and modulators out of any gadgets and surplus parts he could find, including guitar effects pedals and battery-operated transistor radios. Eschewing diagrams and plans, Haack improvised, creating instruments capable of 12-voice polyphony and random composition. Using these modular synthesizer systems, he then recorded with two two-track reel-to-reel decks, adding a moody tape echo to his already distinctive pieces.
As the 1960s progressed and the musical climate became more receptive to his kind of whimsical innovation, Haack's friend, collaborator, and business manager Chris Kachulis found mainstream applications for his music. This included scoring commercials for clients like Parker Brothers
Games, Goodyear Tires, Kraft Cheese, and Lincoln Life Insurance; in the process, Haack won two awards for his work. He also continued to promote electronic music on television, demonstrating how synthesizers work on The Mister Rogers
Show in 1968, and released The Way-Out Record for Children later that year.
Kachulis did another important favor for his friend by introducing Haack to psychedelic rock
. Acid rock's
expansive nature was a perfect match for Haack's style, and in 1969 he released his first rock-influenced work, Electric Lucifer
. A concept album about the earth being caught in the middle of a war between heaven and hell, Electric Lucifer
featured a heavy, driving sound complete with Moogs, Kachulis' singing, and Haack's homegrown electronics including a prototype vocoder
and unique lyrics, which deal with "powerlove" — a force so strong and good that it will not only save mankind but Lucifer himself. Kachulis helped out once more by bringing Haack and Lucifer to the attention of Columbia Records
, who released it as Haack's major-label debut.
As the 1970s started, Haack's musical horizons continued to expand. After the release of Electric Lucifer, he struck up a friendship with fellow composer and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott
. They experimented with two of Scott's instruments, the Clavivox
and Electronium. Nothing remains of the collaboration, and though Scott gave Haack a Clavivox, he did not record with it on his own. However, he did continue on Lucifer's rock-influenced musical with 1971's Together, an electronic pop album that marked his return to Dimension 5. Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate this work from his children's music, he released it under the name Jackpine Savage, the only time he used this pseudonym.
Haack continued making children's albums as well, including 1972's Dance to the Music, 1973's Captain Entropy, and 1974's This Old Man, which featured science fiction versions of nursery rhymes and traditional songs. After relocating to Westchester, PA, to spend more time with Pandel, Haack focused on children's music almost exclusively, writing music for Scholastic Press
like "The Witches' Vacation" and "Clifford the Small Red Puppy." He also released Funky Doodle and Ebenezer Electric (an electronic version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol) in 1976, but by the late 1970s, his prolific output slowed; two works, 1978's Haackula and the following year's Electric Lucifer Book II, were never released.
Haack's failing health slowed Dimension 5's musical output in the early 1980s, but Nelson and Pandel kept the label alive by publishing songbooks, like Fun to Sing and The World's Best Funny Songs, and re-released selected older albums as cassettes, which are still available today. In 1982, Haack recorded his swan song, a proto-hiphop collaboration with Def Jam's Russell Simmons
, entitled "Party Machine". Haack died in 1988 from heart failure, but his label and commitment to making creative children's music survives. While Dimension 5's later musical releases — mostly singalong albums featuring Nelson — may lack the iconoclastic spark of the early records, Nelson and Pandel's continued work reveals the depth of their friendship with Haack, a distinctive and pioneering electronic musician.
In 2004, a documentary film about Bruce Haack titled Haack: The King of Techno, was directed by Philip Anagnos. It premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival
, distributed by Koch Vision
and televised on DOC: The Documentary Channel
. It features interviews with some of Haack's associates and collaborators such as Esther Nelson and Chris Kachulis as well as contemporary artists including Eels
, Mouse On Mars
, Money Mark
and Peanut Butter Wolf
. Additionally, the film includes archival footage of Haack's appearances on various talk shows and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
.
In 2005, a tribute album
was released titled Dimension Mix
, featuring covers of Haack songs by Beck
, Stereolab
, The Apples in stereo
, Oranger
and others. The album was produced by Ross Harris (actor) and was a benefit for Cure Autism Now.
In 2006, Cut Chemist
sampled Bruce Haack's track "School For Robots" on his debut album The Audience's Listening
.
