John Bender

Roycie Roller · Post by **Roycie Roller** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:22 pm

i discovered this guy the other day

i love it!!

[video][/video]

[video][/video]

[video][/video]

Revok · Post by **Revok** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:03 pm

VOD just released a huge collection of his works.

haricots · Post by **haricots** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:07 pm

I discovered him many, many years ago and still really know nothing about the guy. Pretty cool artist though.

http://free.pages.at/aspects/johnbender/jb2.html

zdarma · Post by **zdarma** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:31 am

The Vinyl on Demand box is great, probably more John Bender than you will ever need and lots of stuff that I had never heard before.

de_raaf · Post by **de_raaf** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:45 am

didn't know about the vod box, do have the recent (bootleg?) lp's of the 3 albums, and some extra stuff digital, favorite for almost 8 or so years
think the vod is also is bootleg style, it just brings together, some older bootlegs that are known
in recent times, poeple know who he is, mainly because his son plays in a band or something like that

Revok · Post by **Revok** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:24 am

de_raaf wrote:didn't know about the vod box, do have the recent (bootleg?) lp's

I have those as well and I've been wondering about the bootleg thing too. Who put these out?

de_raaf · Post by **de_raaf** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:44 am

no sure who, i think related to that recordstore, (forgot the name) who always had them first,
pretty sure the vod box is also not official, otherwise the would have mentioned that after all those bootlegs in all the years, they may have found some rare extra tape via via etc

ringstone · Post by **ringstone** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:23 am

From the VOD website:

PLEASE DON'T SUPPORT, BUY, PROMOTE OR
DISTRIBUTE ALL THOSE ILLEGAL BOOTLEG-
PRESSINGS POPPING-UP LATELY (e.g.
VICE VERSA, JOHN BENDER...).
ITS NOT FAIR TO ARTISTS AND LABELS
THAT TRY TO MAKE FAIR BUSINESS!

I've had a couple of long discussions with the guy who runs VOD - because of my OCD

I had to get in contact with him regarding the Tietchens boxset, because there is a dropout on one of the discs that's not on the original cassette, and he was very patient in helping me determine that this was in fact a problem with the master tape. He actually sent me, free of charge, another copy of one of the other discs in the set, plus the bonus 7", as he was aware there were a few copies around that had a slight pressing defect...

Cheers
Blair

Revok · Post by **Revok** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:37 am

Looks like I'll have to grab the box set to balance out my karma. This is going to kill my budget but damn it looks nice.

haricots · Post by **haricots** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:04 am

I would buy this in a second but I really have no interest in owning any more vinyl. I wish it was in other formats.

So, who knows something about John Bender? I first heard his stuff on some compilation probably 10 years ago or so. I remember scouring the Internet looking for info on him and there was absolutely nothing (not even on discogs). There seems to be a little more these days but he is still a mystery to me. He is American, that's all I know.

Roycie Roller · Post by **Roycie Roller** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:41 pm

it's great so many of you guys like his music too

i don't know anything about him, but would like to find out.

been listening non-stop for days now

s o l v e n t · Post by **s o l v e n t** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:50 am

massive John Bender fan here! IMO he should've been as recognized / important / influential as artists like Devo, or even the Velvet Underground ... he's deliberately elusive though - people have been trying for many years to contact/reissue his music and he hasn't been interested. amazing that VOD finally managed to convince him... though such an expensive specialty item as a vinyl boxset is hardly going to make him a household name. I am positive that if a label like Mute managed to reissue his albums in a more conventional way, perhaps even a 2-CD anthology, it could be quite huge.... lots of people making / interested in strange lo-fi synth music these days and still nothing else sounds remotely like John Bender

Roycie Roller · Post by **Roycie Roller** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:57 pm

i'm pretty sure he's using a roland sh-1000 on a lot of the recordings for the bass-line/white noise hi-hat sounds. but i think there's definitely a drum machine there as well. any ideas of what type it might be?

ringstone · Post by **ringstone** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:12 pm

Roycie Roller wrote:i'm pretty sure he's using a roland sh-1000 on a lot of the recordings for the bass-line/white noise hi-hat sounds. but i think there's definitely a drum machine there as well. any ideas of what type it might be?

The closest I've heard to that is early Human League, they actually multitracked their System 100 for their drum tracks (as well as bass and lead lines). Either that or a home-made drum synth, a lot of the music/electronics mags published circuits and sold PCBs/kits back in the 80s. These became so popular even Roland jumped in on the action with their Amdek line - I remember making a flanger, a mixer and a drum synth back in the day...

Cheers
Blair

haricots · Post by **haricots** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:05 pm

Yep, unfortunately everything (and I have most of it) I have of his is the result of an illegal download of some sort. I would love to funnel some money his way but like I said, I don't want vinyl, nor do I even own a device which can play vinyl anymore. Soulseek was my friend back in the day.

s o l v e n t · Post by **s o l v e n t** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:47 am

Roycie Roller wrote:i'm pretty sure he's using a roland sh-1000 on a lot of the recordings for the bass-line/white noise hi-hat sounds. but i think there's definitely a drum machine there as well. any ideas of what type it might be?

