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History of Electronic Music (the Backbone of Indie Electronic)
In the late 1920s-early 1930s, composers began exploring sounds that were previously not considered to be musical. With the invention of magnetic audio tape, composers found a new control over these sounds. A technique called musique concrète allowed composers to physically cut and place different pieces of tape together to create compositions that mixed natural and industrial recorded sounds. Pierre Schaeffer in collaboration with Pierre Henry created some of the first popular electronic music.
The Brussels World Fair in 1958 marked a milestone for electronic art on a global scale. Poème électronique by Edgard Varèse and Concret PH by Iannis Xenakis were written specifically for an artistic, architectural structure called the Philips Pavilion. The pieces were synchronized to a video, making this one of the first visual art and electronic music collaborations to be displayed for the world. Other prominent, early electronic innovators include Boulez and Babbitt.
In 1970, French President Pompidou funded the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM). Established and led by Boulez, the initiative focussed on two main disciplines: computer music research and computer music production. This program aided the discovery of many advances in electronic music technology.