It has been proffered that Bruce Haack's influence has been bolstered by the fact that he flies under the mainstream media's radar.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and pioneer of electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
. He was born in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
From Alberta to New York (1931-1963)
Bruce Haack started picking out melodies on his family's piano at age four; by age 12, he gave piano lessons and played piano with the Swing Tones while attending the University of AlbertaUniversity of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
. The Swing Tones were a popular local band based out of Edmonton, Alberta, and they played in venues in the city and surrounding area. The band played primarily modern and old-time music, and they introduced him to Eastern musical motifs and themes, as they played quite a bit of Ukrainian folk music. While with The Swing Tones, Bruce Haack was known for his uncanny ability to hear music and then play it back immediately from memory, and he could compose innovative riffs while the band was on break during a job. His talent was legendary, and he owned a tremendous record collection of music from around the world prior to moving to New York. In later years, Haack's painting of St. Basil likely is reminiscent of his earlier years with The Swing Tones in Edmonton.
Haack was also invited by Native Americans to participate in their pow-wows, experimenting with Peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
, which influenced his music for years to come. His upbringing in the isolated mining town of Rocky Mountain House in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, gave him plenty of time to develop his musical talents.
Seeking formal training to hone his ability, Haack applied to the University of Alberta's music program. Though that school rejected him because of his poor notation skills, at Edmonton University he wrote and recorded music for campus theater productions, hosted a radio show, and played in a band. He received a degree in psychology from the university; this influence was felt later in songs that dealt with body language and the computer-like ways children absorb information.
New York City's Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
offered Haack the opportunity to study with composer Vincent Persichetti
Vincent Persichetti
Vincent Ludwig Persichetti was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia...
; thanks to a scholarship from the Canadian government, he headed to New York upon graduating from Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
in 1954. At Juilliard, Haack met a like-minded student, Ted "Praxiteles" Pandel, with whom he developed a lifelong friendship. However, his studies proved less sympathetic, and he dropped out of Juilliard just eight months later, rejecting the school's restrictive approach.
Throughout the rest of his career, Haack rejected restrictions of any kind, often writing several different kinds of music at one time. He spent the rest of the 1950s scoring dance and theater productions, as well as writing pop songs for record labels like Dot Records
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label and company that was active between 1950 and 1977. It was founded by Randy Wood. In Gallatin, Tennessee, Wood had earlier started a mail order record shop, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its R&B air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen...
and Coral Records
Coral Records
Coral Records was a Decca Records subsidiary formed in 1949. It recorded pop artists McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer, as well as rock and roller Buddy Holly....
. Haack's early scores, like 1955's Les Etapes, suggested the futuristic themes and experimental techniques Haack developed in his later works. Originally commissioned for a Belgian ballet, Les Etapes mixed tape samples, electronics, soprano, and violin; the following year, he finished a musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
piece called "Lullaby for a Cat."
As the 1960s began, the public's interest in electronic music and synthesizers increased, and so did Haack's notoriety. Along with songwriting and scoring, Haack appeared on TV shows like I've Got a Secret
I've Got a Secret
I've Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?...
and The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
with Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
, usually with Pandel in tow. The duo often played the Dermatron, a touch- and heat-sensitive synthesizer built by Haack, on the foreheads of guests; 1966's appearance on I've Got a Secret featured them playing 12 "chromatically pitched" young women.
Meanwhile, Haack wrote serious compositions as well, such as 1962's "Mass for Solo Piano," which Pandel performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, and a song for Rocky Mountain House's 50th anniversary. One of his most futuristic pieces, 1963's "Garden of Delights," mixed Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
s and electronic music. This work was never broadcast or released in its complete form.
