‘Sisters With Transistors’, an electronic music documentary, has been released. ‘Sisters With Transistors’ celebrates the unsung heroes of the genre by taking a look at the female pioneers of electronic music throughout the mid-20th century.
We are introduced to leading figures Clara Rockmore, Delia Derbyshire, Daphne Oram, Eliane Radigue, Bebe Barron, Pauline Oliveros, Maryanne Amacher, Wendy Carlos, Suzanne Ciani, and Laurie Spiegel, the forgotten women of electronic music. The eighty-two-minute documentary uses archival footage and audio to tell the fascinating accounts of how they influenced what is today one of the most popular mediums of modern music.
Lisa Rovner’s directorial approach gives the film Avant guard feel through its collage of footage and futuristic soundtrack which exhibits the work of the women it profiles. The stories of these composers is told chronologically and follows the evolution of music culture and technology.
The story tackles sexism and the restriction felt by female composers in these male-dominated spaces in an era of idealism and expectations for women which lay in the domestic sphere. This exploration of an often overlooked community is accompanied by narration from artist and composer Laurie Anderson. Further audio commentary is provided by Holly Herndon, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon to name a few.
The story is about rebellion and freedom through technology and music, celebrating those rule-breakers who, despite discrimination, made great strides in the genre and helped to establish electronic music as a legitimate art form.
As one of the film’s subjects, Laurie Spiegel explains: “We women were especially drawn to electronic music when the possibility of a woman composing was in itself controversial. Electronics let us make music that could be heard by others without having to be taken seriously by the male-dominated establishment.”
‘Sisters with Transistors’ is available for purchase here via Modern Films.
