Thanks to musician, arranger, and RS fan Les Deutsch, you can now download free Raymond Scott ringtones formatted specifically for iPhone.

Details from Les: ”I could have converted the original recordings to ringtones, but I really enjoy the quirky synthesizer sounds that the Mac’s internal QuickTime app generates directly from Finale.”

Download them at the Raymond Scott blog. 

Note: When I downloaded the files, they had a .m4r.html extension. Changing this .m4r made the files recognizable as ringtones.

Jeff Winner of the Raymond Scott blog has a mission: to rid the world of Musica Para La Intimidad – an album that is apparently a blot on the electronic music pioneer’s name:

We have “previously warned about the dangers of a stunningly boring album recorded by Raymond Scott in 1957, and subsequently issued under three titles in the US. It’s my duty to further caution collectors who value their time and/or ears: a fourth pressing of this dreary record was released in 1966 by the Spanish label Orlador, under the title MUSICA PARA LA INTIMIDAD.

I would have guessed this means “Music For Intimacy,” but according to at least one Google translator, it’s “Music For Privacy.”

Had RS kept the recording private, the world would be a better place. Not even a sexy chica displaying her color-coordinated pants, shoes, and upholstery can make this lackluster album worth purchasing.

If you see this record, run away. If you’re unfortunate enough to already own a copy (under any of its titles), please smash it with a hammer into a thousand little pieces, place the debris into a Ziploc baggie, and send it to me or Irwin; we will incinerate all copies at a public bonfire in Texas on September 9th at midnight. Location TBA. Consider this a WANTED poster.”

A recommendation like this makes the album seem nearly irresistible, doesn’t it?

Summit, New Jersey, Christmas 1942: The “famous Raymond Scott Quintet, featuring Dorothy Collins,” performs for a “Holiday Assembly” at the Masonic Hall. Scott performed his composition Silent Music.

This “unrecorded” work has long been part of Scott lore—a “composition” consisting of no notes, a silent performance in which the musicians go through the motions of playing without making any sounds. This was a decade before John Cage’s legendary noteless work 4′33″, which caused such a ruckus when it was introduced in concert by David Tudor in 1952.

First Bob Moog gets turned into a doll – now Raymond Scott. 

Japanese artist toy company Presspop Gallery has released their Raymond Scott 100th Anniversary vinyl figurine & CD set in time for the 2008 holidays.

The deluxe limited edition package features a miniature replica of Scott’s Clavivox, his patented 1950s keyboard synthesizer, and a CD featuring rare, unreleased tracks from the Scott Archives. Presspop have produced only a small batch of these unique high-quality sets.

The figurine was designed by Archer Hewitt, who designed the Moog doll. It retails for $49.

RaymondScott.com is the exclusive US retailer.

King’s Place in London is hosting Cartoons and Weirdness – A Tribute to Raymond Scott, on Tuesday, October 14th.

The first night of Sound Source celebrates the work and influence of Raymond Scott, a lost genius of the 20th Century.

Bandleader, inventor and experimentalist – Scott’s career was diverse to say the least. He’s best known for inspiring the soundtracks for cartoons such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and The Simpsons, but in his time Scott also developed the first musical sequencer and even spent time as the head of electronic research and development at Motown Records.

This spirit of adventure permeates the night, from the Stu Brown Sextet’s reinterpretation of Scott’s early work to Falco Subbuteo’s experimental electronica (featuring spnm shortlisted composer, Valerie Pearson).

The Sound Source regulars no.w.here bring complementary films and The Open Source, curated by Music Orbit provides a unique platform for the best emerging composers and artists.

MOUSE HEAVEN
Kenneth Anger, USA, 2005, 10 min, sound
Kenneth Anger is perhaps the most widely known experimental filmmaker in the world. His latest film reflects his enduring obsession with the entertainment industry and the celebrities that orbit around it. Mouse Heaven sits somewhere between a tribute and a scathing critique. In it Anger shows us the world’s largest collection of Mickey Mouse memorabilia accompanied by a bizarre musical soundtrack including The Boswell Sisters and the Proclaimers. Outraged by the legal ‘ownership’ of this archetypal character, Anger chose to make a film that Disney couldn’t legally object to, by depicting the company’s own merchandise.

RUNAWAY
Standish Lawder, USA, 1969, 6 min, sound
In ‘Runaway’ Standish Lawder entraps a pack of Walt Disney’s cartoon dogs in a seemingly endless four second mobius strip. Made using a homemade optical printer fashioned from a coffee can, the benign original is elevated into its own filmic reality through various degenerative processes and manipulations. An equally repetitive wurlitzeresque soundtrack affirms the perpetual urgency of the image.

Sarah Albu’s Clavivox cake.

It doesn’t really look anything like any Clavivox I’ve seen, but it looks a lot tastier. 

Raymond Scott, who designed the Clavivox, would have been 100 years old September 10th.

While Scott is known to some for his pioneering work in electronic music, his 30’s recordings with his “Quintette” are his most recognized works, as they were adapted as the soundtracks of countless cartoons.

via The Raymond Scott Blog

Along with the Raymond Scott brain trust of Irwin Chusid, Jeff Winner and Gert-Jan Blom, I spent last week in Kansas City, MO at the Marr Archives at the University of Missouri Kansas City Miller Nichols Library.  This is the location of thousands of hours of Raymond Scott recordings—he recorded virtually everything  so there are rehearsal recordings, air checks, interviews, phone conversations and of course commercial releases.

Also, in the Special Collections at the Library are thousands of Raymond Scott documents, schematics for the musical inventions and personal and professional still photos.  The whole experience was fascinating!  I shot a lot of material there and am now beginning to integrate it into the rough cut of the film. 

I wonder how these materials made it to Kansas City. If you’ve got any info, let me know in the comments.

His merry melodies have propelled the antics of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Animaniacs, and Bart Simpson. His recordings underscore the body-fluid fetishism of Ren & Stimpy. Yet Raymond Scott, who was born in Brooklyn 100 years ago today, never wrote a note for a cartoon in his life.

Scott’s popular 1930s faux-jazz novelties were festooned with titles like “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals,” “Celebration on the Planet Mars,” and “New Year’s Eve in a Haunted House.” When Warner Bros. purchased Scott’s publishing in 1943, their music director Carl Stalling began seasoning his cartoon scores with Scott’s sonic spice. In hundreds of these anarchic shorts, Stalling sampled over a dozen Scott titles, with “Powerhouse” echoing behind countless cat-chase-mouse sequences and ominous assembly lines. Since forever, Scott’s quirky musical motifs have become genetically encoded in every earthling.

Not that it mattered to Scott. He didn’t care about cartoons. He cared about machines — whether they had a pulse or not. His demanding perfectionism was legendary. He rehearsed his sidemen to the point of exhaustion and resentment — and insulted them if they failed to meet the maestro’s standards. Drummer Johnny Williams (father of composer John Williams) told an interviewer: “We were machines, only we had names.”

Trailer for the work in progress RAYMOND SCOTT: ON TO SOMETHING, a biographical documentary by his son, filmmaker Stan Warnow, about the 20th century musician, composer, and inventor whose musical career included the swing era, electronica, and everything in between, including use of his music in Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

For more info go to scottdoc.wordpress.com/

via StudioNebula