From Children's Music to Electric Lucifer (1963-1976)
Haack found another outlet for his creativity as an accompanist for children's dance teacher Esther Nelson. Perhaps inspired by his own lonely childhood, he and Nelson collaborated on educational, open-minded children's music. With Pandel, they started their own record label, Dimension 5 Records, on which they released 1962's Dance, Sing, & Listen. Two other records followed in the series, 1963's Dance, Sing, & Listen Again and 1965's Dance, Sing, & Listen Again & Again. Though the series included activity and story songs similar to other children's records at the time, the music moves freely between country, medieval, classical, and pop, and mixes instruments like piano, synthesizers, and banjo. The lyrics deal with music history or provide instructions like, "When the music stops, be the sound you hear," resulting in an often surreal collage of sounds and ideas.The otherworldly quality of Haack's music was emphasized by the instruments and recording techniques he developed with the Dance, Sing, & Listen series. Though he had little formal training in electronics, he made synthesizers and modulators out of any gadgets and surplus parts he could find, including guitar effects pedals and battery-operated transistor radios. Eschewing diagrams and plans, Haack improvised, creating instruments capable of 12-voice polyphony and random composition. Using these modular synthesizer systems, he then recorded with two two-track reel-to-reel decks, adding a moody tape echo to his already distinctive pieces.
As the 1960s progressed and the musical climate became more receptive to his kind of whimsical innovation, Haack's friend, collaborator, and business manager Chris Kachulis found mainstream applications for his music. This included scoring commercials for clients like Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
Games, Goodyear Tires, Kraft Cheese, and Lincoln Life Insurance; in the process, Haack won two awards for his work. He also continued to promote electronic music on television, demonstrating how synthesizers work on The Mister Rogers
Mister Rogers
Fred McFeely Rogers was an American educator, Presbyterian minister, songwriter, and television host...
Show in 1968, and released The Way-Out Record for Children later that year.
Kachulis did another important favor for his friend by introducing Haack to psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
. Acid rock's
Acid rock
Acid rock is a form of psychedelic rock, which is characterized with long instrumental solos, few lyrics and musical improvisation. Tom Wolfe describes the LSD-influenced music of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Iron Butterfly, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Cream,...
expansive nature was a perfect match for Haack's style, and in 1969 he released his first rock-influenced work, Electric Lucifer
Electric Lucifer
-External links:**...
. A concept album about the earth being caught in the middle of a war between heaven and hell, Electric Lucifer
Electric Lucifer
-External links:**...
featured a heavy, driving sound complete with Moogs, Kachulis' singing, and Haack's homegrown electronics including a prototype vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
and unique lyrics, which deal with "powerlove" — a force so strong and good that it will not only save mankind but Lucifer himself. Kachulis helped out once more by bringing Haack and Lucifer to the attention of Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, who released it as Haack's major-label debut.
As the 1970s started, Haack's musical horizons continued to expand. After the release of Electric Lucifer, he struck up a friendship with fellow composer and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
. They experimented with two of Scott's instruments, the Clavivox
Clavivox
The Clavivox was a keyboard sound synthesizer and sequencer invented by American composer Raymond Scott in 1952, and patented in 1956. Scott had earlier built a theremin as a toy for his daughter Carrie. In his first Clavivox prototype, he used a theremin module built by a young Bob Moog...
and Electronium. Nothing remains of the collaboration, and though Scott gave Haack a Clavivox, he did not record with it on his own. However, he did continue on Lucifer's rock-influenced musical with 1971's Together, an electronic pop album that marked his return to Dimension 5. Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate this work from his children's music, he released it under the name Jackpine Savage, the only time he used this pseudonym.
Haack continued making children's albums as well, including 1972's Dance to the Music, 1973's Captain Entropy, and 1974's This Old Man, which featured science fiction versions of nursery rhymes and traditional songs. After relocating to Westchester, PA, to spend more time with Pandel, Haack focused on children's music almost exclusively, writing music for Scholastic Press
Scholastic Press
Scholastic is a global book publishing company known for publishing educational materials for schools, teachers, and parents, and selling and distributing them by mail order and via book clubs and book fairs. It also has the exclusive United States' publishing rights to the Harry Potter book...
like "The Witches' Vacation" and "Clifford the Small Red Puppy." He also released Funky Doodle and Ebenezer Electric (an electronic version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol) in 1976, but by the late 1970s, his prolific output slowed; two works, 1978's Haackula and the following year's Electric Lucifer Book II, were never released.
