CBS Masterworks – M 30683 (US, 1971) 00:00 A. Sidewinder Part I 14:29 B. Sidewinder Part II Created by Morton Subotnick on the Electric Music Box Due to wide critical acclaim for his groundbreaking Silver Apples of the Moon (1967) and The Wild Bull (1968), Morton Subotnick became the most publicized composer of electronic music in the early '70s. Using Donald Buchla's Electronic Music Box -- a rudimentary but versatile synthesizer -- Subotnick continued to create sound sculptures along the lines of his earlier works, but with greater subtlety and with the heightened effects of quadraphonic recording. Sidewinder (1970) bears the strongest resemblance to Silver Apples since it employs many of the same electronic sounds and follows a similar episodic sequence. The rattlesnake effects of the opening recur in various guises throughout; and the ensuing drones, clicks, beeps, flutters, and ethereal wisps of sound are suggestive of music floating in space, moving along the imaginary orbits of Subotnick's "virtual grooves."
