Tape Heads - JSTOR Daily
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The Mellotron, an electronic keyboard of recorded samples, heralded the digital age, and its use in “Strawberry Fields Forever” changed pop music history.

The Mellotron’s debut took place just at the time that the mystical and the mind-bending was trending in rock music, materializing in records like Cream’s Disraeli Gears, Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Once a bug, the variations in sound afforded by finicky analog technology were now a positive attribute of the Mellotron: The ghostly, uncanny quality caused by natural wear on the tape or external irritants created a perfectly trippy ambience on songs like “Nights in White Satin,” from the Moody Blues, the Rolling Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow,” and Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”

    • BetoOPMAEnglish
      1•2 years ago

      Down-and-out keyboardist Chance (Rory Cochrane) sees his redemption in touring with dub-pop band Future Pigeon, fronted by the lovely Rocket (Beth Orton). However, to guarantee a spot in the band, Chance needs a signature sound, which he finds in the futuristic '69 “Molotron” keyboard. Chance’s dreams are put on hold on the eve of the tour, however, when the Molotron is stolen from his car.

      That sounds amazing! I added it to my watchlist, thanks!