From Death Machine to Party Machine (1977-1988)
His darkest album to date, Haackula strikes out on into dark, yet playful territory. Haackula seems to have inspired Haack's final landmark work, 1981's Bite. The albums share several song titles and a dark lyrical tone different from Haack's usually idealistic style. Though Bite is harsher than his other works, it features his innovative, educational touch: a thorough primer on electronics and synthesizers makes up a large portion of the liner notes, and Haack adds a new collaborator for this album, 13-year-old vocalist Ed Harvey.Haack's failing health slowed Dimension 5's musical output in the early 1980s, but Nelson and Pandel kept the label alive by publishing songbooks, like Fun to Sing and The World's Best Funny Songs, and re-released selected older albums as cassettes, which are still available today. In 1982, Haack recorded his swan song, a proto-hiphop collaboration with Def Jam's Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
, entitled "Party Machine". Haack died in 1988 from heart failure, but his label and commitment to making creative children's music survives. While Dimension 5's later musical releases — mostly singalong albums featuring Nelson — may lack the iconoclastic spark of the early records, Nelson and Pandel's continued work reveals the depth of their friendship with Haack, a distinctive and pioneering electronic musician.
Influence
Haack has been cited as an influential musician to many electronic and other types of musicians.In 2004, a documentary film about Bruce Haack titled Haack: The King of Techno, was directed by Philip Anagnos. It premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival
Slamdance Film Festival
As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent in the film industry; it is also the only major film festival fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance counts among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the...
, distributed by Koch Vision
Koch Vision
eOne Home Video a division of Entertainment One, was founded in 1999 as part of Koch Entertainment's entry into the television programming and home video market as Koch's rental and sell-through home video division...
and televised on DOC: The Documentary Channel
DOC: The Documentary Channel
Documentary Channel is a specialty channel that features documentary programming. It airs independent documentary films from around the world, including those never-before-seen in the United States....
. It features interviews with some of Haack's associates and collaborators such as Esther Nelson and Chris Kachulis as well as contemporary artists including Eels
Eels (band)
Eels is an American indie rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E...
, Mouse On Mars
Mouse on Mars
Mouse on Mars is a duo from Germany who have been making electronic music since 1993. Their music is a sometimes quirky blend of IDM, krautrock, disco, and ambient with a heavy dollop of analog synth sounds and cross-frequency modulation...
, Money Mark
Money Mark
Mark Ramos-Nishita aka Money Mark is a producer and musician who has collaborated with the Beastie Boys many times. He also appears on the first Banyan album in 1997 as the "Freeway Keyboardist".-Career:...
and Peanut Butter Wolf
Peanut Butter Wolf
Chris Manak, aka Peanut Butter Wolf, is a DJ, hip-hop producer and the founder of hip-hop label Stones Throw Records.A native of San Jose, California, He took on the name Peanut Butter Wolf in the late-80s when he realized that a girlfriend’s youngest brother feared the “peanut butter wolf monster”...
. Additionally, the film includes archival footage of Haack's appearances on various talk shows and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, also known as Mister Rogers, is an American children's television series that was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. The series is aimed primarily at preschool ages, 2-5, but has been stated by Public Broadcasting Service as "appropriate for all ages"...
.
In 2005, a tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
was released titled Dimension Mix
Dimension Mix
Dimension Mix is a compilation album from indie record label Eenie Meenie Records released on August 23, 2005. The CD is a tribute to Dimension 5 Records and the music of electronic sound pioneers Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson....
, featuring covers of Haack songs by Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
, Stereolab
Stereolab
Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
, The Apples in stereo
The Apples in Stereo
The Apples in Stereo, styled The Apples in stereo, is an American indie rock band associated with The Elephant Six Collective, a group of bands also including Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control. The band is largely a product of lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Schneider, who writes the...
, Oranger
Oranger
-Band history:Mike Drake, Matt Harris and Jim Lindsay knew each other from playing together in previous bands Overwhelming Colorfast and Stick Figures. They formed Oranger in 1997 with Chad Dyer of American Sensei on bass, Mike Drake providing vocals and guitar, Jim Lindsay on drums and Matt Harris...
and others. The album was produced by Ross Harris (actor) and was a benefit for Cure Autism Now.