To me it sounds clearly like the basis of many of his songs is MS-20/SQ-10. Some of the white noise percussion patterns clearly like he's sequencing the MS-20's HP/LP filters. I have both a System100 and an MS-20 and John Bender's music sounds much more like MS-20

Roycie Roller · Post by **Roycie Roller** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:48 pm

s o l v e n t wrote:
Roycie Roller wrote:i'm pretty sure he's using a roland sh-1000 on a lot of the recordings for the bass-line/white noise hi-hat sounds. but i think there's definitely a drum machine there as well. any ideas of what type it might be?
To me it sounds clearly like the basis of many of his songs is MS-20/SQ-10. Some of the white noise percussion patterns clearly like he's sequencing the MS-20's HP/LP filters. I have both a System100 and an MS-20 and John Bender's music sounds much more like MS-20

wow, thanks for the interesting insight!

i've never heard any Korg analogue synths, but i have a sh-1000 & it sounds uncannily similar to some of the sounds on his albums...somewhere between home-organ but hinting more to the TB-303 era of acid, despite constrained to a sole 'Random' pattern (that's all there is on the sh-1000, & why i also thought it might be in his songs- some of them have a random sounding bassline)..
nevertheless- happy to stand corrected

i love Muff's for this kind of conversation!

it's interesting, though that similarities in sound crossed over different brand synths & not just in a specific line. At one point i had 5 roland synths- an mc-202, sh-1000, RS-505, RS-202 & RS-09, and i could get very similar sounds from all of them. To the extent i saw no reason (other than the mc's sequencer) to choose an mc-202 over the RS-09. They all have pretty much the same architecture, and you can get similar sounds even on those without even adjustments for the filter.

as a side note, though, the sh-1000 is unstable as all hell and drifts all over the place- but because of this, it's the one i like the most!

(& gets very close to the 303 sound...some say the filter is better than the 303)

s o l v e n t · Post by **s o l v e n t** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 4:07 pm

Roycie Roller wrote:nevertheless- happy to stand corrected

well I can't state it as a fact, but if you listen to the sequences in John Bender, you will hear HPF/LPF sequencing. I can't think of any other synths that would've been readily available to a DIY musician at that time that could do that (specifically the HPF aspect).

my guess to his early setup would be MS-20/SQ-10 covering sequencing, then he is playing some cheap synths / maybe even an organ over top by hand. a good guess for the live keyboard would be something like an SH1000/2000, or maybe a MiniKorg 700, Korg Micropreset, something along these lines.

on the later material he added an 808 obviously. i don't like his 808 programming though - really erratic and devoid of any funk... his earlier records are much better IMO

s o l v e n t · Post by **s o l v e n t** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 4:10 pm

Roycie Roller wrote:To the extent i saw no reason (other than the mc's sequencer) to choose an mc-202 over the RS-09. They all have pretty much the same architecture, and you can get similar sounds even on those without even adjustments for the filter.

do you mean SH-09? because there are a whole lot of differences sonically between an MC-202 and an RS-09, in fact I can't think of much about them that is the same

ringstone · Post by **ringstone** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 6:25 pm

s o l v e n t wrote:
Roycie Roller wrote:i'm pretty sure he's using a roland sh-1000 on a lot of the recordings for the bass-line/white noise hi-hat sounds. but i think there's definitely a drum machine there as well. any ideas of what type it might be?
To me it sounds clearly like the basis of many of his songs is MS-20/SQ-10. Some of the white noise percussion patterns clearly like he's sequencing the MS-20's HP/LP filters. I have both a System100 and an MS-20 and John Bender's music sounds much more like MS-20

Have to admit I think you got me on that one! I was trying to work out what the first track posted reminded me of, and as soon as you mentioned this, it popped into my head - DAF's "KebabtrÃƒÂ¤ume", and they produced most of their music with MS-20/SQ-10...

Cheers

Roycie Roller · Post by **Roycie Roller** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:05 am

s o l v e n t wrote:
Roycie Roller wrote:To the extent i saw no reason (other than the mc's sequencer) to choose an mc-202 over the RS-09. They all have pretty much the same architecture, and you can get similar sounds even on those without even adjustments for the filter.
do you mean SH-09? because there are a whole lot of differences sonically between an MC-202 and an RS-09, in fact I can't think of much about them that is the same

you're right, it's a bit over-exaggerated to say that- the 202 has many more pots to adjust the sound. i think i was trying to say that my own music tends to end up sounding similar on all the rolands i've had. For example, i didn't use the 202 for making 'acid'- it also excels at pretty, major-scale melodies with an open envelope, and so too does the RS-09.

At times i've even felt the 202 almost too predictable sound-wise (or 'done before'), and in avoiding sounds like that, i'll end up at very basic settings. I think roland's simpler synth designs recognised that having only basic control was fine, and perfectly useful musically as well.

s o l v e n t · Post by **s o l v e n t** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:34 pm

Just got the Bender boxset in the mail today... the man speaks in the liner notes! Seems I was wrong about the MS-20 / SQ-10. According to him he was using primarily an Arp 2600 + Arp sequencers, as well as an EML 400/401. I don't know a lot about the EMLs - wonder if they have a CV-able HPF?

Revok · Post by **Revok** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:46 pm

s o l v e n t wrote:wonder if they have a CV-able HPF?

Look's to be the case. http://www.tonetweakers.com/images/used ... 00.1_l.jpg

Thanks for the info!

vmgas · Post by **vmgas** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 3:29 pm

bender rules it man
quality dark bizarre
wait so whats the deal with thisboxset exactly?

vmgas · Post by **vmgas** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 3:34 pm

nevermind gooogled..no fucking way in hell i could afford to spend that much money on some records

MUFF WIGGLER

MUFF WIGGLER

John Bender

John Bender