4 ms·

I would say she succeeded in that, because for decades I have listened and enjoyed and respected her music, and today is the first day I learned that she was tr

by jb1991 3y ago

I would say she succeeded in that, because for decades I have listened and enjoyed and respected her music, and today is the first day I learned that she was trans.

Freak_NL 3y ago
I only noticed when I started out with the Clockwork Orange soundtrack and noticed her name varying in different releases. It's completely irrelevant to her work.
- lostlogin 3y ago
  > It's completely irrelevant to her work. I don’t think it is from her perspective. Lost connections, lost time, and she can’t even get her name on her work. “By 1981, Carlos was known everywhere as Wendy: she had completed her gender confirmation surgery in 1972, and talked about it for the first time in a 1979 Playboy interview. Only two columns were devoted to her music in the piece, which she saw as a betrayal. Nevertheless, she revealed just how much “forced secrecy” had affected her career. Switched-On Bach’s popularity had made things hard for her, she said. She had “lost an entire decade” avoiding live performances and connections with other artists because she didn’t yet feel ready to disclose her gender transition publicly. Once, Stevie Wonder came to check out her synthesiser set-up, and Carlos hid as he knocked. Sewell writes in her book how Carlos still faces prejudice from record companies today: Warner Music has not still corrected her name on the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange.” https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/11/she-made-music-jump-into-3d-wendy-carlos-the-reclusive-synth-genius https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/11/she-made-music...
hotpotamus 3y ago
Like the sibling comment, I saw the same work attributed to different names and got confused. When I was a kid, it was the kind of thing that was pretty much verboten to really discuss, but mockery was acceptable, so I can imagine it just wasn't really spoken about and I'm sure hampered her career. The BBC has an archived interview[0] where I believe she was wearing fake sideburns to keep up a more masculine appearance in public while transitioning. The effect is a bit odd. I actually first came across her work perusing the public library and actually found the technical excellence of her playing combined with the simplistic sounds of the early synths to be a bit off-putting; it sounded like a 90's midi file. But I could certainly imagine the interest of that in the 60's, and while it's grown on me a bit since then, I can see why it hasn't aged particularly well. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsW2EDGbDqg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsW2EDGbDqg

by jb1991 3y ago

I would say she succeeded in that, because for decades I have listened and enjoyed and respected her music, and today is the first day I learned that she was trans.

Freak_NL 3y ago

I only noticed when I started out with the Clockwork Orange soundtrack and noticed her name varying in different releases. It's completely irrelevant to her work.

lostlogin 3y ago
> It's completely irrelevant to her work. I don’t think it is from her perspective. Lost connections, lost time, and she can’t even get her name on her work. “By 1981, Carlos was known everywhere as Wendy: she had completed her gender confirmation surgery in 1972, and talked about it for the first time in a 1979 Playboy interview. Only two columns were devoted to her music in the piece, which she saw as a betrayal. Nevertheless, she revealed just how much “forced secrecy” had affected her career. Switched-On Bach’s popularity had made things hard for her, she said. She had “lost an entire decade” avoiding live performances and connections with other artists because she didn’t yet feel ready to disclose her gender transition publicly. Once, Stevie Wonder came to check out her synthesiser set-up, and Carlos hid as he knocked. Sewell writes in her book how Carlos still faces prejudice from record companies today: Warner Music has not still corrected her name on the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange.” https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/11/she-made-music-jump-into-3d-wendy-carlos-the-reclusive-synth-genius https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/11/she-made-music...

hotpotamus 3y ago

Like the sibling comment, I saw the same work attributed to different names and got confused. When I was a kid, it was the kind of thing that was pretty much verboten to really discuss, but mockery was acceptable, so I can imagine it just wasn't really spoken about and I'm sure hampered her career. The BBC has an archived interview[0] where I believe she was wearing fake sideburns to keep up a more masculine appearance in public while transitioning. The effect is a bit odd. I actually first came across her work perusing the public library and actually found the technical excellence of her playing combined with the simplistic sounds of the early synths to be a bit off-putting; it sounded like a 90's midi file. But I could certainly imagine the interest of that in the 60's, and while it's grown on me a bit since then, I can see why it hasn't aged particularly well. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsW2EDGbDqg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsW2EDGbDqg