In 2006, Cut Chemist
Cut Chemist
Lucas MacFadden , better known as Cut Chemist, is an American DJ and record producer. He is a former member of the funk Latin band Ozomatli, and of hip hop group Jurassic 5...
sampled Bruce Haack's track "School For Robots" on his debut album The Audience's Listening
The Audience's Listening
The Audience's Listening is the first full-length solo album to be released by Cut Chemist."The Audience is Listening Theme Song" was used in a 2G Apple iPod nano advertisement.- Tracks listing:...
.
It has been proffered that Bruce Haack's influence has been bolstered by the fact that he flies under the mainstream media's radar.
Albums
| Recorded | Released | Album | UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 1963 | Dance Sing and Listen | - | - | |
| 1963 | 1964 | Dance Sing and Listen Again | - | - | |
| 1963 | 1965 | Dance Sing and Listen Again and Again | - | - | |
| 1967 | 1968 | The Way Out Record for Children | - | - | Identified by Nick DiFonzo as having one of the worst album covers of all time. |
| 1968 | 1969 | Electronic Record for Children | - | - | |
| 1968 | 1970 | Electric Lucifer Book III - i.f.o. | - | - | vocals by Chris Kachulis |
| 1969 | 1970 | Electric Lucifer Electric Lucifer -External links:**... |
- | - | |
| 1971 | 1971 | Together | - | - | as Jackpine Savage |
| 1972 | 1972 | Dance to the Music | - | - | |
| 1973 | 1973 | Captain Entropy | - | - | |
| 1974 | 1974 | This Old Man | - | - | |
| 1975 | 1975 | Funky Doodle | - | - | |
| 1976 | 1977 | Ebenezer Electric | - | - | |
| 1977 | 1978 | Haackula | - | - | Unreleased because of content. Later issued in 2008. |
| 1978 | 1979 | Electric Lucifer Book II | - | - | |
| 1980 | 1981 | Bite | - | - | Contains numerous "toned-down" verions of Haackula tracks, features a 13-year-old vocalist, Ed Harvey. |
| 1981 | 1982 | Zoot Zoot Zoot - Here Comes Santa in his New Space Suit | - | - | Title track sung by Tiny Tim Tiny Tim (musician) Tiny Tim , , born in Manhattan, was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice.-Rise to fame:Born to Lebanese parents in 1932, Khaury displayed musical talent at a very young age... . |
Singles
- Les Etapes (1955) - (music concrete). A 3 movement ballet scored for electronics, soprano and violin. Commissioned by Belgian TV. Choreographed by Valentina Belova and originally danced by Maurice Bejart's Ballet of the 20th Century. Possibly created 1954 or 1956.
- Lullaby for a Cat (1956) - (music concrete) Created on a Wollensak tape recorder. A master tape of this composition exists.
- Satellite - Coral Records (w/ Teresa BrewerTeresa BrewerTeresa Brewer was an American pop singer whose style incorporated elements of country, jazz, R&B, musicals and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of the 1950s, recording nearly 600 songs. Born Theresa Breuer in Toledo, Ohio, Brewer died of a neuromuscular...
) (1958) - Sea Shell - Coral Records (w/ Teresa BrewerTeresa BrewerTeresa Brewer was an American pop singer whose style incorporated elements of country, jazz, R&B, musicals and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of the 1950s, recording nearly 600 songs. Born Theresa Breuer in Toledo, Ohio, Brewer died of a neuromuscular...
) (1959) - So I Said - Dot Records (w/ Milton DeLuggMilton DeLuggMilton DeLugg is an American composer and arranger.-Biography:A talented accordionist, he appeared in short Soundies musicals and occasional movies . He quickly became a successful arranger and composer...
And His Orchestra (1960) - Garden Of Delights (1964) - Gregorian chant mixed with electronic music. This work was never released or broadcast in its entirety. Bruce enjoyed playing this tape for friends and was extremely proud of the work. Tape exists and planned for future release.
- Rita (1975) - A dedication to Rita Hayworth
- Party Machine (w/ Russell SimmonsRussell Simmons-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
) (1982)
Commercials, etc
- Parker BrothersParker BrothersParker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
- Booby Trap (1968) - Phillips 66 Tires - What's Out There? (1968)
- Goodyear Arriva Tires (1969)
- KraftKraft FoodsKraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
Cheese "Once Upon A Time" (1969) - Stevens Utica No-Iron Sheets (1969)
- Lincoln Life Insurance (1969)
- The Witches Vacation - Scholastic Magazine/Records (1974)
- Clifford the Small Red Puppy - Scholastic Magazine/Records (1974)
- A Picture for Harolds Room - Scholastic Magazine/Records (1976)
Television, radio, theater
- I've Got a SecretI've Got a SecretI've Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?...
(1960) - Gary Moore with Bill Cullen, Henry Morgan, Carol Burnett celebrity guest. Bruce played his Dermatron electronic instrument on Ted Pandels forehead, while Ted played a song on the piano "Jet, My Love" - How to Make A Man (1961) Broadway Show. Opened 2/2/61, Brookes Atkinson Theatre. Incidental music and title song. Starring Tommy Noonan, Barbara Britton, Peter Marshall, Vicki Cummings
- The Kumquat in the Persimmon Tree (Sept/June 1962) Off Broadway Show. Lyrics by Charles Copenhaver
- WindsongWindsongWindsong is the ninth album by American singer-songwriter John Denver released in September 1975. Denver's popularity was at its peak by this time....
Composition for Orchestra (year unknown). Performed by Calgary Symphony during 60's - Mass For Solo Piano (1963) Solo piano composition. Premier performance at Carnegie Hall, pianist Praxiteles Pandel
- Mass For Solo Piano (1964) Performed by Praxiteles Pandel at Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Gloria for Solo Piano (1965) Premiered Jordan Hall, Boston, pianist Praxiteles Pandel and later Brooklyn Museum and Town Hall, New York City
- The Mike Douglas ShowThe Mike Douglas ShowThe Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that aired in syndication from 1961 to 1982, distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations.The program featured light banter with...
(1965) - Bruce plays Dermatron - The Tonight ShowThe Tonight ShowThe Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
- Johnny CarsonJohnny CarsonJohn William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
(1965) - Bruce plays Dermatron - I've Got a SecretI've Got a SecretI've Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?...
Steve AllenSteve AllenSteve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
(1966) - Guest Victor Borge played the Dermatron on 12 girls, each 'pitched' chromatically - Merv Griffin's Play Your Hunch (1966) - Ted Pandel plays forehead of friend Joan Milkson with Dermatron
- WBAI Radio Documentary: Bruce Haack Music Maker (1966) - Chris Albertson interviewed Bruce and sampled works including sections of 3 majors works; Les Etapes, Mass for Solo Piano and Garden of Delights
- Mister Rogers Neighborhood (1968)
- CKUA Canadian radio (1970) - Interview with Bruce promoting The Electric Lucifer
Compilations
- Hush Little Robot - QDK Media (1998)
- Listen Compute Rock Home - Emperor Norton RecordsEmperor Norton RecordsEmperor Norton Records, was a Los Angeles-based electronica, hip-hop, and dance-music record label. Among the artists featured on the label were Ladytron, Arling & Cameron, Money Mark, Ugly Duckling, and Fantastic Plastic Machine...
(1999) - Rough Trade Shops - Electronic 01 - Mean Old Devil - Mute RecordsMute RecordsMute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...
(2002) - Dimension Mix: A Tribute to Dimension 5 RecordsDimension MixDimension Mix is a compilation album from indie record label Eenie Meenie Records released on August 23, 2005. The CD is a tribute to Dimension 5 Records and the music of electronic sound pioneers Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson....
- Eenie Meenie RecordsEenie Meenie RecordsEenie Meenie Records is an independent record label that specializes in signing indie pop, indie rock and electronica artists, such as The Faraway Places, From Bubblegum to Sky, Seksu Roba and Troubled Hubble...
(2005) - Badd Santa - I Like Christmas - Stones Throw RecordsStones Throw RecordsStones Throw Records is an independent hip hop record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was started in 1996 by DJ/Producer Peanut Butter Wolf in part to release the music he made with Charizma who was killed at the age of 20....
(2007) - Farad - The Electric Voice - Stones Throw RecordsStones Throw RecordsStones Throw Records is an independent hip hop record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was started in 1996 by DJ/Producer Peanut Butter Wolf in part to release the music he made with Charizma who was killed at the age of 20....
(2010)